Innovation for responsible EU sourcing of primary raw materials, the foundation of the Green Deal (RIA) -

Expected Outcome

Projects will enable achieving the expected impacts of the destination by increasing access to primary raw materials, in particular critical raw materials for EU industrial value chains and strategic sectors.

Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Improve knowledge base of EU and third country critical raw materials to identify new areas for exploration and resource estimation;
• Promote the utilisation of UNFC (United Nations Framework Classification for Resources) and UNRMS (United Nations Resource Management System) reporting standards in the raw materials sector;
• Accelerate development of EU domestic raw materials exploration projects integrating innovative technologies that can form the basis for new EU SMEs;
• Strengthen EU autonomy and ethical sourcing of raw materials by developing socially and environmentally acceptable means of discovery and production of primary critical raw materials.

The action is expected to contribute with intelligence and foresight capability to the implementation of the EU action plan on Critical raw materials[1] and to support future foresight work of the Commission related to raw materials.

Scope

Actions should develop new knowledge and conceptual models, supported by innovative technologies to strengthen and secure the EU’s supply of primary raw materials by:

• Generating better geological understanding (i.e. characterization, modelling, mapping) of known mineral deposits to identify critical minerals resources and inform discovery of new resources
• Developing new genetic models for ore deposit types that host critical minerals in order to identify areas for exploration, especially in previously overlooked regions
• Deploying innovative geological, geophysical, geochemical, and data analysis approaches including modelling techniques (e.g. data analysis, remote sensing) to elucidate the geological history and structure and models of targeted spatial areas of targeted areas and to guide more environmentally friendly exploration for critical minerals, limiting impacts on biodiversity.

Actions should also map EU and third countries’ primary and secondary raw materials potential and raw materials production and refining capacities in a harmonised form, using UNFC (United Nations Framework Classification for Resources) and UNRMS (United Nations Resource Management System).

Actions should also contribute to improving the awareness of the general public across the EU about:

• the importance of raw materials for a successful transition to a climate-neutral and digitised economy and society; and
• the ensuing need for a secure, sustainable, and responsibly-sourced supply of raw materials, including from domestic sources to strengthen EU open strategic autonomy and reduce over-dependence on third countries.

All the data and information generated through these actions should be shared in open formats on a free of charge basis with the European Commission, for its own use and for publication.

Actions should envisage clustering activities with other relevant selected projects for cross-projects co-operation, consultations and joint activities on cross-cutting issues and share of results as well as participating in joint meetings and communication events. To this end proposals should foresee a dedicated work package and/or task, and earmark the appropriate resources accordingly.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement.

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 3-5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

Social Innovation

[1]COM (2020) 474

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