The demands on chemical industry to transform towards safety and sustainability will require multi-disciplinary research and development where experts on chemistry and chemical engineering, toxicology, ecotoxicology, and life cycle assessment collaborate to develop novel production methods, chemicals and materials. Here we summarise the results of the Mistra SafeChem programme which has yielded considerable output in the areas of catalysis/bio-catalysis, hazard screening for humans and ecosystems and life cycle assessment with chemical footprints, both as individual scientific achievements and as part of an integrated approach to assess safety and sustainability of novel chemicals and chemical synthesis processes, in chemical value chains and across collaborations between industry- academia/ industry-industry. The outcomes from the programme are summarised and discussed and experiences from dialogues on the future of safe and sustainable chemistry are presented