Carlos Eduardo Lima da Cunha recently joined the European Commission after over 3 years working in chemical risk assessment and biotechnology innovation in San Francisco, CA, USA. Before that he concluded his doctorate studies in biochemistry and biophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany, where he worked on single-molecule protein synthesis characterisation. It was there that he was first introduced to nanoparticles. At the European Commission, he combines his scientific background in problem solving with risk assessment approaches and strategic analysis to tackle European issues at a policy level. Currently, his focus is to bring safer nanotechnology-containing products to European citizens, while promoting innovation.