Read-across approaches, which are currently absent for NMs, in large part as a result of data fragmentation and inaccessibility, would reduce the cost of nanosafety research and regulation dramatically by removing the need for extensive laboratory and animal testing.
The availability of a nanosafety knowledge infrastructure, that organises and visualises data and data relationships, makes it accessible, integrates computational tools for risk assessment and decision support, enables their validation and facilitates the necessary grouping will be a critical factor in reducing regulatory costs.
The H2020 Infrastructures project, NanoCommons, addresses this gap by creating a community framework and infrastructure for reproducible science, and in particular in silico workflows for nanomaterials and beyond. NanoCommons offers a series of tools and services to help maximise the quality of data and subsequent exploitation under the FAIR principles. This will promote data driven innovation and increase the positive socioeconomic impact from publicly funded research.
