Raw Materials

Ensuring the sustainable supply of non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials. The European Union is facing two main challenges, which are crucial for a strong EU industrial base as an essential building block of the EU's growth and competitiveness:

•a high dependence of its imports, and
•the security of supply of raw materials.

Sectors depending on access to raw materials, such construction, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery, equipment, renewable energy devices, have a combined added value in excess of EUR 1,000 billion and provide employment for some 30 million people.

EU addressed these challenges in the EU Raw Materials policy and strategy called "Raw materials initiative". Based on this iniative, the new European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw materials, gathers many different players, from Member States authorities, industry, research organisations and initiatives, and civil society to develop the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP). The plan iscomposed of a comprehensive set of Research and Innovation actions under the three pillars: technology, non-technology and international cooperation.

Concrete targets of the SIP include the launch of up to 10 pilot actions to promote technologies for the production of primary and secondary raw materials, finding substitutes for at least three applications of critical and scarce raw materials, building up the EU raw materials knowledge base, creating better framework conditions for raw materials in the EU, and establishing proactive international cooperation with the third countries.

"Raw materials" in Horizon 2020

In order to tap the full potential of primary and secondary raw materials and to boost the innovation capacity of the EU raw materials sector a number of challenges along the entire raw materials value chain will be addressed in the Raw materials part of the Societal Challenge 5: "Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials".

It predominantly focuses on non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials used in industry (metallic minerals, industrial minerals, construction materials, wood and natural rubber).