Gov4Nano will design and establish a well-positioned and broadly supported Nano Risk Governance Council (NRGC). Organizing, connecting and engaging are key activities in Gov4Nano and its creation of a sustainable NRGC. Gov4Nano will develop an operational trans disciplinary Nano Risk Governance Model (NRGM) for nanotechnologies, building on an established governance framework developed by the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC). Engaging stakeholders (including regulators) to proactively address nano-specific safety and seek dialogue for joint activities. NRGC and its precursor project Gov4Nano will engage, in order to support these activities, with the broad variety of stakeholders across all relevant nano-disciplines (chemical, biocides, food and feed, pharma and medical devices and materials development) and draft a review on our knowledge progress over the last decade whilst initiating dialog. To boost the quality of the dialog it will create a platform for dialogues between stakeholders in a “trusted environment” inclusive of civil society. The NRGC core business is to coordinate, guide and harmonize in order to overcome the fragmentation of current knowledge, information and needs over various sectors and disciplines (workers, consumers/patients, environmental safety) and to prepare the transfer of this knowledge. To that end, the NRGC will be equipped with a self-sustainable NanoSafety Governance Portal (NSGP) consolidating state-of-the-art and progressive nanosafety governance tools including ones for dialogues and measuring risk perception. Major efforts will be towards requirements for data harmonization and data curation to be defined and laid down in guidance on obtaining harmonized and standardized quality-scored data collections promoting a big data approach for nano-toxicology. Research activities will be initiated for regulatory sound knowledge in support of harmonized (OECD) guidance for characterization and testing of nanomaterials.

The main goal of SUNSHINE is to develop and implement S&SbD strategies for products enabled by multi-component (advanced) nanomaterials (MCNM), including high aspect-ratio nanomaterials (HARNs). To this end, the project will generate essential knowledge, tools and data on the exposure, hazard and functionality characteristics of these materials, especially those arising from their unique properties and interactions (e.g. mixture effects due to the multi-component nature of the materials). To facilitate the uptake and utilisation of the S&SbD strategies by industry, especially SMEs, we will deliver them as part of a user-friendly e-infrastructure designed to: (1) facilitate collaboration and information exchange between actors along nanotechnology supply chains (developers, producers, downstream users) to promote the development and implementation of S&SbD strategies for MCNM-based materials, products and processes; (2) support SMEs and large industries in the selection and application of simple, robust and cost-effective experimental, modelling and grouping/read-across approaches to acquire/generate the data needed to test the effectiveness of the S&SbD strategies; (3) enable risk-benefit analysis of the S&SbD-modified materials and products at each stage of the innovation process to ensure that they are safe for the human health and the environment without compromising their technical and/or commercial probability of success The S&SbD strategies that are effective in reducing the risks from MCNMs, while retaining product performance and economic viability, will be proposed for full scale industrial implementation. In addition, the project will contribute to Regulatory Preparedness by providing recommendations on improvement and adaptation of the current regulatory hazard, exposure and risk assessment guidance (e.g. REACH, Biocides, Consumer Products, Food and Feed, Medical Technologies) and standard guidelines (OECD, ISO, CEN) for MCNMs.

The SABYDOMA programme addresses developments in the safety by design (SbD) paradigm by examining four industrial case studies in detail where the TRLs will advance from 4 to 6. Each TRL activity will progress from being lab based at TRL4 to being industry based at TRL6. The TRL4 activity will involve only innovation with regular industrial communication whereas the TRL6 activity will involve industrially located activities with innovation communication. One of the novel themes of this study is to use system control and optimisation theory including the Model Predictive Control (MPC) philosophy to bind the whole subject of SbD from laboratory innovation to the industrial production line and from decision making processes to project governance. An equally important innovative step is the building of high throughput online platforms where nanomaterial (NM) is manufactured and screened at the point of production. The screening signal controls the NM redesign and production in a feedback loop. Screens will involve (a) physiochemical sensing elements (b) in-vitro targets of increasing complexity from the 2D biomembrane to cell-line and more complex cell-line elements; and, (c) multiple in-vitro targets with multiple end-points; developed in current H2020 projects. Two of the industrial studies include composite coating manufacture where the coating’s stability and toxicity will be tested using a flow through microfluidic flow cell system coupled to online screens. This is part of the release and ageing investigations on the NM and NM coatings and the results of these will feed back to the production line design. At every step on the TRL ladder the in-silico modelling will be applied to optimise and redefine the relevant activities. By the same token regulatory and governance principles of SbD will be used to refine the technological development. The final deliverable will be four distinct technologies applying SbD to the four industrial processes respectively.

Global warming resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases has received widespread attention with international action from governments and industries, including a number of collaborative programs, such as SET-Plan, and very recently the International Climate Change hold 2015 in Paris. Key European Commission roadmaps towards 2030 and 2050 have identified Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a central low-carbon technology to achieve the EU’s 2050 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction objectives, although there still remains a great deal to be done in terms of embedding CCS in future policy frameworks. The selective capture and storage of CO2 at low cost in an energy-efficient is a world-wide challenge. One of the most promising technologies for CO2 capture is adsorption using solid sorbents, with the most important advantage being the energy penalty reduction during capture and regeneration of the material compared to liquid absorption. The key objectives of GRAMOFON projects are: (i) to develop and protoype a new energy and cost-competitive dry separation process for post-combustion CO2 capture based on innovative hybrid porous solids Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and Graphene Oxide nanostructures. (ii) to optimize the CO2 desorption process by means of Microwave Swing Desorption (MSD) and Joule effect, that will surpass the efficiency of the conventional heating procedures. This innovative concept will be set up by world key players expert in synthesis, adsorption, characterization and modelling, as well as process design and economic projections.