Raw Materials for the Sustainable Development and the Circular Economy

Project Information

ERA-MIN3

Grant agreement ID: 101003575

DOI

10.3030/101003575

EC signature date 1 October 2020

Start date 1 December 2020

End date 30 November 2026

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 15 924 016,00

EU contribution

€ 5 000 000,00

Coordinated by

FUNDACAO PARA A CIENCIA E A TECNOLOGIA
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ERA-MIN3 (Raw Materials for the Sustainable Development and the Circular Economy)

Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2022-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ERA-MIN3 comprises a progressive, pan-European public-public partnership of 25 public research funding organisations from 19 European countries/regions and 3 third countries, which aims to continue strengthening the mineral raw materials (RM) community through the coordination of research and innovation (R&I) programmes on non-fuel, non-food raw materials (metallic, construction, and industrial minerals). ERA-MIN3 will thus contribute to the objectives of the EIP on Raw Material’s Strategic Implementation Plan and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, in support of the EU Raw Materials Initiative, the UN sustainable development goals and the European Green Deal. Built on the successes of the previous ERA-MIN and ERA-MIN 2, and to ensure the EU’s resource security and sustainable supply of strategic RM to the European society, ERA-MIN3 will achieve its goals of improving synergy, coordination and coherence between regional, national and EU funding in the RM sector by reducing fragmentation of RM funding across Europe and globally, as well as, improving the use of human and financial resources, the competitiveness and the environmental, social, health and safety issues of RM operations through supporting of transnational, excellent and translational R&I activities. This will be achieved through a EU co-funded joint transnational call for R&I proposals and, at least, one additional call with participation of invited partners, on demand-driven R&I on primary and secondary resources, covering the entire value chain, from exploration, extraction and processing technologies to recycling and substitution of CRM, as well as, environmental, health and safety performance, societal impact, new business models and/or public perception. ERA-MIN3 will liaison with RM related initiatives to ensure alignment of research topics (e.g. batteries), promote synergies and complementarities thus avoiding duplication of efforts and contributing for the circular economy and the sustainable development.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

ERA-MIN3 pan-European network has mobilised national/regional funds of €18.5 million to the first EU co-funded joint call and did the best use of the EU funding by topping-up of the national/regional public funds to support a total of 22 R&I proposals of €27.3 million total projects’ costs.
The EU co-funded ERA-MIN Joint Call 2021 on “Raw materials for sustainable development and the circular economy” was a two-stage submission procedure launched on 15th January 2021. The Call budget was €19.5 million. The Call scope was needs-driven research on non-fuel, non-food raw materials (metallic, construction and industrial minerals) that clearly demonstrated potential to promote the sustainable and responsible supply, exploration, extraction, processing technologies, production, consumption and recycling of primary and secondary minerals and metals, as well as substitution of critical raw materials, in a circular economy. In stage 1, within the deadline on 1st April 2021, 146 pre-proposals were submitted corresponding to a participation of 892 applicants in the call (of which 32% were companies) with total requesting funding of €116 Million and total costs of €150 Million. Moreover, 11 applicants not requesting funding were from countries not participating in the Joint Call, namely: Alberta province in Canada, Austria, Brazil, Greece, Morocco, Norway, UK, USA and Peru. The proposals were scientifically evaluated based on three main evaluation criteria: 1) Scientific Excellence, 2) Impact and 3) Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation. After decision of the CSC, based on the binding ranking list and available public funding, a total of 22 transnational R&I projects, out of 45 eligible peer-reviewed full-proposals, were selected and recommended for funding, which involved a total of 154 beneficiaries of which 56 were from enterprises (36%).
Regarding additional activities beyond the EU co-funded call, a first report on strategic actions at the European level, including cooperation with EIT Raw Materials was prepared. An Open Access Proceeding Paper "ERA-MIN: A Decade since the Inception of the EU Led Effort to Support the International Raw Materials Research Community" was published in 2022 which summarizes the activities and outputs of the last 10 years of the network, since the start of the first ERA-MIN in 2011. The 57 funded projects under ERA-MIN and ERA-MIN 2 joint calls were closely followed through interviews to projects coordinators and video project testimonials available on ERA-MIN3 You Tube besides annual project progress reports.
The 2021 EU co-funded Joint Call was disseminated and promoted at both international and national/regional levels through the ERA-MIN3 website and social media channels and also through national/regional channels of communication. In conclusion, these dissemination tasks have contributed to the project goals in a democratic, constructive and positive manner with the contribution of all partners, thus, to a stable basis for the promotion of the second call and to the project’s forthcoming actions. ERA-MIN3 is a member of the HLSG of the EIP RM for the period 2021-2024 and aims to follow the EU-Canada Bilateral Dialogue on Raw Materials.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

ERA-MIN3 will continue benefiting from the impact already assessed thanks to the previous experiences of ERA-MIN and ERA-MIN 2. 19 out of 21 ERA-MIN 2 partners continued as part of the ERA-MIN3 consortium, thus ensuring a strong continuity and an appropriate knowledge transfer of the good practices as well as a trustable network to achieve the expected impacts. The ERA-MIN3 partners are participating with specific or more generic funding programmes that cover non-fuel, non-food RM R&I across the value chain, which will strengthen the R&I community built in the previous ERA-MIN actions.
The funded projects and additional activities will contribute to provide technical solutions for the sustainable supply of non-fuel, non-food RM (metallic, construction and industrial minerals) whilst also increasing benefits for society, thus answering to SIP’s Priority Areas B and C including exploration, extraction and processing technologies and recycling, as well as substitution.
ERA-MIN3 will continue facilitating the mutual learning of funding programmes through joint activities in the field of RM and will continue addressing the whole R&I chain from fundamental research to applied R&I.Moreover this cooperation will continue to ensure that the countries with reduced capacity to fund all areas of the sector could connect with the expertise of other countries and support structures (from fundamental knowledge to research infrastructures) that can be shared across borders. In terms of contribution to a sustainable development and a CE in the EU, ERA-MIN3 will again pursue objectives fully aligned with the scientific and technological interests and strategies of EIP RM, thus contributing for a harmonized implementation of the RMI in the broader framework of the SIP as well as for the a climate-neutral EU by 2050, the aim of the European Green Deal. Outcomes of selected funded R&I projects will also contribute to the competitiveness of European industries and associated environmental and social aspects. Through the launch of a co-funded call and, at least, one additional JTC, ERA-MIN3 estimates to support, at least, 36 top quality transnational R&I projects by allocation of €36 million of public funding.

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