EU “Raw Materials Week” 2018

Following the success of the Raw Materials Week 2017, the 3rd edition of the EU “Raw Materials Week” will take place from Monday 12-11 to Friday 16-11-2018 in Brussels. It builds on a series of events organised by the European Commission addressing the latest news on raw materials in the EU. It will be a unique opportunity for the raw materials community to discuss and exchange on all relevant issues: policy, technology, international cooperation, framework conditions, knowledge base etc.

Programme

The 6th High Level Conference of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials is the main event of the week, taking place on 14 November 2018. The main topic of the conference is “Raw materials for low carbon and circular economy”, covering relevant issues including battery value chain, cascading of woody biomass, secondary raw materials for energy-intensive industries. On 12 November a dedicated event  will take place, focusing on Critical Raw Materials. This events includes EU ETN DEMETER, NEMO and CROCODILE as co-organisers. For more information and registration please follow this link: http://eurawmaterialsweek.eu

Background on EC and Raw Materials

CRM List EC 2017 (credits image: redrawn by Paul McGuiness)

To address the growing Critical Raw Materials (CRM) concerns, the European Commission launched the European Raw Materials Initiative in 2008. In 2011 the Commission adopted a strategy document which proposes tailored measures to secure and improve access to raw materials for the EU. This strategy is based on a three-pillar approach: (1) fair and sustainable supply of raw materials from international markets, (2) fostering sustainable supply within the EU, (3)  boosting resource efficiency and promoting recycling. Likewise, in 2012-2013 the Commission launched a call for a new EIT KIC in the field of Raw Materials, which eventually led to the erection of EIT RawMaterials. This KIC is the largest and strongest consortium in the raw materials sector worldwide. Its vision is to develop raw materials into a major strength for Europe, while its mission is to boost competitiveness, growth and attractiveness of the European raw materials sector via radical innovation, new educational approaches and guided entrepreneurship. The various EU initiatives mentioned above are all part of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. They are linked to the “Innovation Union” flagship initiative, which was proposed by the Commission in 2010. This global strategy acknowledges the key importance of smart innovation, covering innovation along the entire supply chain as well as the demand side, including in particular extraction, processing and recycling steps. Likewise, issues such as eco-design, substitution and resource efficiency are to be integrated, as is the case in the EIT RawMaterials strategy.