On 25 November 2025, the Collab4Resilience (C&R) network met for its second online networking workshop. 17 participants representing 9 EU-funded projects gather to further build on the KOM from April 2025, and aiming to strengthen collaboration between projects and enhance their visibility and outreach activities.

The meeting was opened by the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, coordinator of the CheMatSustain project and leader of the initiative. They provided a brief overview of the network’s progress to date and recent developments within CheMatSustain. This was followed by a short presentation from the University of Bologna introducing the CheMatSustain Facility, the project’s key output, launched in 2025.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the “What We’re Proud Of” round, during which each project highlighted recent developments and achievements. Afterthat, we dive into a more interactive session with a digital mural to gather ideas for future communication activities—ranging from social media initiatives to joint events—as well as a knowledge-sharing activity to identify tangible collaboration opportunities.

The workshop concluded with a forward-looking discussion on plans for 2026, setting out practical next steps to strengthen communication, share resources, and foster mutual support.

Overall, the event demonstrated strong interest in further developing the community. 

Agenda of the meeting.

The EU funded project PLANETS applies the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework, to develop and demonstrate safer, more sustainable alternatives to existing substances of concern in different applications: surfactants, flame retardants and plasticizers.

For one of the plasticizers applications, to better understand (parents’) expectations and preferences regarding baby products such as spoons and teethers, PLANETS has created this anonymous survey. We would be very thankful to get your opinion!

At the end of October (28-30.10.) over 50 participants from 16 different countries gathered in Ispra (Italy) to learn more about the new advances in “Safe and Sustainable by Design”. This boot camp united stakeholders from different fields (LCA, safety experts etc.) and various institutions: research centres, universities, consultants, SMEs, and large industry.

Katharina Lang-Hogrefe from BNN also took part in the boot camp, to get up to date with latest activities in SSbD and transferring the knowledge also to PLANETS.

On 5 November 2025, the PLANETS consortium organised an internal training session on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (eLCA). The session began with an introduction to the topic and went on to explain the different phases of eLCA in detail, starting with Goal & Scoping. Participants learned about different databases and their particularities, how to apply prospective LCA to earlier stages of innovation, and how to generate endpoints and midpoints from elementary flows. We also briefly discussed how different characterisation factors influence impact assessment, and learnt how to address uncertainty using sensitivity analysis. Participants performed an interactive exercise on building an inventory (LCI) on a specific example of paints.

Highlights of the workshop

The session was moderated by Martin Himly (PLUS), the leader of the training work package within PLANETS. He introduced the session by outlining its objectives, structure and background information. Thomas Henniquin (TNO) explained the four main phases of an eLCA, delving into each one: Goal & Scope, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), and Interpretation. The participants performed an interactive exercise on a specific example of paints for inventory (LCI) building, divided into break-out groups.

Thomas provided further insight into databases, multifunctionality and prospective LCA. Loelia Fohet (IPC) then introduced the concept of LCIA, including characterisation factors (CF), and led the attendees in a discussion about interpreting results as part of an interactive poll to gain experience in interpreting results. The final part of the training focused on dealing with uncertainty using sensitivity analysis, which is relevant for interpreting results.

Following PLANETS partners were involved in the preparation of this training: Thomas Hennequin (TNO), Carla Caldeira (SQO), Loelia Fohet (IPC), Laura Magnasco (RINA), Poornima Nagesh (RU), Stephanie Desrousseaux (CEA), Eva Hahn (Wacker), Beatriz Alfaro Serrano (BNN), and Martin Himly (PLUS) .

 Training Materials – In preparation

Building on the insights from this internal training, PLANETS has developed external training materials as an introduction to eLCA. These materials include:

• Presentation slides
• A pdf of the collaborative whiteboard of an exercise on inventory building
• Recording of the training. Additionally, recording of one of the break-out rooms (led by Laura Magnasco, RINA) 

All training materials are available in the PLANETS community on Zenodo under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, allowing for redistribution and reuse with proper credit to the creators. You can access them here, with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19472916.

Additionally, all recorded sessions can be viewed on the PLANETS YouTube channel.

