FUNCTIONARY-IV: Call-for-Interest for industrial partners

30/10/2026
Request for partners

Call-for-Interest for industrial partners for the project FUNCTIONARY-IV: Functional safety in the process industry: translating the functional safety guide into practical business tools.

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CAT-2026-09_FUNCTIONARY-IV

Introduction

Process safety and functional safety are essential for safe, reliable and competitive operations in the chemical and life sciences industry. While large multinational companies often have dedicated safety expertise teams, many SMEs and mid-sized companies face the same regulatory requirements without access to the specialist knowledge needed to interpret and implement advanced safety methodologies. As a result, companies may struggle with overly complex approaches, unnecessary costs, over-engineered safety systems, or the non-adoption of modern safety practices.

FUNCTIONARY-IV aims to address this challenge by translating the knowledge, software and Functional Safety Guide developed in earlier FUNCTIONARY projects into a practical and accessible toolkit for industrial users. Through software tools, implementation guidance, industrial validation, workshops and pilot implementations, the project will help companies improve safety performance, reduce unnecessary engineering effort and facilitate the adoption of modern process and functional safety practices. The project brings together UGent and the essenscia Process Academy (EPA). UGent will further develop and validate the modelling and software platform, while EPA will translate the results into practical guidance, tools, training and dissemination activities to support broad industrial uptake

Ambition

This COOCK+ project aims to help SMEs, mid-sized companies and other non-specialist adopters implement process and functional safety more effectively and efficiently. By combining scientific expertise with industrial validation, the project will:

  • Translate advanced process and functional safety methodologies into practical industrial solutions;
  • Develop ready-to-use software tools, templates, checklists and decision-support instruments;
  • Validate the developed tools through real industrial use cases, workshops and pilot implementations;
  • Support companies in reducing safety-related engineering and review costs while maintaining high safety standards;
  • Facilitate the sector-wide deployment of the Functional Safety Guide.

Call

In this COOCK+ project, the consortium is seeking industrial partners to join the industrial User Committee, which is a steering board that will receive early access to project insights and developments. 

The consortium welcomes companies that:

  • Operate chemical production, storage or processing facilities;
  • Have responsibilities related to process safety, functional safety or safety instrumented systems;
  • Want to improve safety performance while avoiding unnecessary complexity and over-engineering;
  • Seek practical guidance and tools to support compliance, design and operational decision-making.

Both SMEs, mid-caps and larger companies with an interest in process and functional safety are welcome to participate. As a member of the User Committee, your organisation can:

  • Provide input on industrial needs and practical challenges in process and functional safety;
  • Review and validate project results from an end-user perspective;
  • Contribute real-life use cases and operational insights;
  • Gain early access to emerging tools, methodologies and training materials;
  • Exchange knowledge with experts from industry, academia and safety practitioners;
  • Help ensure that the developed solutions are applicable and valuable for companies across the chemical and life sciences sector.

How do you reply?

Companies who wish to participate in this COOCK+ project are required to be or become a member of Catalisti.

Interested parties are encouraged to send an email before 30/11/2026 to Stef Koelewijn (skoelewijnatcatalisti.be (skoelewijn[at]catalisti[dot]be)) and Aron Deneyer (adeneyeratcatalisti.be (adeneyer[at]catalisti[dot]be)), and briefly describe your interest and potential contribution to the project.

 

This Call-for-interest is copyrighted by Catalisti vzw and its contents may not be reproduced without the prior written approval of Catalisti. This Call-for-interest reflects the status of the proposed project on its date of release and the information contained herein may not be fully up to date or accurate. All information contained herein constitutes valuable information of Catalisti and may not be used for any purposes other than the evaluation of a person’s interest in participating in the proposed project.