PFAROS is a European initiative aimed at accelerating the transition away from PFAS substances in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. In line with the EU’s public health, environmental, and industrial policy objectives, PFAROS is developing safe, scalable, and regulatory-compliant alternatives, ensuring that innovation in healthcare goes hand in hand with sustainability.

PFAROS’s mission is to replace PFAS in medical and pharmaceutical applications through an interdisciplinary approach that combines validated alternatives, advanced degradation and waste management technologies, and data science to support well-informed replacement measures and policy initiatives.

At the heart of PFAROS is a policy-based, AI-driven data tool that maps the use of PFAS, identifies viable alternatives, and integrates data on life cycle, exposure, and toxicology—enabling evidence-based policy and regulatory decisions. Combined with broad stakeholder engagement and the integration of social sciences, the project ensures a fair and well-informed transition away from PFAS.

PFAROS will ultimately pave the way for a PFAS-free future for Europe’s healthcare systems by:

   - Develop an integrated testing and evaluation framework to implement the SSbD method for PFAS replacement;

   - Provide validated, industry-ready PFAS alternatives to ensure rapid adoption;

   - Enable data-driven decision-making through an AI-powered PFAROS data tool tailored to support the needs of government agencies;

 - Ensure widespread adoption and promote cross-sectoral collaboration with industry, regulatory authorities, academia, and civil society;

   - Position the EU as a global leader in sustainable chemicals policy and innovation in healthcare.

RISE is one of the major technical partners, leading activities in materials characterisation, pharmaceutical process development, PFAS analytics, SSbD implementation, peptide synthesis, and exploitation. RISE also coordinates several validation and industrial uptake activities across the project.

RISE contribution in detail:

• leads the evaluation, comparison, and implementation of Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) approaches for PFAS replacement in healthcare (William Mackintosh) 
• contributes to mapping PFAS use in healthcare by identifying PFAS-containing products, their functions, and potential alternatives. RISE supports the development of digital substitution tools and integrates technical, safety, sustainability, and exposure data into the project's semantic platform to enable informed decision-making (Lisa Skedung)
• leads the characterisation and benchmarking of existing PFAS-containing materials and newly developed PFAS-free alternatives (Ulla Elofsson)
• leads investigations into interactions between PFAS-free materials and pharmaceutical ingredients, proteins, nucleic acids, blood components, and tissues (Ulla Elofsson)
• develops modelling and experimental approaches to understand and minimise interactions between pharmaceutical products and PFAS-free contact materials (Ulla Elofsson)
• leads the development of PFAS-free peptide synthesis, purification, and analytical methodologies as well as validation and scale-up. The work focuses on replacing TFA and establishing scalable industrial processes guided by Safe and Sustainable by Design principles. (Dana Michel & Tomasz Janosik)
• leads the development of analytical methods to identify and quantify PFAS and PFAS alternatives in healthcare products and exposure scenarios, generating data for risk assessment, safety evaluation, and regulatory compliance (Lisa Skedung)
• provides in silico modelling and predictive tools to evaluate polymer compatibility and optimize PFAS-free material formulations (Petru Niga)
• contributes machine learning and data-driven optimisation tools to support the development of PFAS-free coatings (Petru Niga) 
• will explore PFAS removal using supercritical CO₂ extraction, optimising for separation efficiency and material circularity (Petru Niga)

Challenge: complex decisions for chemical safety and sustainability

The development and use of chemicals place increasing demands on minimizing risks to human health and the environment. At the same time, current decision-making processes are often fragmented, where data from chemical databases, predictive models, and life cycle assessment (LCA) must be analyzed manually and separately. This makes it difficult for companies and authorities to quickly identify safer and more sustainable alternatives, especially in the context of substitution and the implementation of Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD).

Solution: AI-based reasoning agents for chemical assessment

Within ReSCALE, a new type of digital decision support is developed based on AI and so-called reasoning agents. These act as an “AI co-scientist” that can plan analyses, retrieve and integrate data from multiple sources, and synthesize and interpret results. By combining chemical databases, predictive models such as QSAR and toxicity models, scientific literature, and sustainability data, a more holistic and efficient chemical assessment becomes possible.

Customer value: better and faster decision-making

For industry and other stakeholders, this means that complex assessments can be performed faster, more systematically, and with greater transparency. The system supports the identification of safer and more sustainable alternatives, for example in solvent substitution, and enables trade-offs between functionality, safety, and environmental impact. This contributes to reduced risks, shorter development times, and stronger support for innovation and regulatory decision-making.

