Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Making raw materials available for Europe’s future well-being: Proposal for a European innovation partnership on raw materials

The strategic importance of a sustainable supply of raw materials to the EU – for its industry and society as a whole – has been well recognised in different strategic policy documents such as the Raw Materials Initiative proposed by the European Commission, related Council Conclusions and Report from the EP.

The Europe 2020 Strategy highlighted the importance of this issue both within the "Industrial policy" and "Resource efficiency" Flagship initiatives. Moreover, the importance of an efficient use of resources has been highlighted in the associated Roadmap on Resource Efficiency.

These documents clearly outlined the new challenges and risks related to supply shortages and of an inefficient use of resources faced by the EU in view of the mounting global competition for raw materials. Paradoxically, for some decades, Europe has seen its role as a supplier of raw materials being progressively reduced. The complexity and urgency of the issues at stake have made it very clear that a continuation of "business as usual" is no longer an option for Europe.

This is where innovation comes into play. A new paradigm is emerging in the 21st century which points us to innovation as a driving force that has, so far, remained largely untapped in Europe in the area of raw materials. In 2010 the Commission has set out, as part of the Innovation Union flagship initiative, the appropriate framework of European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs).

Such Partnerships will be launched in cases where the combined strength of public and private efforts at regional, national and EU level in innovation and R&D and demand-side measures are needed to achieve societal targets quicker and more efficiently. This is the case for raw materials as presented in this Communication.

This Partnership will target non-energy, non-agricultural raw materials, including but not limited to the EU’s list of critical raw materials. Hence it also covers other metallic ones, industrial and construction minerals as well as other industrial raw materials such as natural rubber and wood.

Many of these materials are vital inputs for innovative technologies that offer environmentally-friendly, clean-technology applications. They are also essential for the manufacture of crucial alloys, new and innovative products required by our modern society like, for instance, batteries for electric cars, photovoltaic systems and devices for wind turbines, which enable meeting the renewable energy objectives.

The common objective of this Partnership will be that, by 2020, Europe will have made a great step in reducing its import dependency on raw materials. This will be achieved through accelerating innovations that ensure secure, sustainable supplies of both primary and secondary raw materials or prevent wastage of key raw materials during all their life cycle.

This proposal takes into account the lessons learnt in the context of the pilot EIP "Active and Healthy Aging". It also builds on various inputs from Member States, research communities and other stakeholders gathered in the context of different meetings, workshops and events as well as a public consultation which were organised throughout 2010 and 2011.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)082: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:082:FIN

European Commission: SWD(2012)27: Commission staff working document http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SWD:2012:0027:FIN:EN:PDF

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