From 10-12 November 2025, PLANETS’ partners took part in the 2nd Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) Conference – SSbD25, held in Zurich, Switzerland. The event, organised by IRISS project – the International SSbD Community – and Empa, brought together researchers, industry representatives, and policymakers to exchange knowledge and advance the implementation of SSbD principles across sectors.

The PLANETS consortium was well represented, with partners including Sébastien Artous (CEA), Ayse Ay and Wendel Wohlleben (BASF), as well as Benjamin Punz and Martin Himly (PLUS).

During the conference, Ayse Ay presented a poster on the SSbD assessment of alternative flame retardants for use in plastic insulation foams, showcasing PLANETS’ contribution to developing safer and more sustainable materials. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17593867.

Wendel gave an oral presentation entitled “Innovators tailor the SSbD implementation via SSbD scenarios“. In his presentation, Wendel explained how innovators can adapt SSbD to their specific context. It introduces rules for tailoring SSbD based on key scoping factors—novelty, sector, and innovation goals—and economic aspects such as R&D budget, maturity, and expected value. From these, archetypal scenarios arederived that reveal where economic incentives support tailored SSbD approaches, offering clear guidance for innovators.

It was a great opportunity to reconnect with the broader SSbD community, share insights, and discuss the path forward towards sustainable innovation.

A big thank you to the organisers for an inspiring event – we’re already looking forward to next year’s edition!

Conference programm available here.

After a year of intensive collaboration, PLANETS partners gathered on 15–16 October 2025 for the M12 General Assembly in the historic and picturesque city of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

During the Assembly, all project partners shared updates on the progress achieved across the various work packages over the last 6 months. The sessions fostered constructive discussions on key developments and strategic directions for the next six months of the project.

In addition to the work package updates, dedicated parallel sessions were organised for the case studies on surfactants, flame retardants, and plasticizers. These sessions focused on technical progress, data collection, and coordination of ongoing activities.

Aligned with the General Assembly, a joint session with the sister projects was held— AlchemiSSts, BIOSAFIRE, DESIDERATA, and RADAR. Each project gave a brief presentation to lay the groundwork for closer future collaboration. PLANETS will be introduced as well during the next GA of each sister project.

The agenda also featured a presentation by Ronald Flipphi from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, who provided valuable insights from a policymaker’s perspective on Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD). 

Special thank you goes to our colleagues at TNO for hosting an excellent meeting and extending warm hospitality, allowing all participants to experience a touch of Dutch culture throughout the meeting.

Some impressions from the meeting:

On 10 September 2025, PLANETS consortium organised an internal training on Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, with an introduction to the topic and theoretical background, with the main aim of harmonising the consortium’s understanding on this topic, particularly among innovators and industrial partners who are not directly involved in the project.

Highlights of the workshop

The session was moderated by Martin Himly (PLUS), who leads the training work package within PLANETS. He introduced the session, outlining the objectives and structure of the training, as well as background information.

Carla Caldeira (SYENSQO) introduced to SSbD and Life Cycle thinking. Loelia Fohet (IPC) and Thomas Hennequin (TNO) talked about environmental dimension (E-LCA). Laura Magnasco (RINA) was in charge of the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and the social LCA (S-LCA). Finally, Eva Hahn (WACKER) talked about making decisions with LCA results.

During the break-out sessions, an interactive whiteboard exercise (prepared by Beatriz Alfaro (BNN)) was performed with the participants, to practice on functional units and reference flows.

An interactive poll was also performed with the participants, to get some insight into their level of experience with LCA and the challenges they encountered so far.

 Training Materials

Building on the insights from this internal training, PLANETS has developed external training materials as an introduction to LCA. These materials include:

• Presentation slides, with an LCA introduction giving also insight into life cycle cost (LCC) and social LCA
• A pdf of the collaborative white board used during the break-outs where process flows, functional unit and reference flows were determined
• Recording  [YouTube video]

All training materials are available in the PLANETS community on Zenodo under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, allowing for redistribution and reuse with proper credit to the creators. You can access them here, with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17399294.

Additionally, all recorded sessions can be viewed on the PLANETS YouTube channel.

