Development of a TAPAS (Tiered Approach for Prospective Assessment of Benefits and Challenges) and first applications
The goal of this project is to design an interdisciplinary sustainability assessment method that accompanies the development process of materials systems in livMatS. This so-called TAPAS (Tiered Approach for Prospective Assessment of Benefits and Challenges) will constitute a heuristic-systematic approach that aims to pose the right questions. It should provide guidance as well as concrete recommendations in order to challenge, substantiate, and further develop the livMatS claims.
For the development of the TAPAS, existing assessment systems will be reviewed to understand which criteria they explicitly and implicitly apply today, and how these criteria are likely to develop over the next years. A first outline of the TAPAS framework will then be created with a SWOT matrix (SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) as one of its core elements. This matrix will be applied to living materials systems and the options that researchers have during the development process.
Due to the assumed low “Technology Readiness Levels” of the concepts developed by livMatS, an iterative approach to sustainability assessment will be employed. This approach will for example take into account the aspects of toxicology and availability of resources. The research within this project will therefore be closely linked to that of the other Research Areas within livMatS.