How EIT RawMaterials is Innovating the Value Chain in Europe
EIT RawMaterials has launched a new funding call strategically focusing on Europe's raw materials innovation-to-production value chain.
The call provides expanded funding and tailored support to innovators, mine developers and projects in mining, processing and recycling across the raw materials value chain.
What is EIT RawMaterials?
EIT RawMaterials is a networking organisation committed to supporting Europe's transition to a green, circular and digital economy. Its mission is to foster growth and attractiveness for the European raw materials sector.
Through radical innovation, new education models and strategic advisory. In alignment with Critical Raw Materials Act, EIT is focusing on three key areas to achieve success:
- Closing material loops
- Securing raw materials supply
- Designing materials solutions
Accelerate innovation
Bernd Schäfer, CEO, Managing Director, EIT RawMaterials, says: "The ERMA Booster Call is a strategic initiative to reduce European reliance on imports for 80-100% of the critical raw materials essential to industrial resilience and competitiveness. The Draghi Report identified access to CRMs as Europe's second-largest challenge to competitiveness, following energy. While policy efforts in Europe have increased focus on CRMs, financing remains a major bottleneck.
"With this funding call, we aim to accelerate innovation, scale up strategic mining and recycling projects and mobilise further investment through a cross-industry public-private partnership."
This call further grows the role of EIT RawMaterials as a unique high-impact and active investor within the European raw materials ecosystem, significantly increasing investment size for scale-ups and SMEs from €0.5m to €1.5m for qualifying innovative, high-potential projects.
Focus on promoting breakthrough innovation
This expanded funding, covering early-stage innovation to Series-A companies, underscores EIT RawMaterials' focus on promoting breakthrough innovation within Europe's raw materials sector and helping European start-ups to successfully transition from innovation to commercialisation in a sector vital to Europe's long-term industrial competitiveness.
Building on EIT RawMaterials' successful leadership of the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA) and developing a pipeline of strategic, high-potential projects, the new call will invest up to €2.5m per project into innovative extraction, processing and recycling projects with strategic potential for Europe.
The investments will strategically focus on accelerating projects to achieve key development milestones and innovation adoption, supporting the EU's strategic objectives under the Critical Raw Materials Act to diversify supply sources and increase recycling and circularity.
Focused on innovation in raw and advanced materials
EIT RawMaterials invites applications across two segments:
Booster: Start-ups, Scale-ups and SMEs: Focused on innovation in raw and advanced materials, such as:
- Exploration, resource assessment and mining in challenging environments
- Recycling and optimisation for end-of-life products
- Substitution of critical or toxic materials
- Circular economy solutions through product and service design
ERMA: Advanced extraction (mining), processing and recycling projects:
- Focused on projects with significant potential impact in line with EU strategic projects, including:
- Open to recognised EU Strategic Projects or approved as ERMA-supported (at the time of funding)
- Projects with the potential to expand or diversify Europe's critical raw materials supply and incorporating innovative approaches in extraction, processing, or recycling
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