On 8 October 2025, the 3rd Austrian Life Science Day took place in Linz, Austria, bringing together stakeholders to discuss solutions for making the healthcare and medical technology sectors more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

The event was organised by the Medical Technology Cluster (MTC) Upper Austria, with the support of Life Science Austria (LISA), Human.Technology.Styria, Innovation.Salzburg, LISAvienna, ECOplus and the Standortagentur Tirol.

The PLANETS project was represented by Martin Himly (PLUS) and Andreas Falk (BNN). Martin Himly delivered an oral presentation entitled “Methodological developments and challenges in the implementation of current safety and sustainability concepts“, focused on Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) and data FAIRness in the advanced materials and chemicals innovation markets. His presentation was based on research and insights generated within the PLANETS and PINK projects.

Further information and highlights from the event are available on the Business Upper Austria website.

The BioNanoNet community gathered in Linz, Austria on 7 October 2025 to discuss how advanced technologies and sustainable industrial practices are being translated into the life sciences sector.  

The BioNanoNet Annual Forum 2025 took place at the LIT Open Innovation Center in the vibrant city of Linz, where four of our members graciously co-hosted and welcomed us to their facilities. Attendees were treated to site tours at Johannes-Kepler-University (JKU) IPC Institute, Competence Center CHASE, RECENDT and Wood K plus. The partners shared fascinating insights into their R&D work, including different methods for non-destructive testing, the production of sustainable polymers, a showcase of polymer waste recycling, and possible applications of bacterial cellulose. 

The forum started with a welcome by Alberta Bonanni, vice-rector of JKU, highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation and was followed by keynotes from Dr. Michael Egermeier, Wood K plus (“Bacterial Cellulose Emerging as Novel Material for Advanced Applications”), Dr. Markus Brandstetter, RECENDT (“Bio-Nano-Med & Chemical Analytics at RECENDT”), and Patrick Pammer, CHASE (“Upgrading Plastic Wastes to Industrial Feedstocks”).  

After the 4 site visits, the group reconvened in the LIT Open Innovation Center for a Life Science Session spanning a wide range of topics starting with a talk by Werner Haselmayr, JKU, on the “Internet of Bio-Nano Things: Extending Connectivity to Unconventional Domains”. Max Sonnleitner, CEO of Genspeed Biotech, shared his insights from years of experience  on how to bring an innovative idea  to a final product in diagnostics. This was complemented by a perspective from BNN’s regulatory specialist Daniel García emphasizing the need for innovation support including regulations.  

The second session was dedicated to Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) with updates from current and past projects as well as newly established methodologies.  Milica Velimirovic of VITO presented the first case study with “Applying the SSbD4CheM Toolbox in Case Studies for Sustainable Material Design”. Danail Hristozov of GreenDecision presented new methodologies from the project SUNRISE and the NSC Community with his talk “SSbD in the NSC field – Tiered SSbD approach and e-infrastructure”. Next, Martin Himly of PLUS presented PINK and PLANETS projects, showing fascinating work on how to implement SSbD in concrete industrial chemicals and materials value chains. Finally, Andreas Barth of Wood K plus shared the lessons learned and opportunities of Social LCA within the SSbD Framework and put a spotlight on this oft-underrepresented dimension of SSbD.   

The highlight of the event was the final Networking Pitch Session, moderated by BNN’s Clemens Wolf. Fifteen members had a single slide and 30 seconds to pitch their expertise and seek collaboration opportunities. It was a lively session showcasing the great diversity and potential within the BNN network, and it sparked lots of ideas and initiated new connections!  

The evening ended with a networking buffet and drinks. As always, we greatly enjoyed the time with all participants and especially getting to see the facilities of JKU, CHASE, RECENDT and Wood K plus.

Agenda of the event. 

Some impressions of the day:

Innovating with Purpose: A Hands-on Journey into Functional, Safe and Sustainable Advanced Materials

Every year, usually, a vibrant community of young researchers and seasoned experts convenes in the historic centre of Venice for the Venice School. The 13th edition of the Venice Training School took place from 9th to 13th June 2025 to focus on advancing knowledge and practice in Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) assessment and decision-making for advanced materials (AdMa) and chemicals, and explore cutting-edge methodologies for ensuring the safety, functionality, and sustainability of innovative materials.