The report on the 3rd SUN Stakeholder workshop, held on 6 October, 2016 in Edinburgh is now published

The current understanding of the environmental and health risks of manufactured nanomaterials (MN) is still limited, which may result in stagnation of nanotechnology innovation. The EU FP7 Sustainable Nanotechnologies (SUN) project is based on the idea that this knowledge can nevertheless guide nanomanufacturing to avoid liabilities if risk analysis is complemented by a sound socioeconomic analysis in an integrated approach addressing the complete product lifecycle. This is the main rationale behind developing the SUN user-friendly, software-based Decision Support System (SUNDS) for managing the environmental, economic and social impacts of nanotechnologies.
The aim of this workshop was to generate ideas for potential future uses of the SUNDS Decision Support System.

You can download the full report here.

Press release

The results from the 3rd SUN annual meeting showed great advancement of the project. The meeting was held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK on 4-5 October 2016 where the project partners presented the results obtained during the second reporting period of the project.
SUN is a three and a half year EU project, running from 2013 to 2017, with a budget of about €14 million. Its main goal is to evaluate the risks along the supply chain of engineered nanomaterials and incorporate the results into tools and guidelines for sustainable manufacturing.
The ultimate goal of the SUN Project is the development of an online software Decision Support System – SUNDS – aimed at estimating and managing occupational, consumer, environmental and public health risks from nanomaterials in real industrial products along their lifecycles. The SUNDS beta prototype has been released last October, 2015, and since then the main focus has been on refining the methodologies and testing them on selected case studies i.e. nano-copper oxide based wood preserving paint and nano- sized colourants for plastic car part: organic pigment and carbon black. Obtained results and open issues were discussed during the third annual meeting in order collect feedbacks from the consortium that will inform, in the next months, the implementation of the final version of the SUNDS software system, due by March 2017.

Significant interest has been payed towards the results obtained in WP2 (Lifecycle Thinking) which main objectives are to assess the environmental impacts arising from each life cycle stage of the SUN case studies (i.e. Nano-WC-Cobalt (Tungsten Carbide-cobalt) sintered ceramics, Nanocopper wood preservatives, Carbon Nano Tube (CNT) in plastics, Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) as food additive, Nano-Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) air filter system, Organic pigment in plastics and Nanosilver (Ag) in textiles), and compare them to conventional products with similar uses and functionality, in order to develop and validate criteria and guiding principles for green nano-manufacturing. Specifically, the consortium partner COLOROBBIA CONSULTING S.r.l. expressed its willingness to exploit the results obtained from the life cycle assessment analysis related to nanoTiO2 in their industrial applications.

On 6th October, the discussions about the SUNDS advancement continued during a Stakeholder Workshop, where representatives from industry, regulatory and insurance sectors shared their feedback on the use of the decision support system. The recommendations collected during the workshop will be used for the further refinement and implemented in the final version of the software which will be released by March 2017.

SUN survey on priorities in sustainable development of nanomaterials

Please fill out a short online questionnaire soliciting your views on the relative importance of different aspects of risk assessment and sustainable development of nanomaterials based products. This should take about 10-15 minutes. The aspects include occupational and consumer health risks, impacts on public health and environment, life cycle assessment, environmental, economic and social benefits and risks.

Your contribution would be a great help in establishing relative weights of these aspects among industrial, regulatory and insurance sector professionals interested in safe and sustainable governance of nanomaterials in the framework of the SUN project.

Thank you in advance for completing the survey.  Click here to take the survey now.

Contact Ineke Malsch at postbus@malsch.demon.nl if you have any questions or comments.

The international Workshop among experts from Europe, Russia, UK and USA titled “Lifecycle impacts of Copper nanomaterials released from timber preserving impregnations” recentlyheld in Venice, Italy  brought together leading researchers to discuss current results on the topics of release, fate, exposure, effects, lifecycle impacts and health risks of the Cu nanomaterials, covering both experimental and modeling approaches.

The electronic Workshop Proceedings containing extended abstracts of the studies presented during the meeting are available to download from here.

The manuscript “LICARA nanoSCAN – A tool for the self-assessment of benefits and risks of nanoproducts” representing the first tier of the SUN decision support system is now published in the journal Environment International.

You can find here the full publication: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016300575.

SUN fosters international dialogue among top researchers, professionals and young scientists in the field of Nanotechnologies

The EU FP7 SUN Sustainable Nanotechnologies Project has successfully hosted a week of high ranking, international nanotechnology events in Venice in the period 22 – 29 January 2016.

The week started with the international Workshop among experts from Europe, Russia, UK and USA titled “Lifecycle impacts of Copper nanomaterials released from timber preserving impregnations”. Organized by the EU FP7 SUN and ECONANOSORB projects, the Workshop brought together leading researchers to discuss the project results on the topics of release, fate, exposure, effects, lifecycle impacts and health risks of the Cu nanomaterials, covering both experimental and modeling approaches.

