The Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (MASA) released the proceedings of their conference on ‘Technology + Society ->? Future’ which was held on 19-20 May in Podgorica, Montenegro. The article 'Synthetic Biology: Opportunities and Governance' by Peter F. McGrath is one of the contributions to this publication, which he presented at the conference in May. Peter McGrath, the coordinator of the InterAcademy Partnership, discusses synthetic biology in different areas of application as well as presenting the findings of the 2014 IAP ‘Statement on Realising Global Potential in Synthetic Biology: Scientific Opportunities and Good Governance’.