Gene drives have the potential to help solve major challenges, including the fight against invasive species or vector-borne diseases such as malaria. These hopes are offset by technical and scientific challenges as well as environmental risks. The policy brief TAB-Fokus no. 48 on the opportunities and risks of a technology for spreading desirable traits in populations summarises the most important results of the TA project for the German Bundestag on four pages. (Full report doi:10.5445/IR/1000179980 is available in German only)