Supporting the design of research and innovation funding programmes in the fields of Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials A consortium of industry and academic partners is assessing research and innovation trends in the fields of Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials (‘Societal Challenge 5’) in order to help funding bodies decide where to invest their funds. Industrial Technologies © Thinkstock The EU recently launched Horizon 2020, an ambitious research and innovation programme with nearly EUR 80 billion of funding available for the period 2014 to 2020. While focusing on topics that address major societal challenges like climate change and health, funding bodies need to decide which specific research directions to fund. The EU-funded RECREATE (Research network for forward looking activities and assessment of research and innovation prospects in the fields of climate, resource efficiency and raw materials) consortium aims to support the Horizon 2020 initiative by providing clear research agendas for the priority area 'Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials' (also referred to as ‘Societal Challenge 5’ or ‘SC5’). RECREATE, a consortium of 16 members from industry and academia, is collecting and analysing information on research and innovation trends for 2020 and beyond. To do this, they have created a broad network of representatives from research, industry and public policy. Through workshops and other activities, the network is assessing the potential of numerous innovations and developments relevant to the above-mentioned Horizon 2020 priority theme. Consortium members are also producing evidence-based narratives to highlight the benefits of investing in specific SC5 priorities such as “Circular Economy through a Systemic Approach to Eco-Innovation”, “Nature-Based Solutions” and “Climate Information Services”. Each evidence-based narrative contains detailed case studies that estimate the potential economic, social and environmental impacts of highlighted research and innovation areas. RECREATE is also developing indicators for a scoreboard that shows the performance of EU Member States in policy and research under Horizon 2020. As part of its forward thinking approach, RECREATE is identifying future visions and research innovation areas up to 2050, including pathways to achieve these aims. Keywords Innovation, research and innovation, Horizon 2020, climate, resource efficiency, raw materials