“In contrast to the significant benefits from using Cu nanomaterials in timber preserving impregnations, there are considerable societal concerns regarding their environmental impacts and human health risks. This workshop has successfully brought together results from the projects investigating the environmental impacts and health risks of Cu nanomaterials used in timber preserving impregnations”, says Dr. Danail Hristozov, Principal Investigator of the SUN project.

The week continued with the 2nd Sustainable nanotechnology school: a practical approach for understanding the environmental, health and safety implications of manufactured nanomaterials to foster their sustainable applications. The School was designed to revisit and complement the knowledge transferred during its previous edition with a strong focus on laboratory and modelling exercises. Attendees from 18 countries (3 continents) were exposed to top experts working in the fields of environmental, health and safety (EHS) risks and industrial applications of nanomaterials. Organized by the major European EU FP7 SUN project, ECNONOSORB and the MODENA Cost Action, the School proofed to be a very successful collaboration among these initiatives but has also made an important contribution to the training of the new generation of creative and innovative young researchers.
One of the delegates, Neil Hunt from The REACH Centre, UK says: “The School has been a unique opportunity for me as an industry representative, bringing together regulators, industry and academia and to learn about the latest available experimental and modelling approaches for sustainability of nanotechnology and risk governance.”

The busy week concluded with the Roundtable “From nano risk management to risk governance: methods and tools” held on 28 March 2016 at the stately sites of University Ca’ Foscari Venice. Co-organized and supported by the SUN project, Society for Risk Analysis and EU NanoSafety Cluster, the meeting provided a forum for cross-fertilization of current initiatives designed to foster progression of risk assessment and management towards risk governance through integration of traditional risk management tools with risk governance approaches. The participants reviewed the progress of current activities of multiple efforts in the USA and EU and identified areas for future collaboration.

To find out more about the SUN project, go to www.sun-fp7.eu.

About SUN
SUN – Sustainable Nanotechnologies Project – an EU FP7 project, aiming to develop strategies for safe production, handling and disposal covering the complete lifecycle of nano-enabled products and to include the results into practical guidelines for industries.

“Meeting the needs for aged and released nanomaterials required for further testing – the SUN approach” is the successful outcome of numerous discussions and ideas among many SUN partners. The manuscript has been just accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology Journal.

You can find here the full publication: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b04472.

The report on the 2nd SUN Stakeholder workshop, held on 7 October, 2015 in Venice is now published

The current understanding of the environmental and health risks of manufactured nanomaterials (MN) is still limited, which may result in stagnation of nanotechnology innovation. The EU FP7 Sustainable Nanotechnologies (SUN) project is based on the idea that this knowledge can nevertheless guide nanomanufacturing to avoid liabilities if risk analysis is complemented by a sound socioeconomic analysis in an integrated approach addressing the complete product lifecycle. This is the main rationale behind developing the SUN user-friendly, software-based Decision Support System (SUNDS) for managing the environmental, economic and social impacts of nanotechnologies.
Based on previous rounds of stakeholders’ interviews and a workshop, we have built a conceptual decision framework and methodology and started implementing them into the SUNDS software system. This workshop presented the beta prototype of SUNDS to the intended end users: representatives of industry, regulatory and insurance sectors, in order to collect their feedbacks for further improvements towards the implementation of the final version of the software by March 2017.

You can download the full report here.

Results from SUN 2nd annual meeting show great advancement of the project 

During their second annual meeting, held in Venice, Italy on 8-9 October 2015, SUN project partners presented the results obtained during the second 12 months of the SUN – Sustainable Nanotechnologies Project.

SUN is a three and a half year EU project, running from 2013 to 2017, with a budget of about €14 million. Its main goal is to evaluate the risks along the supply chain of engineered nanomaterials and incorporate the results into tools and guidelines for sustainable manufacturing.

The SUN project is based on the idea that the still limited knowledge about environmental and health risks of manufactured nanomaterials (MN) can nevertheless guide nanomanufacturing to avoid liabilities if risk analysis is complemented by a sound socioeconomic analysis in an integrated approach addressing the complete product lifecycle. This is the main rationale behind developing the SUN user-friendly, software-based Decision Support System (SUNDS) for managing the environmental, economic and social impacts of nanotechnologies.

The main highlight of the 2nd annual meeting was the release of SUNDS beta prototype. The SUNDS beta prototype has been presented and discussed during the second SUN stakeholders workshop held on 7 October in Venice, Italy aimed at representatives from industry, regulatory and insurance sectors. The design and implementation of the SUNDS is proceeding according to the work plan. The outlook for the upcoming months include refining the methodology, modules implementation and testing the decision support system on selected case studies (i.e. copper oxide and organic pigments).

 “The SUN Decision Support System represents a blend of most advanced models for human health and ecological risk assessment and for the first time compares the risks from nanotechnologies to their economic and social benefits in order to effectively support risk management decision making by the European nanotechnology industry” explained Dr. Danail Hristozov, the Principal Investigator of SUN.

About SUN
SUN – Sustainable Nanotechnologies Project – an EU FP7 project, aiming to develop strategies for safe production, handling and disposal covering the complete lifecycle of nano-enabled products and to include the results into practical guidelines for industries.