SSbD25: Building bridges across the SSbD Community

The second edition of the annual SSbD Conference kicked off on Monday, 10 November, bringing together researchers, industry representatives, and policymakers for three days of exchange and collaboration on Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD).

Organised by IRISS and Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, the conference was held at Empa’s conference facility in Dübendorf, Switzerland.

Each day opened with inspiring keynote presentations, including guest speakers Joel Tickner (University of Massachusetts Lowell, Change Chemistry), Irantzu Garmendia (European Commission’s Joint Research Center), and Winfried Bulach (Merck Life Science).

A maturing field with work ahead

SSbD25 welcomed 125 participants from 20 countries and featured 108 presentations showcasing conceptual and practical perspectives related to the SSbD framework, allowing participants from diverse sectors and at different levels of experience to share insights, recommendations, challenge assumptions, and build new connections. The wide range of contributions reflected a field that is steadily maturing:

– Compared to previous years, the projects presented at SSbD25 showed a higher level of maturity, revealing both the challenges and the real possibilities for implementation, says Emma Strömberg, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

A panel session on the second day gathered experts from policy, industry, and research, including representatives from the European Commission’s JRC, RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Cefic, TEMAS Solutions, GreenDecision, and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

This interactive session was particularly well received, and a key takeaway from the discussion was the importance of cross-sectorial alignment going forward:

– There is still important work to be done in developing a common language and sharing solutions across different disciplines and sectors, including industry and academia, says Emma Strömberg.

The discussions at SSbD25 also brought up emerging topics, including the growing role of digitalisation and artificial intelligence for handling complex data and supporting decision-making across value chains.

Newcomers brought fresh energy

The presence of students, early-career researchers, and other newcomers to the SSbD community added fresh energy to the event, as noted by Alexander Björling, from SSbD Consulting:

– It was refreshing to see newcomers attending the SSbD conference. It shows the SSbD concept is a topic of interest and growing, being discussed and understood from different perspectives. To see more students and PhDs joining in is a promising sign as the coming work force is willing to take on the concept and develop it further as we are tackling the challenges of making SSbD stick. The students will be playing a crucial role in the future SSbD multidisciplinary work force.

Building bridges for a stronger community

Reflecting on the broader impact of the event, Lya Soeteman-Hernandez from RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands, emphasises the importance of strengthening collaboration and continuing the dialogue beyond the conference:

– My takeaway from SSbD25 is that building bridges and introducing cross-sectorial collaborations is starting to catch on. We had academia and policy and industry discussing and embracing one another's point of views in SSbD and other challenges, at least at the conference. I think it's important we keep this community vibe we had at the conference where we are all working together and spread it outside the conference walls even more, through, for example, the IRISS International SSbD Community platform, where science, policy, and industry meet up close.

Building on the success of SSbD25, IRISS is excited to continue the conference next year with the third edition, SSbD26, to be held in Stockholm. We look forward to welcoming everyone working with SSbD to continue the exchange. In the meantime, we invite you to join us by becoming a member of the IRISS International SSbD Community.