ANTHOS26_Session2-Legislators

ANTHOS’26 – Solutions Session 2: Projects solutions to the needs of Legislators 

Chair: Mar González (OECD)
Co-chairs: Thomas Exner (7p9/NSC WG ROMFS), Emma Strömberg (IVL)

Description:

Providing Solutions in support of Legislation: SSIA and Regulatory Preparedness

Rapid technological development increasingly challenges the ability of legislation to remain effective, proportionate, and future-proof. This session explores how research and innovation projects can act as practical enablers of regulatory preparedness, supporting legislators and regulators in anticipating regulatory gaps, identifying gaps in test methods, and responding to emerging risks while fostering innovation. The session will explore how a Safer and Sustainable Innovation Approach (SSIA), including a Regulatory Preparedness (RP) perspective can assist in governance as an innovation-support tool and how Trusted Environments are essential for regulatory sandboxes which can support “Safe and Sustainable by Design”.

The first part introduces the role of SSIA as an instrument that supports the work of legislators and regulators. Rather than prescribing “SSbD” outcomes, SSIA provides a framework to help identifying gaps in existing regulation, gaps in test guidelines and standards, and early signals of new or emerging risks requiring regulatory attention—thereby clarifying the distinct roles of regulators, innovators, and assessment frameworks.

The second part presents Early4AdMa as a concrete example of how early-stage gathering of information can strengthen regulatory preparedness by providing regulators with timely, decision-relevant evidence before market entry.

The third part focuses on trusted environments and regulatory sandboxes as operational tools that enable experimentation under regulatory oversight, while addressing key challenges related to trust (intellectual property and liability), limited regulatory mandates, and industry engagement.

The session concludes with a discussion on how to operationalize regulatory preparedness tools, including pathways for embedding project outputs into legislative processes, scaling trusted environments, and aligning incentives between regulators and industry.  The increasing awareness by industry of the value of SSbD through all the stages of the life cycle is clear. At the same time industry would like to see the development of an SSbD certification scheme where adherence to the principles of SSbD is acknowledged.

 

Take-home messages

1. Research and innovation projects can function as regulatory intelligence providers, not only technology developers.
2. SSIA supports regulation indirectly by identifying regulatory gaps, and gaps in test methods, and flagging emerging risks—without replacing regulatory decision-making.
3. Early assessment initiatives such as Early4AdMa improve regulatory readiness by delivering actionable evidence before innovation reaches the market.
4. Regulatory sandboxes and trusted environments are key enablers of preparedness but require clear governance, trust mechanisms, and mandates to succeed.
5. Regulatory preparedness and trusted environments are essential for SSIA.

 

Speakers

• Lya Hernandez Soeteman (RIVM)
• Blanca Suarez (TEMAS Solutions GmbH)