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.
