Safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) for nanotechnology: scientific foundations, global policy perspectives, and industrial practice

Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) is emerging as a transformative framework for integrating safety and sustainability with functionality in nanotechnology. This review provides a unified perspective on SSbD, bridging its scientific foundations, global policy developments, and industrial implementation. We highlight how advances in mechanistic understanding of nanomaterial-biological interactions enable earlier and more predictive safety assessment, supporting informed material design. At the policy level, evolving regulatory and governance approaches across regions are shaping the integration of sustainability and safety requirements. From an industrial perspective, SSbD is driving innovation in material substitution, process optimization, and lifecycle-oriented design. Despite this progress, challenges remain in standardization, data integration, and alignment between regulatory frameworks and industrial practice. This work positions SSbD as a central paradigm for enabling responsible innovation and accelerating the transition toward safer and more sustainable nanotechnologies.