CSPC 2018

Organized by: Genome Canada, Rob Annan

Disruptive technologies are double-edged swords. Social media, artificial intelligence (AI), gene editing—all promise enormous economic and social potential. At the same time, they challenge important social norms, policies, and institutions and create unintended and unpredicted consequences.

Society invests significant public resources to support the science and technology that drive these innovations, but invests relatively little to investigate their potential benefits, risks and consequences. Indeed, these are incommensurable – there are no commonly accepted metrics that allow us to evaluate and compare the benefits and risks. Policy makers and the public, faced with rapidly developing technologies, often succumb to reflexive and emotive policy responses.

Since its establishment, Genome Canada has promoted a globally-innovative program (“GE3LS”) to research the ethical, environmental, economic, legal and social issues involved in genomics research. Each large-scale genomics project funded at Genome Canada must integrate a GE3LS research component, promoting a deeper understanding of the broader impact of the research. Dr. Eric Meslin, President of the Council of Canadian Academies and expert on bioethics and science policy, recently led an extensive review of the GE3LS program which identified key lessons for integrating social sciences research into technology development.

Dr. Meslin will chair a session that will explore this topic through two case studies that illustrate how GE3LS works in practice. Each will be co-presented by the project’s genomic and social science researchers who will explain:
- Why it was important to integrate social research into the project;
- The challenges and opportunities this integration presented;
- Expected—and unexpected—benefits observed.

The case studies represent disruptive technological research in genomics. The first describes the development of novel diagnostic technology for breast cancer, the challenges created in supporting informed decision-making by doctors and patients, and the importance of  evaluating the cost-effectiveness of the new technology. The second project focuses on forestry genomics and climate change and integrates research into understanding the ecological, socio-economic and institutional factors that affect the adoption of new technologies in forest management. Both projects are led by internationally-recognized and celebrated Canadian researchers.

Following the case study presentations, Dr. Meslin will moderate a brief discussion between panelists and members of the audience to explore how these case studies might inform the larger context of disruptive technology research, with lessons for ongoing work in artificial intelligence and machine learning, automation and robotics, and beyond.