EDELWEISS CONNECT GMBH

Their core work

Edelweiss Connect is a Basel-based SME specializing in computational toxicology, chemical risk assessment, and nanoinformatics platforms. They build and operate open e-infrastructures that integrate data, models, and workflows for predicting the safety of chemicals and nanomaterials — replacing animal testing with in silico and mechanism-based approaches. Their core value lies in connecting fragmented safety data across disciplines and making it accessible for regulatory decision-making. They operate at the intersection of cheminformatics, systems toxicology, and regulatory science.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 phase (2016–2018), Edelweiss Connect focused on foundational computational toxicology — systems toxicology, cheminformatics, molecular mechanisms, and classical risk assessment for chemicals. From 2018 onward, their work shifted decisively toward nanomaterials, with nanoinformatics, nanosafety, and safe-by-design becoming dominant themes. The most recent projects (RISK-HUNT3R, CompSafeNano) show a clear pivot toward regulatory-ready, next-generation risk assessment tools that bridge computational prediction with policy acceptance.

Edelweiss Connect is moving from building research tools toward delivering regulatory-grade computational safety assessment for nanomaterials — a space where demand from industry and regulators is growing fast.

How they like to work

Edelweiss Connect operates primarily as a participant (6 of 8 projects) in large European consortia, contributing specialized informatics and platform-building expertise. With 121 unique partners across 32 countries, they function as a well-connected node in the European toxicology and nanosafety research network. Their two coordinator roles (OpenRiskNet, ADVaNCE) were both infrastructure/methodology projects, suggesting they lead when building shared platforms rather than running experimental research programs.

Extensively networked with 121 unique consortium partners across 32 countries, making them one of the most connected SMEs in the European nanosafety and computational toxicology community. Their network spans Western and Northern Europe but reaches well beyond, reflecting the global scope of chemical regulation.

What sets them apart

Edelweiss Connect occupies a rare niche: a private SME that builds open data infrastructures for chemical and nanomaterial safety assessment. Most organizations in this space are universities or public research institutes; having an agile private company that understands both the informatics engineering and the regulatory science makes them a valuable consortium partner. Their Swiss base gives them a neutral, non-EU position that can be strategically useful in pan-European projects while maintaining deep integration with EU research networks.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RISK-HUNT3R
  Their largest single project (EUR 909K), running until 2026, focused on next-generation human-centric risk assessment — represents their current strategic direction.
• OpenRiskNet
  Coordinated this EUR 3M+ infrastructure project to build an open e-infrastructure for chemical risk assessment — demonstrates their platform-building leadership.
• EU-ToxRisk
  Part of a major European flagship program for mechanism-based toxicity testing, placing them at the center of the animal-free testing revolution.