Environment: ENEA and Regione Lazio presented the Strategic Raw Materials Hub
21/1/2016
ENEA Casaccia Research Center will host one of the six European Research Centers on strategic raw materials. The presentation of the facility, its partners and the first operational projects took place during a Conference at the Regione Lazio headquarters.
ENEA and the Regione Lazio presented the new European Hub of Research Excellence in the “Raw Materials” field - raw materials whose supply is more difficult to secure - during the Conference “The role of regions in the development of Knowledge Innovation Community on Raw Materials”. The Hub, to be based at the ENEA Casaccia Research Center, will coordinate around 50 partners among major companies, SMEs, research institutes, universities and local institutions of Italy, Spain, Hungary and Malta.
It’s one of the six research hubs set up within the EIT Raw Materials Association, financed by the European Institute for Technology and Innovation (EIT) envisaging the creation of a Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC), a Community of Knowledge and Innovation, with the objective of improving extraction, recycling, processing and substitution of raw materials, especially critical ones such as rare earth, indium, germanium and magnesium. A network of labs, companies and universities implementing a 2 billion euro project to create, among others, 50 start-ups and 10 thousand jobs.
The EU is strongly dependent on the import of strategic raw materials for industry growth and competitiveness: extra–EU import accounts for 77% of total demand, rising to 96 % for high-tech metals and 100% for natural rubber. Only a limited number of metal minerals is extracted within the EU - chrome, copper, silver and zinc - and supply cannot satisfy demand, that’s why it’s important to boost raw materials production in the EU, promote recycling and a circular economic system.
“Together with Regione Lazio - said Dario Della Sala of ENEA - we’ve gathered at the same table some of the leaders in the raw materials training, production and applied research. After one year of work, the development of the business plan for 2016 and the preliminary planning up to 2020, today we’re ready to plan the involvement of partners and supporters who, in collaboration with core and associate partners, will form the backbone of the EIT Raw Materials, the largest global Community on Critical Raw Materials. The core of the initiative is the EIT Raw Materials, headquartered in Berlin, and the 6 Co-location Centers are its engine.
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