♻️ Can breakthrough materials be designed to be both high-performing and eco-friendly from the start?
This perspective explores how the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) framework can guide the development of advanced materials and chemicals across their entire life cycle. By combining policy, industry, and scientific insights, it highlights strategies for balancing functionality, safety, and sustainability.
Here are the 10 key takeaways: 👇
1️⃣ EU Green Transition: SSbD supports the EU’s goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050 through safe, sustainable, and circular innovation.
2️⃣ Early-Stage Integration: Applying SSbD principles during the earliest stages of R&D helps prevent costly redesigns and ensures safer products from the outset.
3️⃣ Life Cycle Thinking: The framework emphasizes cradle-to-grave (or cradle-to-cradle) assessments, covering production, use, and end-of-life.
4️⃣ Multi-Objective Optimization: Innovation requires balancing functionality, cost, safety, environmental, and social impacts simultaneously.
5️⃣ Assessment of Alternatives (AoA): Structured decision-making tools help replace substances of concern with safer, more sustainable options.
6️⃣ Digital & AI Tools: Machine Learning and AI are highlighted as accelerators for anticipatory Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in data-scarce early phases.
7️⃣ Fail Early, Fail Cheap: Iterative testing and decision cycles allow companies to identify risks early, reducing wasted resources.
8️⃣ Industry Involvement: Chemical and materials industries must collaborate with academia, regulators, and policymakers for practical SSbD implementation.
9️⃣ Global Competitiveness: SSbD needs to be both scientifically robust and economically feasible to keep EU industries competitive globally.
🔟 PINK Project Case Study: The EU-funded PINK project applies computational approaches to optimize materials for functionality, safety, sustainability, and cost throughout their development process.
📝 Gustavo Larrea, Sabine Hofer, Norbert Hofstätter, Benjamin Punz, Nico Watzek, Wibke Lölsberg, Karin Wiench, Wendel Wohlleben, Irantzu Garmendia, Nikolakopoulos Athanassios, Haralambos Sarimveis, Anna Luisa Costa, Christian Seitz, Steffi Friedrichs, Thomas Exner, Roland Hischier, Antonino Marvuglia, Martin Himly.
🔗 Integrate & balance aspects for safe and sustainable innovation: Needs analysis on SSbD categories and product development stage requirements to cover the entire life cycle. DOI: https://lnkd.in/g-Zg9Gjf
📚 CSBJ Nanoscience and Advanced Materials: https://www.csbj.org/nano
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Universität Salzburg, BASF, European Commission, National Technical University of Athens, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, AcumenIST, Seven Past Nine, Empa, Computational and Structural Biotech Journal.
