Safe-by-design for materials and chemicals: Towards an innovation programme in Horizon Europe

In the global transition to a safe and circular economy, the EU can play a leading role by developing innovative, safer and sustainable materials, chemicals, products and services. EU innovation policy, as a complement to chemicals policy, could stimulate the development and adoption of such innovations. An informal working group of experts from government, academia and industry has developed a non-paper about the main topics for an innovation programme, in Horizon Europe or other European programmes, that could accelerate the design, development and adoption of safer alternatives to new and existing applications (materials, chemicals, products and services) where safety hazards (may) arise. The document proposes three funding areas for a Horizon Europe programme: developing and improving methodologies for safe (re)design of chemicals and materials to ensure that toxicity and other lifecycle considerations (including circularity) are integrated into design processes; thematic Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) to overcome technical and scientific challenges in areas where it has been difficult to find safer alternatives; creating an enabling environment: Knowledge exchange, education and supply chain cooperation to set up safe-by-design as a new interdisciplinary approach.