The Six-Academy Synthetic Biology Symposium II was held in Shanghai on Oct. 12-14, 2011. The theme of the conference is Enabling Technology for Synthetic Biology.

This event was jointly hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), in partnership with the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering of the United Kingdom, and the USA National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering (briefly as “Six-Academy”). The major local organizers include the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBS), CAS and the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, SIBS, CAS, etc.

Sessions of this symposium covered the following topics: Designing Modules and Pathways, Synthetic Genome and Cell, Synthetic Biology from an Industrial Perspective,iGEM：Scientific, Technological, and Educational Impact upon Synthetic Biology, and Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) for Synthetic Biology. About 30 invited speakers nominated by the six academies gave presentations in the symposium. The event attracted more than 200 attendees.

This symposium was dedicated to create a platform for scientists, entrepreneurs, and government officials to exchange ideas and perceptions about the enabling technology for synthetic biology as well as the economic and social impact related to the application of the technology. It  promoted the inter-disciplinary interactions and stimulated the collaborations among scientists from China and abroad for more creative and efficient research in synthetic biology.

Synthetic Biology is an emerging multidisciplinary research field for engineering Artificial Life Systems based on human design-directed systematic assembly of well characterized biological devices. It is a true integration of science and engineering, and therefore, transdisciplinary collaboration is essential for propelling the advances in the field.

Under this circumstance, in June of 2010, representatives of the six academies met in London and agreed to jointly organize a series of meetings to discuss the key issues related to the emerging disciplinary of Synthetic Biology. As the first in a series of three, the London symposium held at the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering of UK in 13-14 April 2011 was themed with Economic and Social Life of Synthetic Biology. The Shanghai symposium followed the UK event as the second and the last symposium will be held in Washington, USA in June of 2012.