Although previous EU funded projects have defined tools and concepts to ensure safety of nano-enabled products through design, many hurdles still hinder the implementation of these procedures in real production processes. ASINA will use the production value chains (VCs) of two representative categories of nano-enabled products (NEPs): coatings in environmental (clean) nanotechnology and nano-encapsulating systems in cosmetics, to formulate design hypothesis and make design decisions by applying a data-driven approach and methodology (the “ASINA-SMM”). Molded on industrial six sigma practices, the ASINA-SMM can be easily adopted by manufactures to deliver NEPs designed to be as safe as possible, so achieving ASINA vision to increase stakeholders (entrepreneurs, scientists, regulators, innovators, policy makers, consumers) confidence in SbD nanomanufacturing. The methodology encompasses distinct phases that ASINA will follow to deliver SbD solutions and supporting tools, at TRL6: define NEP, its intended use, production technologies and known quality, safety and cost requirements; measure performance attributes (techno-economic features, hazard and exposure potential along the entire life cycle) in relation to material (M) and process (P) design options; analyse data gathered from internal and external sources and derive/combine response functions, to identify the best compromise between possible design options; design new versions of the product/process that minimise risk, maximising performance; establish a pilot action to verify the capacity of ASINA-SMM to deliver practical, relevant, reliable and reproducible M- or P-SbD solutions. By its end, ASINA will provide a roadmap to generalise ASINA-SMM, and maximizing the positive impacts of further products, designed to improve environmental quality and human health/wellness, offering the transparency required to promote consumer acceptance and, as a consequence, the growth of reference industrial sectors.

In line with the current guidelines for Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) chemicals and materials, INTEGRANO proposes a general assessment approach based on quantitative evidence to be applied in practice for specific Nano Materials (NMs) design cases referred to inorganic, organic and carbon NMs. The development NMs dedicated novel impact categories (ICs) for nano-toxicity and eco-nano-toxicity assessment will enable the integrated application of standardised assessment methodologies. The following four NMs Life Cycle Stages (LCS) are addressed: synthesis, incorporation, use phase and end-of-life. The application of the stage-gate SSbD process through the LCS addresses performance in the five dimensions (5D s): Safety, Environmental, Economic, Social and Functional. Generation of dedicated response functions will allow associating Key Decision Factors (KDFs, such as: concentrations, processing parameters, etc.) to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs, such as: occupational safety, CO2 emissions, job creation potential, NM cost, antibacterial functionality, etc.). SSbD NMs solutions will be obtained by Multi Objective Optimisation Design (MOOD) dedicated algorithm. A dedicated digital Decision Support Toolbox (DST) will elaborate design case specific data and run MOOD algorithm to sort the set of multi-optimal SSbD options, which are simultaneously complying with all the targeted KPIs referred to the 5Ds. The digital supported decision process will help scientists, material engineers, Nano-Enabled Products (NEPs) designers, policymakers and decision-makers to takle the SSbD challenge, allowing for dramatic reduction of Research & Development (RTD) and approval lead-time as well as minimising costs and increasing the transparency of the data, by making the industrial uptake of nanotechnologies more sustainable and viable. INTEGRANO allows the integration with other existing SSbD frameworks by transposing results into other scoring metrics and enabling data exchange.