Held from 09-11 March 2026 in Vienna, ANTHOS’26 gathered over 120 experts to advance dialogue on Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) for Advanced Materials (AdMa). Participants from academia, industry, policy, and regulatory bodies explored ways to align stakeholder needs (i.e., the initiators, the legislators, regulators and implementors) with the solutions that SSbD provides. Key discussions highlighted challenges such as data gaps, complexity, and limited SME uptake. EU-funded projects presented tools, AI approaches, and tiered assessments to support decisions at early-stages. A strong focus was placed on collaboration, regulatory readiness, and pragmatic tools, reinforcing SSbD as a driver for innovation, sustainability, and competitive advantage in Europe.
The event was organised by BNN, and supported by the NSC and 12 EU- and national-funded projects (AI-TranspWood, AlChemiSSts, ATIMA, BIOSAFIRE, CheMatSustain, InnoMatSyn, INTEGRANO, PINK, PLANETS, SSbD4CheM, SUNRISE, TOXBOX), as well as two Austrian Ministries (BMIMI and BMLUK).
Across three days, the summit created a collaborative platform to exchange knowledge and showcase tools, methodologies, and case studies; discussions highlighted key challenges for SSbD implementation, including limited awareness—particularly among SMEs—data gaps, methodological complexity, and unclear economic incentives. Stakeholders emphasized the need for pragmatic, user-friendly tools, improved data sharing, and stronger links between research, regulation, and industry.
Sessions and roundtables addressed the perspectives of initiators, legislators, regulators, and implementors. A recurring message was the importance of shifting from reactive compliance to proactive, design-led innovation. Solutions presented by EU projects demonstrated how digital tools, AI, tiered assessment strategies, and life-cycle thinking can support early-stage decision-making and reduce risks and costs.
The summit also underlined the importance of regulatory preparedness, trusted environments, and cross-sector collaboration. Concepts such as regulatory sandboxes, standardized data formats, and the role of SSbD ambassadors emerged as key enablers for wider adoption.
ANTHOS’26 concluded with a forward-looking discussion stressing the need for incentives, education, and coordinated action to scale SSbD. The event successfully strengthened collaboration across the community and set the stage for future innovation in safe and sustainable materials.
SSbD4CheM had a very active role in the conference:
- Several partners were involved in the Organising Committee (Andreas Falk, Beatriz Alfaro (BNN), Milica Velimirovic (VITO), Ivana Burzic (WOOD K plus)),
- and in the Scientific Committee (Andreas Falk, Milica Velimirovic, Ivana Burzic).
- Andreas Falk, Antje Biesemaier (LIST) and Barry Hardy (EwC) reviewed the poster abstracts.
- BNN (Andreas Falk) was the main moderator of the conference.
- Andreas Falk was speaker and panellist in the Solutions Session 2 (Legislators) representing the NSC.
- Milica Velimirovic was Co-chair of the Solutions Session 4 (Scientific Implementators).
- The project roll up was exposed all throught the conference in the projects area, next to the SSbD4CheM booth.
- Oral presentations:
- Milica presented the project in the BioNanoNet Networking event
- Yvonne Kohl (Fraunhofer) supported Pamina Weber (LIST) to prepare presentation in Session 4 (scie. Implementors) – “Bridging in silico, in chemico, in vitro assessments for SSbD-driven advanced materials and chemicals innovation – where do we stand – what is next – what can we reach?“, presented by Ivana Burzic
- Barry Hardy gave an oral presentation in the Solutions Session 3 (Regulators), entitled “In silico methods and AI developments”, presenting the goals of the project with regulatory acceptance.
- Posters:
- Ondrej Panak (NIC) in collaboration with AHAVA had a poster on the cosmetic CS, entitled “SSbD Assisted Implementation of Nanocellulose Additives in Skin Care Products“. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19368571.
- LIST/Fraunhofer (Antje Biesemeier, Yvonne Kohl) had a poster on CNC characterisation in vitro experiments, entitled “Multimodal characterization of the safety and sustainability of cellulose nanoparticles in 2D and 3D in vitro model“.
- Florian Meier (Postnova) had a poster on CNC characterization ,entitled “A multi-analytical approach for guiding the safe and sustainable use of cellulose nanomaterials“. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19367261.
- KORTEKS (Onur Celen and Mine Turkay) has a poster on “Advancing Safe and Sustainable Textile Materials in the SSbD4CheM Project: Industrial Production of Virgin PET, Recycled PET (r -PET) and Bio-Based PLA Yarns“, that was presented by Ondrej.
- Additionally Florian, Ondrej presented their posters in the Poster Pitch Session
- The project also had a booth, sponsored by WOOD K plus, were we were able to showcase different test-products (SPF lotions, facial creams, facial mud mask) based on nanocellulose created by the project (AHAVA). Visitors were super interested in our creations!
Read a full recap of the three impactful days here.
