Umicore part of new EU raw materials consortium

Umicore is one of the partners in a new consortium that aims to address the accessibility, availability and efficient use of raw materials in Europe.

Three years after establishing Knowledge & Innovation Communities (KICs) in the fields of climate change, renewable energy and ICT, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has established a similar initiative for raw materials. There is a broad consensus on the necessity of the transition to a circular economy to strive for sustainable growth in the context of increasing material demands. Collaboration between industry, universities and research institutes will be key for facilitating this transition and ensuring the continued competitiveness of the European materials sector.

The EIT chose RawMatTERS, a consortium which integrates key players along the entire materials value chain. The consortium includes more than 100 partners from 22 countries and aims to create an infrastructure to foster long-term collaboration between research organisations, academia and industry.

Umicore will contribute to the raw materials consortium through innovation, industrial upscaling of technology and education projects. Egbert Lox, Senior Vice-President at Umicore commented: “We are extremely proud to be a leading member of this consortium. We can offer many competences to this collective effort and we are excited about its potential. Finding solutions to the challenge of raw materials scarcity has never been more important and requires collaboration between players in all parts of the materials value chain.”

For more information visit: http://eit.europa.eu/interact/bookshelf/eit-raw-materials-factsheet