One of the issues frequently popping up in debates about synthetic biology (synbio) is the possibility of introducing new and yet unknown types of biological risks. Both our unfamiliarity with undesirable impacts on health and environment and the high speed of development of new tools and applications raises the question how to apply Responsible Research & Innovation principles in biosafety assessment and risk governance procedures. This topic was addressed in several SYNENERGENE activities, such as a workshop and a number of interviews.