On 3–4 November 2026, the PINK project, BIO-SUSHY project and the NanoSafety Community (NSC) will jointly organise a Workshop on SSbD Project Legacy in Brussels, bringing together representatives of Horizon Europe projects working on SSbD and closely related advanced materials topics. The workshop builds on the 6th SSbD Conference and the SSbD Horizon Europe Projects Networking Event organised by the European Commission in March 2026 (see also article here) and will take place immediately before the European Commission’s Feedback-to-Policy (F2P) Stakeholder Workshop on 4–5 November.
The timing is particularly relevant. Many of the first generation of Horizon Europe projects working on SSbD are approaching their final phase. Together, these projects have created a considerable portfolio of methodologies, digital tools, FAIR data resources, demonstrators, standards-related activities, stakeholder networks and other capabilities. The question is increasingly shifting from what the individual projects have achieved to what should remain after they end.
The Brussels workshop will therefore focus on three questions: What is the collective legacy of Europe’s SSbD projects ? Which elements should be sustained and further developed ? And how can this legacy be embedded within the wider European SSbD and advanced materials ecosystem ?
Rather than presenting individual projects, participants will work together to identify priority legacy elements and explore how collaboration, long-term stewardship, existing European initiatives and future support mechanisms could help take them forward. Importantly, concrete follow-up actions should already start during the projects’ remaining lifetime in 2027, while the expertise, networks and collaborative structures are still in place.
From legacy to policy
The two events address related questions, but from different perspectives: The SSbD Project Legacy Workshop starts from the projects themselves. Its focus is on identifying valuable results and capabilities, exploring how they can be sustained beyond individual project lifetimes, and translating these discussions into concrete collaborative actions, responsibilities and a shared SSbD Legacy Roadmap.
The Feedback-to-Policy Workshop, co-organised by DG RTD and HaDEA, takes a broader perspective across European research and innovation. It brings together project representatives, policy experts and European Commission officials to examine how knowledge and experience generated through EU-funded projects can better inform future European research and innovation policy.
The events are therefore intended to be complementary: the Legacy Workshop asks what should be carried forward from the SSbD projects and how; the Feedback-to-Policy Workshop asks what Europe can learn from funded projects for future R&I policy. The outcomes of the Legacy Workshop – including a Legacy Map, Action Register and SSbD Legacy Roadmap – are expected to provide input to this wider policy discussion and to the preparation of a joint statement or policy brief.
In this way, the two Brussels meetings provide an opportunity to connect project legacy with future policy: preserving valuable capabilities created through Horizon Europe while ensuring that lessons learned from their development and implementation contribute to the next phase of SSbD in Europe.
Further information:
Workshop on SSbD Project Legacy – PINK event page
