Boosting innovation in the raw materials sector: the EIP on Raw Materials meets in Brussels
More than 400 stakeholders from all over Europe are meeting on 13 and 14 January 2015 at the annual conference of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials (EIP). The first results of the Partnership will be presented at the meeting together with commitments of over 800 stakeholders.
Participants will discuss how to speed up the uptake of innovation in the raw materials sector, new funding opportunities and possible regional initiatives.
The annual conference of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials is an opportunity to review the progress made by the Partnership and to examine how it can help to achieve its objectives in the future. The main goals of the EIP are are:
- to secure the raw materials supply to the European economy
- to put Europe at the forefront in raw materials sectors and
- to mitigate related negative environmental, social and health impacts.
Other related initiatives that could contribute to the EIP objectives, such as the Knowledge and Innovation Community on Raw Materials or the European Network of Raw Material Regions, will be presented at the conference.
The event also allows to measure the level of commitment of all stakeholders across Europe to implement the EIP Strategic Implementation Plan through the Raw Materials Commitments.
The implementation of the EIP Strategic Implementation Plan has already started with Horizon 2020, the EU Research and Innovation programme. The Horizon 2020 brokerage event on 14 January is dedicated to the 2015 raw materials-related calls with a foreseen budget of over 60 million euro.
Follow the event online
To engage with the speakers, experts and industry leaders on the day of the event, simply use Twitter and the hashtag #EIPRawMaterials to share your feedback and experiences.
The event will be recorded and the videos available on the EIP on Raw Materials website.
Background and next steps
The annual conference of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials is an important meeting of the European raw materials community. It shows that the importance of the raw material sector for the European industry's competitiveness is recognised in the new political setting. It is included in the Junckers Plan and the work of the Investment Task Force.
The European Commission will:
- monitor progress in implementation of the first commitments through a system of annual reports
- the next call for commitments will be launched in 2015. Some of the commitments, in addition to their own resources, may benefit from EU funding via different programmes (e.g. Horizon 2020, Structural funds)
- the Partnership will also work on the development of a Raw Materials Scoreboard (set of key indicators). It will follow up the EIP's general objectives, keep an overview of the competitiveness of the raw materials sectors and increase the visibility of the challenges related to raw materials. The scoreboard should be ready by the end of 2015.
