www.gov4nano.eu

NIA is pleased to be part of a significant international consortium, led by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) within the H2020-funded project Gov4Nano.

Gov4Nano will develop the first implementation of a future-proof operational Nano Risk Governance Model (NRGM) that addresses the needs of the transdisciplinary field and innovative (and key enabling) character of nanotechnology.

  • It will explore the potential added value of upcoming tools and approaches such as Findable, Accessible Interoperable and Re-usable (FAIR) databases, data-hackathons, blockchain technology and implementation of Safe-by-Design to achieve adaptive and resilient risk governance.
  • It will support consensus building, prioritization and harmonization of practices amongst stakeholders, with a focus on key aspects for risk governance of nanotechnologies, including risk assessment, risk management, risk perception and risk communication, risk-benefit evaluation, and risk-transfer and the societal desirability of nanotechnology applications.
  • It will include knowledge management and data management, efficiently executed through stakeholder involvement.

Gov4Nano will take into account the particulars of different generations of nano-technologies and risk/benefits/public concerns to develop an integrated approach connecting the scientific, regulatory and market layers and the different actors involved from generation of data and knowledge to application in legislation and standards, and propose the basis for efficient and effective risk governance of nanotechnologies. The Gov4Nano project will design and establish a Nanotechnology Risk Governance Council (NRGC), to create a trustworthy and objective international umbrella for the risk governance of nanotechnologies.

NIA leads work on industrial and regulatory stakeholders and will be a core part of work to develop an international think tank on givernance and the creation of the Risk Governance Council itself.  NIA Members Solvay, BNN, Chemycal and Temasare also part of the team.