SUNRISE: Safe and Sustainable by Design for Advanced Materials (AdMa)

SSbD

SUNRISE is developing an Integrated Impact Assessment Framework (IIAF) to promote the safe and sustainable design of advanced materials (AdMa). Through innovative methodologies and digital tools, the project aims to provide a structured framework that facilitate decision-making based on safety, sustainability and socioeconomic impact criteria.

Context

The SUNRISE project responds to the growing demand for integrated methodologies to accurately assess the impacts of advanced materials (AdMa) throughout their life cycle. These materials are key to innovation in strategic sectors such as energy, electronics, healthcare and automotive, but they also pose critical challenges in terms of safety, sustainability and regulation. The lack of standardized methodologies and tools prevents a proper assessment of their impact on human health and the environment, making it difficult to make decisions at early stages of advanced materials development.

Among the main challenges faced by the SUNRISE project is the complexity of characterizing advanced materials due to their variability in composition, structure and behavior in different environments. Additionally, the assessment of the environmental and toxicological impacts of these materials is limited by the lack of sufficient data and harmonized methodologies. Another significant challenge is the integration of multiple impact dimensions, such as chemical safety, environmental sustainability and socioeconomic effects, into a unified assessment framework accessible to industry and regulators.

Moreover, implementing a standardized approach to the life cycle assessment of AdMa faces methodological and technological barriers, requiring the development of new tools capable of analyzing the complex interaction of these materials with the environment and human health. Finally, the lack of industry and policy-maker acceptance and adoption of these approaches represents another challenge, necessitating efforts in knowledge dissemination and validation of methodologies in real-world settings.

Summary and objectives

The primary objective of SUNRISE is to develop an Integrated Impact Assessment Framework (IIAF) to support decision-making throughout all stages of the advanced materials life cycle, taking into account the criteria established in the SSbD framework developed by the JRC and the EU. In addition, the project aims to generate relevant data through innovative methodologies and computational tools to facilitate industry and regulatory adoption.

Objectives:

  • Methodology development: Creation of integrated methodologies for health, environmental, social and economic impact assessment through the selection and design of in vitro methods and mathematical models.
  • Web platform: Development of an open and FAIR platform that includes a database and tools for impact-based decision making.
  • Demonstration of applicability and benefits derived from the application of the IIAF: Validation of the IIAF by means of cases of relevant industrial studies due to their global impact.
  • Knowledge transfer: Dissemination of results to EU and national public authorities to facilitate the implementation of SSbD

Consortium

SUNRISE brings together 19 partners from 9 European countries, including universities, research centers and technology companies. Notable partners include:

  • UNIVERSITA CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA (Italy) – Coordinator
  • EUROPEAN RESEARCH SERVICES GMBH (Germany)
  • GREENDECISION SRL (Italy)
  • INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE (United Kingdom)
  • EIDGENOSSISCHE MATERIALPRUFUNGS- UND FORSCHUNGSANSTALT (Switzerland)
  • FUNDACION GAIKER (Spain)
  • UNIVERSIDAD DE BURGOS (Spain)
  • LAURENTIA TECHNOLOGIES SLL (Spain)
  • LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Luxembourg)
  • INSTITUTO TECNOLÓGICO DEL EMBALAJE, TRANSPORTE Y LOGÍSTICA (ITENE) (Spain)
  • AARHUS UNIVERSITET (Denmark)

ITENE’s role

ITENE plays a key role in SUNRISE, leading Work Package 5 (WP5) ), which focuses on case studies to validate the IIAF infrastructure and assess its practical applicability. Its main activities included:

  • Leadership in case study selection (T5.1): Analysis of knowledge gaps to prioritize materials based on their impact on safety, health, and the environment.
  • Data generation (T5.2): Participation in sustainability testing and evaluation of chemical substance release.
  • IIAF validation and demonstration (T5.3): Coordination of selected case studies in the project to apply the designed methodologies and organization of workshops to demonstrate the applicability of IIAF.
  • Development of IIAF industrial application guides (T5.4): Creation of guidelines to facilitate the adoption of the IIAF framework in industry.
  • SSbD strategies (T5.5): Development of “Safe and Sustainable by Design” strategies for prioritized case studies to obtain safer and more sustainable AMAs, without altering their functionality or commercial viability.

In addition, ITENE is involved in other key work packages, such as the assessment of the safety and environmental impact of advanced materials, optimizing models for the analysis of the occupational exposure and release potential of AdMAs at all stages of the life cycle, from production to end-of-life (WP2), analysis of EU regulatory and policy requirements for the implementation of the SSbD framework (WP6) and dissemination of results (WP7). Their role in the project is critical to ensure the applicability and effectiveness of the evaluation framework developed by SUNRISE.

Funding

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