The InnoMatSyn project (“Innovative Materials Ecosystem to Gain Synergies of regional, national and EU Initiatives”) will support the coordination of European, national and regional initiatives in the field of innovative advanced materials towards a materials ecosystem that cover any type of advanced materials (AdMa) and two-dimensional materials (2DM) to accelerate the development and scale up of the materials. The initiative will support the public authorities and funding research and innovation bodies by leveraging synergies between the different research communities and funding opportunities to facilitate the creation of one overarching materials ecosystem. The project will deliver 4 main outcomes: (i) a materials innovation knowledge repository tool capable to connect existing databases at EU, National and regional projects, and to identify possible needs and gaps; (ii) support to national regional funding agencies to create joint calls between funding agencies M-ERA.NET, FLAG-ERA, EUREKA, and EIT’s to facilitate the development and scale up of materials research. iii) an overarching, resilient European R&D&I ecosystem facilitating the cooperation within the different materials-related communities and funding agencies to monitor on-going research and to generate new projects, to run workshops in support of funding calls, and to challenge the knowledge generated in Europe, enabling future initiatives. iv) support EU, national, and regional initiatives with technology leakage risk assessment strategies, generating guidelines and common understanding at regional, national, and EU level to enhance EU sovereignty. Furthermore, InnoMatSyn will engage with all stakeholder groups including citizens, to gain awareness and attention to the potential of innovative materials. Emphasizes will be put on the empowerment by co-creation of skills, supporting and in collaboration with the Advanced Materials Academy, and related partnerships e.g. IAM4EU,‘AI, Data and Robotics'.

SSbD4ChEM brings together stakeholders from industry, government, academia, and civil society to develop and promote best practices for safe and sustainable product and process design, through demonstration in 3 case studies. SSbD4CheM aims to meet the EU's strategic objectives for digital, enabling, and emerging technologies, sectors, and value chains by developing a comprehensive Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework that uses new science-based approaches to identify and address potential hazards and risks, and innovative technologies to support the design of safer and more sustainable products and processes. SSbD4CheM objectives include: 1) SSbD framework to facilitate development of the next generation of chemicals and materials applicable to renewable composites in automotive value chain, PFAS-free coatings for textile and cellulose nanofibers as additive in cosmetics to replace plastic microbeads, 2) Development of efficient hazard screening tools for alternative assessment of next generation chemicals/materials/products combining in silico tools and multicriteria analysis, 3) Advanced explorative ex-ante LCA method supported by molecular and data-driven modelling to fill data gaps for (novel) materials and chemicals, 4) Integration of chemical/(nano-)material characterization methods to assess products’ environmental safety, quantify emissions to support occupational and consumer safety limits, 5) Development of alternative, in vitro models, as part of New Approach Methodologies for adequate exposure scenarios, 6) Harmonization and validation of analytical and toxicological methods for proposition to regulatory and standardization bodies to contribute to the development of new standards and facilitate market acceptance of SSbD4CheM project results, and 7) Enhance overall SSbD4CheM impact through stakeholder engagement, training, dissemination and exploitation and drive industrial innovation.

An increasing number of nanomaterials (NMs) are entering the market in every day products spanning from health care and leisure to electronics, cosmetics and foodstuff. Nanotechnology is a truly enabling technology, with unlimited potential for innovation. However, the novelty in properties and forms of NMs makes the development of a well-founded and robust legislative framework to ensure safe development of nano-enabled products particularly challenging. At the heart of the challenge lies the difficulty in the reliable and reproducible characterisation of NMs given their extreme diversity and dynamic nature, particularly in complex environments, such as within different biological, environmental and technological compartments. Two key steps can resolve this: 1) the development of a holistic framework for reproducible NM characterisation, spanning from initial needs assessment through method selection to data interpretation and storage; and 2) the embedding of this framework in an operational, linked-up ontological regime to allow identification of causal relationships between NMs properties, be they intrinsic, extrinsic or calculated, and biological, (eco)toxicological and health impacts fully embedded in a mechanistic risk assessment framework. ACEnano was conceived in response to the NMBP 26 call with the aim to comprehensively address these two steps. More specifically ACEnano will introduce confidence, adaptability and clarity into NM risk assessment by developing a widely implementable and robust tiered approach to NM physico-chemical characterisation that will simplify and facilitate contextual (hazard or exposure) description and its transcription into a reliable NMs grouping framework. This will be achieved by the creation of a conceptual “toolbox” that will facilitate decision-making in choice of techniques and SOPs, linked to a characterisation ontology framework for grouping and risk assessment and a supporting data management system.

Nano-pharmaceuticals have the potential to drive the scientific and technological uplift, offering great clinical and socio-economic benefits to the society in general, industry and key stakeholders and patients. Nevertheless, affordable and advanced testing, manufacturing facilities and services for novel nano-pharmaceuticals are main prerequisites for successful implementation of these advances to further enhance the growth and innovation capacity. The establishment of current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) in nano-pharmaceutical production at large scale is the key step to transfer successfully the nano-pharmaceuticals from bench to bedside (from lab to industrial scale). Due to the lack of resources to implement GMP manufacturing at-site, the upscaling and production of innovative nano-pharmaceuticals is still challenging to main players of EU nanomedicine market, start-ups and SMEs. To allow successful implementation of the nano-pharmaceuticals in the nanomedicine field, there is an urgent need to establish science- and regulatory-based Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB). PHOENIX aims to enable the seamless, timely and cost-friendly transfer of nano-pharmaceuticals from lab bench to clinical trials by providing the necessary advanced, affordable and easily accessible PHOENIX-OITB. PHOENIX-OITB will offer a consolidated network of facilities, technologies, services and expertise for all the technology transfer aspects from characterization, testing, verification up to scale up, GMP or GMP-like compliant manufacturing and regulatory guidance. PHOENIX-OITB will develop and establish new facilities and upgrade existing ones to make them available to SMEs, starts-up and research laboratories for scale-up, GMP production and testing of nano-pharmaceuticals. The services and expertise provided by the OITB will include production and characterization under GMP conditions, safety evaluation, regulatory compliance and commercialisation boost.

Complex wounds are a global health problem with significant impact on the health care economy. In developed countries alone, they impact the quality of life of more than 2% of total population. Complex wounds, including chronic wounds or major burns, are highly susceptible to microbial infection and biofilm formation, and difficult to treat. Moreover, silver is a widely used metal in antimicrobial products to treat wound infections. However, silver-based products are expensive, and show several drawbacks due to costs, as well as environmental and safety concerns. The NABIHEAL project will develop multifunctional biomaterials, from proof-of-concept (TRL 3) to the preclinical regulatory stage (TRL 5), to improve wound management. The resulting biomaterials will enable affordable treatment of wound infections or prevention of complications during all phases of the wound healing process. In the short and medium term, NABIHEAL will develop at least two innovative multifunctional wound-healing biomaterials, using affordable EU-based manufacturing technologies. In the long term, NABIHEAL could become a game-changing alternative to silver in wound-healing dressings. A consortium comprising 5 SMEs and 9 academic institutions, with expertise in wound healing product development, evaluation and commercialization, nanotechnology, safety, and regulatory affairs, will join forces to address these ambitious objectives.