Researchers create nanosafety research strategy for the EU

Thu, Jun 20, 2013 07:00 CET

The Finnish Insitute of Occupational Health (FIOH), together with leading European researchers of nanosafety, have produced a research strategy for the European Commission. The strategy outlines the focal points of nanomaterial safety research for the Commission’s 8th framework programme (Horizon 2020). The EU will give approximately 200 million euro to nanosafety research in 2015–2020. The research strategy will be presented to the Commission and to Ireland’s government representatives on Thursday 20 June 2013 in Dublin.

This is the first time that the Commission has asked the nanosafety research community to produce the contents for a nanosafety research funding programme. The strategy was created both to support the Commission’s decision-making and to allocate research funding. The work was led by FIOH.

”We are very proud that the Commission asked us for such an important input into the co-ordination of the nanosafety research strategy within the Horizon 2020 Programme context. We consider it a mark of respect for the work we do,” says Director of both the Nanosafety Research Centre and the NanoSafety Cluster, Kai Savolainen, Research Professor.

Focusing on safety research is essential

The document outlines the requirements of strategic research. The focus should be on research that also aims to determine the characteristics of nanomaterials that may be biologically harmful to both people and the environment.

”The ultimate issue of the whole nano field is the safety of the materials and technologies used. One of the goals of the research is that in the future we will be able to group industrially produced nanomaterials easily and economically according to their characteristics, and that we will be able to anticipate the possible health risks of the materials to consumers and the workers who handle them,” stresses specialist research scientist Lea Pylkkänen from FIOH, who co-ordinated the work on the research strategy.

Nanotechnology is defined as a key enabling technology (KET) in the Horizon 2020 programme. It is also considered a significant field from the perspective of European competitiveness, for example.

Research strategy the product of over one hundred European researchers

FIOH produced the research strategy together with the members of the European Nanosafety Cluster, that is, over a hundred european nanosafety research experts. These represented, for example, exposure and risk assessment, molecular biology, toxicology, and material research. Finnish experts involved were from FIOH, the Universtiy of Eastern Finland, the Tampere University of Technology, the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency, and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. If needed, the strategy can be later updated.

EU funding is crucial for Finnish nanotechnology and nanosafety research and for the existence of the Nanosafety Centre, for example.

”Domestic funding in this field is scarce: Finland does not have a single funding programme that focuses on nanoresearch. Only individual research projects occasionally receive funding from, for example, the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Work Environment Fund,” Savolainen says.

FIOH’s Nanosafety Research Centre is the leading European research centre for the safety of industrial nanoparticle safety, especially in the field of occupational safety.

Ceremonial presentation of the research programme

Research Professor Kai Savolainen will present the 220-page Nanosafety in Europe 2015-2025: Towards Safe and Sustainable Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Innovations research strategy to the European Commission and the representatives of the Irish government on Thursday 20 June in Dublin, Ireland at the NanoSafety Cluster meeting, during the EuroNanoForum 2013 congress. Representing the Commission will be Herbert von Bose, European Commission Research DG Director, Industrial Technologies and Christos Tokamanis, Head of Unit, New Generation Products, Directorate G – Industrial Technologies. Sharon McGuinness, Assistant Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Authority will represent the Irish government.

Further information

Lea Pylkkänen, Specialist Research Scientist, FIOH, Tel +358 30 474 2244, +358 46 850 5076, lea.pylkkanen[at]ttl.fi
Kai Savolainen, Research Professor, FIOH, tel +358 30 474 2200, +358 40 742 0574, kai.savolainen[at]ttl.fi

Nanosafety Research Centre
The most important aim of FIOH’s Nanosafety Research Centre is to ensure the safety of Finnish workplaces that handle nanomaterials.
NanoSafety Cluster
Consortium of projects that promote the safety of nanomaterials, co-ordinated by FIOH and funded by the EU.

Press release 8 April 2013 FIOH’s Nanodevice project is a European success story

The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health researches, develops and specializes in well-being at work. It promotes occupational health and safety and the well-being of workers. It is an independent institution under public law, working under the administrative sector of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. It has six regional offices, and its headquarters are in Helsinki. It employs just under 800 people.