Strategic Partnerships for Raw Materials: Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Production of Critical Raw Materials (IA)

Deadline: 23-Sep-25

The European Commission is requesting proposals for its project titled “Strategic Partnerships for Raw Materials: Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Production of Critical Raw Materials (IA)”.

Scope

• Proposals should:
  • Develop and demonstrate extraction, processing or refining technologies in order to facilitate and increase recovery in exploitation of primary critical raw materials (minerals and metals only). The proposals have to demonstrate (measure and assess) reduced environmental and social impact. Proposals can include additional exploration aspects if duly justified.
  • Justify the relevance of all targeted minerals and metals. Priority are the EU critical raw materials. Sea mining is not within the scope of this topic.
  • Collaborate with countries with which the EU has signed Strategic Partnerships on Raw Materials.
  • Collaborate with one selected Strategic Partnership country out of the four groups: Group 1 (Argentina, Chile), Group 2 (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Rwanda, Zambia), Group 3 (Kazakhstan, Serbia, Uzbekistan), Group 4 (Australia, Greenland). Group 4 can be extended to countries which will sign strategic partnerships for raw materials before the deadline for applications. The consortia should include raw materials industry from the targeted country in the focused group, as well as downstream users from the EU. Proposals are expected to focus on one out of four groups.
  • Demonstrate technology on mineral resources of the targeted partner country. The environmental (including GHG and other air pollutant emissions, water, soils, biodiversity) and social impacts of technology should be duly measured and assessed.

Topics

• Achieving technological leadership for Europe’s open strategic autonomy in raw materials, chemicals and innovative materials:
  • The research and innovation under this Destination will contribute to a paradigm shift, as regards the availability, development, use and disposal of chemicals and materials. This is necessary to guarantee Europe’s technological sovereignty and capacity to deliver on the twin green and digital transitions (it is thus strongly linked to the objectives of the Destination ‘Achieving global leadership in climate-neutral, circular and digitised industrial and digital value chains’).
  • To enable such a shift, an innovative, strong European R&I ecosystem for circular chemicals and materials is needed, working across different technology readiness levels. Bringing knowledge and skills together across the materials’ value chains is key to ensuring that this shift can materialise.
  • The requirements of the European Green Deal for safety, sustainability and circularity should be considered across the life cycle of a chemical or material. The 2022 Commission Recommendation on ‘Safe and Sustainable by Design’ (SSbD) sets out a new framework on how to achieve these objectives.
• Business cases and exploitation strategies for industrialisation:
  • This section applies only to those topics in this Destination, for which proposals should demonstrate the expected outcomes by including a business case and exploitation strategy for industrialisation.
  • A business case and a credible initial exploitation strategy are essential components in the ultimate success of an industry-based project, as well as its prospects to attract further investments for deployment. They will both be decisive factors under the impact criterion, and proposers are encouraged to use the extended page limit to present a carefully considered business case and exploitation strategy, backed by the management of the companies involved.
  • The business case should demonstrate the expected impact of the proposal in terms of enhanced market opportunities for the participants and deployment in the EU, in the short to medium term. It should describe the targeted market(s); estimated market size in the EU and globally; user and customer needs; and demonstrate that the solutions will match the market and user needs in a cost-effective manner; and describe the expected market position and competitive advantage.

Funding Information

• Total Budget: 30,000,000
• Grant amount: 7500000

Expected Outcomes

• Projects outcomes will enable the expected impacts of the destination by increasing supply security and access to more sustainable produced primary raw materials and secondary raw materials, in particular critical and strategic raw materials for EU industrial value chains and strategic sectors.
• Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
  • Strengthen EU cooperation with countries the EU established strategic partnerships on Raw Materials;
  • Improved industrial viability, safety and environmental impacts of the operation in a way that leads to measurable improvements;
  • Improved diversification of EU sourcing of critical raw materials from third countries;
  • Improved responsible supply of raw materials to Europe in line with the EU principles for sustainable raw materials, which are a non-regulatory set of principles based on the EU acquis. They set out requirements for sustainable raw materials and extraction and processing in Europe in terms of social, environmental and economic performance.
  • Dissemination and exploitation of projects outputs is tailored for organisations and industry dealing with raw materials in the EU and project partner from Strategic partnership countries.
  • Promote the utilisation of UNFC (United Nations Framework Classification for Resources) and UNRMS (United Nations Resource Management System) in the raw materials sector.
  • Actions are expected to contribute to the implementation of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States: Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe:  Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

For more information, visit European Commission.