From 18-19 September 2024, the in-person Annual Conference GSRS24, the 14th Global Summit on Regulatory Science, took place in Little Rock, Arkansas (US). The Global Summit on Regulatory Science (GSRS) is an international conference for discussion of innovative technologies and partnerships to enhance translation of basic science into regulatory applications within the global context. The conference provides an opportunity for scientists from government, industry, and academic-research communities to objectively assess the utility of emerging technologies (such as nanotechnology, imaging, omics for translational science, personalized medicine, medical product safety, and food safety) for addressing regulatory-research questions and to discuss the best way to translate these technologies into real-world applications. The conference provides a platform where regulators, policy makers, and bench scientists from various countries can exchange views on how to develop, apply, and implement innovative methodologies into regulatory assessments in their respective countries, as well as harmonizing strategy via global collaboration. To engage the global community to address regulatory-science research and training needs, GSRS is annually held in different countries.
The 2024 edition of the conference was hosted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Global Coalition for Regulatory Science Research (GCRSR), which is comprised of regulatory-science leaders from around the world. The theme for GSRS24 was “Digital Transformation in Regulatory Science”. There were workshops and platform presentations from scientists representing United States, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, a poster session showcased 35 posters addressing a broad range of topics beyond digital technology. Around 200 participants attended the conference, including more than 50 international participants from 15 countries.
Barry Hardy and Connor Hardy (Edelweiss Connect (EwC)) were invited to participate in the conference, as an ongoing collaboration between EwC, FDA and other regulatory agencies. They had a poster entitled “Safe and Sustainable by Design Framework supporting Product Design, Risk Assessment and Life Cycle Analysis”, with all project partners acknowledged. In their poster, shared insight on our framework and workflow for Safe and Sustainable Product Design. It described the work carried out during the initial phase of the project to define the SSbD4CheM framework for Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD). The goal of the framework is to provide structured knowledge guidance on the organisation of SSbD tasks as carried out in case studies. The framework specifies the project’s strategy, methodology and concepts for implementation against SSbD goals. SSbD4CheM’s strategy involves a tiered iterative approach to SSbD with all activities described in workflows documenting case study tasks, results and decisions.
Approximately 150 people visited their poster, mainly regulatory scientists, but also representatives of national and international authorities, which enabled valuable outreach discussions with stakeholders to obtain valuable feedback and suggestions, including potential collaboration and extension of the framework implementation to additional case studies.