Pilot and application: focus on solvent substitution

The project includes a concrete pilot case where the technology is applied to solvent substitution – a priority area in industry. Existing tools and databases are integrated to demonstrate how AI-based reasoning agents can support experts in identifying and evaluating alternative chemicals that meet both performance and sustainability requirements.

Contribution to sustainable development and SSbD

ReSCALE contributes to the transition towards more sustainable and circular use of chemicals by operationalizing the principles of Safe and Sustainable by Design. By integrating safety, functionality, and life-cycle perspectives early in the development process, the project supports the creation of next-generation chemicals, materials, and processes that are safer for both people and the environment.

VäXR is a research-driven development project that is breaking new ground for Swedish schools. Many students struggle with abstract mathematical concepts, while research shows that experiential learning can be key to strengthening both engagement and understanding. By combining mathematics didactic research and VR and placing it in real teaching practice, VäXR explores how immersive learning environments can strengthen students' engagement, understanding and knowledge development.

The project is carried out in close collaboration between teachers, students, VR developers and researchers. This means that every part is rooted in educational research and the conditions that prevail in the school. The VR environment is continuously tested by students and teachers and further developed based on their feedback.

In an immersive VR environment, you can do things that neither a paper textbook nor a flat screen can offer. For example, you can stand on top of a huge pyramid and discover how angles and areas change when the shape is scaled up or down. Mathematics becomes something you feel in your body. In the VäXR application, which is being developed within the framework of the project, students are given the opportunity for an immersive learning experience where communication and exploration are at the center.

The project is also being researched by Stockholm University to study the effect of VR support on student learning. When the project reaches results, both the research study and methodological support will be published here.

VäXR is attracting interest and has, in addition to the press mentioned here, also been presented to the Riksdag. In parallel with VäXR, a project is underway within the framework of RISE EdTechLab in 2025-2026 where we explore how AI avatars can support learning in a VR environment, in a Swedish school context.

VäXR welcomes new school principals to join. Contact Sandra Wissting if you want to know more.

The participants in the initiative have high ambitions for climate change and are actively working throughout the value chain. The participants are part of each other's value chains and see collaboration as key for Sweden to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045. There is a clear need to accelerate the transition to sustainable healthcare in Sweden, in line with developments in other countries.

The shared climate ambition:

The shared climate ambition below will be signed by the participants in the national climate initiative at its launch on February 3, 2026. 

Together, within the Swedish healthcare and life science sector, we show the way towards a sustainable future

We commit to working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the ambition to reach netzero by 2045 throughout the value chain. To achieve the ambition, everyone reduces their ownemissions through timed transition plans in line with the Paris Agreement. Each of us activelycontributes. Together, we build resilient, fair and resource-efficient care.  
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Through preventive measures, early detection of diseases and effective treatment, we reduce the need for resource-intensive and climate-impacting care. We combine this with innovations, circular business models and material flows. Through transparency in the collaboration, we ensure that we follow up and continuously reduce climate impact. 
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Under our clear national leadership, we embrace this ambition and strengthen Sweden's competitiveness.We show that a climate-neutral healthcare and life science sector is achievable – while safeguarding patient safety, public health and human rights.

The climate initiative enables joint projects and collaboration

Through the collaboration enabled by the national climate initiative for the healthcare sector, the actors plan to run joint projects in areas such as the circular economy and preventive care. Since the actors are forming each other's value chains, the collaboration will enable the actors to achieve much more than each organization could on its own.

Background

Societal transformation is underway in several areas to strengthen society's ability to meet the global climate and health crisis and thereby increase our resilience. This is also highlighted in the Swedish Life Science Strategy under goal 8.4, which emphasizes the need for increased efforts for climate change mitigation, climate adaptation, and reduced environmental impact. Many actors in the health and medical care sector have set their own goals but see a need for closer collaboration to achieve more.

The geopolitical situation and the need to build a resilient population and society have never been greater, and a major overhaul is underway within the EU. At the same time, the climate crisis is the greatest long-term challenge facing humanity, with clear links between climate change and deteriorating public health. The healthcare sector plays a crucial role in society, but at the same time accounts for around five per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Against this background, collaboration across organizational and sectoral boundaries is essential. By bringing together actors along the entire value chain, the conditions are created for a joint contribution to the transition to more sustainable healthcare.

Why participate?

The Climate Initiative brings together actors who want to actively contribute to the green transition in healthcare and life sciences. By participating in the initiative, organizations become part of a national context where collaboration, common direction, and work throughout the value chain are in focus, with the goal of jointly contributing to reduced climate impact and long-term sustainable healthcare in Sweden.

Would your organization like to participate in the initiative?  Contact us here.