Project description
Securing Europe’s metals and minerals supply
Europe’s transition to a green economy necessitates replacing fossil fuels with metals and minerals, but its heavy dependence on raw material imports poses a critical challenge. This vulnerability jeopardises Europe’s strategic security and the realisation of its sustainability goals. EIT RawMaterials, the world’s largest partnership in raw materials, implements various activities in close alignment with the European Commission’s policy agenda. In support of this initiative, the EU-funded EIT RM BP23-25 project aims to secure raw materials supplies, innovate materials solutions, and promote materials recycling for a sustainable, self-reliant Europe. Overall, the project will lay the groundwork for a sustainable future, building on the European Innovation Area and capacity-building initiatives.
Objective
Metals and minerals are key enablers for the European Green Deal and will substitute fossil fuels in the long run. At the same time, Europe is highly dependent on importing raw materials for its manufacturing industries and to accomplish the transition to a resource efficient, sustainable society. This is why the European Green Deal defines access to resources as a strategic security question for Europe’s ambition to develop into a green economy.
To meet this challenge, the vision of EIT RawMaterials is to develop raw materials into a major strength for Europe. EIT RawMaterials’ mission is to advance Europe‘s transition to sustainability by driving innovation along the entire raw materials value chain. To fulfil the mission, three strategic objectives are addressed: securing raw materials supply; designing materials solutions; and closing materials loops.
EIT RawMaterials is the world’s largest and leading partnership in raw materials and closely connected with the policy agenda of the European Commission. The Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) is open to new partners from Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) countries and small business and is driven by a strategy that creates industrial symbiosis through innovation across value chains. The European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA) managed by EIT RawMaterials on behalf of the Commission is an important mechanism for translating projects into investments and infrastructures that contribute to creating added value and jobs for Europe within key strategic industrial ecosystems. These initiatives are complemented by EIT RawMaterials’ leading role in education and innovation activities, such as the EIT’s initiative in capacity building for Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and the European Commission’s European Innovation Area (EIA). Through these high-impact activities and the KIC’s talent, people and partner network, EIT RawMaterials has set the foundation to create impact and to achieve its strategic objectives.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-EIT-KIC - HORIZON EIT KIC ActionsCoordinator
10557 Berlin
Germany