SUNRISE Annual Meeting 2026 in Bilbao
SUNRISE convened at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao (Spain) from April 21 to April 23 for the SUNRISE Annual Meeting 2026. Funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, the three-day summit successfully fostered deep collaboration across the consortium to advance the Integrated Impact Assessment Approach (IIAA) and align it with the EU's Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework.
Day 1: Setting the Foundation
The summit opened on Tuesday afternoon with project overviews by Danail Hristozov (EMERGE), followed by foundational presentations on the Revised SSbD Framework by Irantzu Garmendia Aguirre (EC Joint Research Centre) and the IIAA roadmap by Lisa Pizzol (GreenDecision). The core of the day featured three technical, "real talk" workshops designed to construct the building blocks of the framework:
Workshop 1 (EHS Assessment): Led by Alberto Katsumiti and Andrea Brunelli, focusing on environmental, health, and safety criteria, indicators, and thresholds.
Workshop 2 (Sustainability): Led by Tianran Ding and Carlos Gomez, examining sustainability assessment methods and their integration into ongoing tasks.
Workshop 3 (Advanced Materials): Co-chaired by Lisa Pizzol and Danail Hristozov, exploring Tier 2 developments, MCDA methodologies, and alignment with the latest JRC revisions.
The technical sessions concluded with critical feedback from the External Advisory Board, including insights from member Wendel Wohlleben, before attendees headed into Bilbao's Old Town for a social dinner featuring local tastes.
Day 2: Co-Creation and Industry Implementation
The morning began with a stakeholder engagement update from Chara Agaoglou and Stella Stoycheva, seamlessly transitioning into a buzzing, interactive co-creation workshop. Local and regional stakeholders got hands-on experience, testing early-stage screening logic and the digital environment for Tier 1 SSbD assessments in real-time.
In the afternoon, the focus moved to commercial viability. Chaired by Carlos Fito and María Rivero García, Workshop 5 highlighted how the framework tackles real-world data gaps and drives sustainability improvements across three major case studies. Presentations were delivered by Laurentia Technologies (Alberto Lopera López and María Rivero García), COMPLIFE GROUP (Stefano Manfredini and Andrea Brunelli), and Centro Tecnológico Lurederra (Itziar Polanco Garriz). Following further External Advisory Board feedback, Work Package leaders closed out the day with a Steering Board Meeting to map out the coming months.
Day 3: Policy and Future Impact
The final day tackled the critical challenge of ensuring SUNRISE's lab research actively reshapes European policy and industry standards. Stella Stoycheva kicked off the morning with strategies for dissemination, exploitation, and future training events, ensuring the project's tools reach the right hands. For those who missed our Venice School, it’s coming back in 2027!
Following this, James Baker and Blanca Suarez-Merino led an essential session on SSbD Policy Implementation. This workshop navigated the regulatory landscape for SUNRISE case studies, the establishment of "Trusted Environments" for data sharing.
The meeting officially wrapped up with strategic project management updates from Serenella Rizzieri and Hildegard Luhmann, and closing reflections from Hubert Rauscher and Danail Hristozov. The project leaders reinforced SUNRISE's role as a vital pioneer within the broader European SSbD ecosystem. Attendees departed Bilbao with strengthened partnerships and a renewed, shared roadmap to establish "Safe and Sustainable by Design" as the new global gold standard for advanced materials.
