Development of a qualitative SSbD assessment to be applied at the very early stages of Advanced Materials development

The transition toward safe and sustainable chemicals and materials, as outlined in the European Green Deal and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, requires the development of robust assessment frameworks applicable from the early stages of the research and innovation (R&I) process. In response, the European Commission, in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC), proposed the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework—a pre-market, stepwise approach integrating life cycle thinking and sustainability principles. However, existing assessment tools are often limited to later development stages and are not well-suited to support early-stage decision-making, particularly for emerging materials such as advanced materials (AdMa). This thesis contributes, within the Horizon Europe SUNRISE project, to the operationalization of the JRC-SSbD framework by developing a practical tool for companies, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to assess sustainability and functionality of AdMa at early stages of development. The work involved a comprehensive literature review of 29 existing assessment tools, leading to the creation of a structured database of relevant indicators across environmental, social, economic, functionality and additional dimensions such as governance and regulation. An artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted categorisation and expert validation process enabled the comparison between the indicators of the database. A statistical data analysis along with expert judgment enabled the selection of the most relevant indicators, which were then used to formulate a qualitative screening-level questionnaire (i.e., Tier 1a of the SUNRISE tiered approach) for sustainability and functionality. Safety assessment questions of SUNRISE Tier 1a are not part of this work and are developed separately. The resulting questionnaire consists of 11 qualitative questions addressing environmental, social and economic sustainability, as well as functionality. The questions are designed to provide a low-data and low-time required tool for AdMa at early-stages of development. Its applicability was tested through a case study involving a silicon carbide–titanium dioxide (SiC@TiO₂) nanocomposite coating developed, as a sustainable alternative to Teflon, to provide non-stick properties when applied to bread baking trays. Results confirm the tool’s effectiveness in supporting early sustainability and functionality evaluations, thereby aiding decision-making when dealing with AdMa development.