Implement a European-wide coordination of research and innovation programs on raw materials to strengthen the industry competitiveness and the shift to a circular economy

Project Information

ERA-MIN 2

Grant agreement ID: 730238

DOI

10.3030/730238

Project closed

EC signature date 28 October 2016

Start date 1 December 2016

End date 30 November 2022

Funded under

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

Total cost

€ 16 058 787,31

EU contribution

€ 4 999 890,01

Coordinated by

FUNDACAO PARA A CIENCIA E A TECNOLOGIA
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ERA-MIN 2 (Implement a European-wide coordination of research and innovation programs on raw materials to strengthen the industry competitiveness and the shift to a circular economy)

Reporting period: 2018-03-01 to 2022-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ERA-MIN 2 is a pan-European network of public research and innovation (R&I) funding organisations consisting of 21 funding organisations from 12 EU Member States countries/regions (Belgium-Flanders, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Spain-Castilla y Léon, Sweden), one EU Associated Country (Turkey) and four non-EU countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa).
Built on the experience of the EU project ERA-MIN (2011-2015), ERA-MIN 2 aims to enhance and strengthen the coordination of R&I programmes in the field of non-energy, non-agricultural raw materials (construction, industrial and metallic minerals) to support the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials, the EU Raw Materials Initiative and further develop the raw materials sector, in Europe and globally, through funding of transnational R&I activities.
ERA-MIN 2 aims to support demand driven research on primary and secondary resources, and substitution of critical raw materials under a circular economy approach, to give the opportunity to the R&I community to apply to world-wide coordinated funding, gaining access to leading knowledge and new markets, while reducing fragmentation of R&I funding across Europe and globally. This was achieved through one EU co-funded call for R&I proposals in 2017 and two additional joint calls, in 2018 and in 2019, designed and developed specifically for the non-energy, non-agricultural raw materials sector.
Furthermore, ERA-MIN 2 liaison with existing initiatives in the raw materials sector, projects and industrial associations to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication of efforts.
The network addressed four key objectives:
1. Support and promote R&I cooperation in Europe.
2. Reduce fragmentation of R&I funding in the area of non-energy non-agricultural raw materials across Europe and globally.
3. Provide a pan-European support network and financial resources to improve, synergies, coordination and collaboration.
4. Improve the efficiency and impact of human and financial investment in R&I activities in the area of Raw Materials.
Through the launch of three joint transnational calls, 40 top quality transnational R&I projects were supported through the mobilization of almost 30 M€ public national and regional funding in total, including 5M€ of EU contribution. The portfolio of funded R&I projects constitute a Raw Materials R&I programme that was monitored to guarantee the achievement of project’s objectives and promote the up-take of R&I results by end-users and/or society.

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

The ERA-MIN 2 launch event was held during the first edition of the Raw Materials Week, with the presence of more than 50 representatives of ministries, funding organisations, research and industry from EU and non-EU countries and the European Commission.
The 21 ERA-MIN 2 partners have committed national/regional public funds for the ERA-MIN Joint Call 2017 entitled “Raw materials for the sustainable development and the circular economy”. The total Call budget was around 15M€ (including the European Commission co-funding).
The Call scope was demand-driven R&I on primary and secondary resources of construction, industrial and metallic minerals and substitution of Critical Raw Materials, addressing one or several areas of the circular economy. The five main call topics were based on the challenges and the priorities identified in the ERA-MIN Research Agenda and in line with the integrated strategy proposed in the EU Raw Materials Initiative, the Strategic Implementation Plan of the EIP on Raw Materials as well as with the Communication on Circular Economy by the European Commission. Other than the ERA-MIN 2 website and social media (Twitter, LinkedIn), the Joint Call 2017 was promoted via each Partner’s websites, e-mails, international events related to raw materials and national events dedicated to ERA-MIN 2.
In EU co-funded Joint Call 2017, 94 pre-proposals were submitted, involving 493 applicants, of which 27% were from industry/enterprises. The total costs were 81.2M€ and the total requested funding was 61.7M€. In step 2, 35 full proposals were submitted. After the eligibility check, each proposal was remotely reviewed by 3 experts of the independent international Strategic Scientific Evaluation Board. The scientific assessment was based on the 3 main evaluation criteria, as defined in Horizon 2020. The ERA-MIN 2 partners have agreed on a joint selection list of 16 transnational proposals recommended for funding based on the scientific assessment and on the availability of public funds. These 16 transnational projects involved 88 beneficiaries (38.6% enterprises). The total allocated funding was circa 12.3M€ (including EC contribution) from 16M€ of total project costs. All the five topics were covered by the funded projects. The publishable summaries of the 16 funded projects and the call statistics were made public at the ERA-MIN 2 website. An independent observer that followed the whole evaluation process concluded that the process was fair, transparent and in compliance with the EU co-funding rules.
ERA-MIN 2 network was extended by 12 months to allow the monitoring of the 16 R&I projects until their end. A Mid-Term and a Final Seminar of the 16 R&I projects were organized to assess the project progress and to promote the dissemination of the main project outcomes to stakeholders.
Two additional joint calls in a one-step submission procedure were implemented in 2018 and 2019 by mobilizing only national/regional funds from ERA-MIN partners and also from other seven research funding organisations from EU countries, EU regions and province of Québec in Canada. After an independent scientific assessment, a total of 24 R&I transnational projects were financed thus reaching 40 R&I projects in total by ERA-MIN 2. The total allocated national/regional funding for the projects reached almost 30 M€.

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)

The ERA-MIN 2 will contribute to the sustainable and responsible supply of non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials (construction, industrial and metallic minerals) for the European economy whilst also increasing benefits for society as a whole which is in line with the scope of the EIP on Raw Materials. ERA-MIN 2 network itself, specifically, contributes to the SIP Part II/I. TECHNOLOGY PILLAR/I.A Priority Area: Raw materials research and innovation coordination/ Action area n° I.1.
ERA-MIN 2 has addressed the whole R&I chain by covering from fundamental research to applied R&I. In average, the start TRL of the ERA-MIN projects is 1-2 and the target TRL is 5-6. Dissemination and exploitation of R&I projects results was implemented through dedicated workshops with end-users within international conferences, seminars, and other events.
ERA-MIN 2 has facilitated the mutual learning of funding programmes through joint activities in the field of raw materials achieving a more efficient use of national/regional funds, time and personnel. An interactive map called Dashboard | ERA.MIN (era-min.eu) allowed to search projects by ERA-MIN Agenda categories, mineral categories, country and keywords. Thus, the investment done in which thematic area by which EU and non-EU country/region could be identified as well as the gaps for future research investments.

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