Law and Biotechnology: Synergy in the Bioeconomy Era

The rapid development of biotechnologies could expand the ability to use living organisms and their systems or functional products and thus help to achieve Russia’s goal of ensuring technological leadership. Biotechnologies are actively developing and being introduced in various fields: medicine, healthcare, agriculture, industrial production, including the food industry, energy, and ecology. The system used to regulate relations in the application of biotechnology is in the initial stage of its formation and is fragmented. The development of the bioeconomy makes it crucial to construct a system that can effectively regulate these relations, which ensures the safe creation and use of biotechnologies and compliance with ethical requirements. Institutional instruments that meet modern challenges need to be developed to increase the pace and efficiency of biotechnology research and ensure the integration of the achievements made in various branches of science, such as microbiology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, and genetics, on the one hand, and to protect fundamental human values, on the other. Biotechnological achievements and the ethical, economic, and social consequences of their application in various fields determine the specifics of legal regulation both in terms of intellectual property rights and in other areas of jurisprudence. What are the most effective forms and methods of regulating public relations in biotechnologies? What areas of legal regulation need to be adjusted to achieve Russia’s goal of achieving technological leadership in the field of biotechnologies?