RMIS Workshops

Held at the JRC-Ispra on the 11^th and 12^th of June 2019, the workshop brought together more than 70 key stakeholders to discuss knowledge related to social and environmental considerations associated with raw materials supply chains, national legislation, good governance, as well as a more in-depth focus on secondary raw materials.

Available for download:

• summary report
• proceedings volume of the Regulatory Session
• detailed agenda
• 2019 RMIS Roadmap report
• general RMIS slides
• collection of all slides presented

The sessions of this 3^rd workshop focused on:

• Social challenges and responsible sourcing aspects associated with supply chains of NFNF-energy, NFNF-agricultural raw materials, with a view to identify key knowledge needs, availability, and gaps that could be filled.
• How RMIS provides knowledge on raw materials related legislation at EU Community and Member States levels, with a view of identifying further needs, gaps and recent national legislation updates in the EU Member States.
• The current and potential roles of RMIS in increasing the availability of knowledge on secondary raw materials, zooming in on the knowledge on specific secondary (critical) raw materials.

European projects, such as Horizon 2020 projects and EIT-KIC projects, are among the most important knowledge providers to the RMIS. Through the RMIS, the JRC supports mapping, structuring and making further sense of this knowledge, so that raw materials knowledge needs identified by EU policy can be met rapidly and systematically; ensuring coordination, coherence, and quality-assurance as well as verification as far as needed and through additional products that build-on/combine these project outputs.

Held virtually on December 3rd and co-organised by JRC and EASME, the 2020 RMIS workshop continues the well-established dialogue between the JRC with EU-funded project consortia in relation to the RMIS. Participants discussed:

• The most relevant knowledge needs on raw material value chains (both primary and secondary);
• How to increase awareness of project outputs and how best these can support the RMIS development priorities;
• How to facilitate technical dialogue (both IT and content-wise) for efficient knowledge transfer.

The workshop gathered nearly 80 participants, including Directors from JRC, EASME, DG GROW, DG RTD and EIT Raw Materials. It saw the active contribution from about 20 EU funded projects on raw materials.

For more information on the structure and content, and the follow-ups post event, please consult the report. Hereafter you can find the video-recordings and the presentations for each main session:

• Background and Context: presentations slides and recording
• Technical guidelines for channelling knowledge into the RMIS, and examples of integration of projects’ outputs: presentations slides and recording
• Projects’ presentation of key outputs and plans of knowledge transfer into the RMIS: presentations slides and recording

Continuing the well-established dialogue between the RMIS and the European funded projects on raw materials (such as Horizon 2020/Europe, and EIT Raw Materials projects), the 2021 JRC / HaDEA Technical Workshop “Channelling knowledge from European projects into the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS)” was held online on December 3d.

The overarching aim of the workshop was to facilitate the efficient knowledge transfers from EU projects into the RMIS, so that project’s outputs can best contribute to the RMIS & EU policy objectives.

At the workshop 17 projects were presented, while more than 30 participated as technical audience. The opening session featured presentations from Constantin CIUPAGEA (HoU, Land Resources, JRC), Victoria PETROVA (HoU, Industry, HaDEA), Luca MARMO (Senior expert, SDGs, Green Finance & Economic Analysis, DG ENV), Patrick NADOLL (Senior Advisor, EIT Raw Materials), and Ioannis BAKAS (European Environment Agency - EEA).

For further details please consult the event agenda where you can find information on the structure and content, and links to the speakers' presentations.

The event was recorded: recordings

Given the success of the 2020 and 2021 editions, HaDEA and JRC are planning to continue to organise similar events every year.
Stay tuned for updates!

Enhancing the well-established dialogue between the RMIS and the European funded projects on raw materials (such as Horizon 2020/Europe, and EIT Raw Materials projects), the 2022 JRC / HaDEA Technical Workshop “Channelling knowledge from European projects into the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS)” was held online on October 14^th.

With the main objective of further developing the RMIS and of strengthening the underlying European Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB), through the efficient knowledge transfers from EU projects into the RMIS, the 2022 edition of the RMIS workshop focused on aspects related in particular to the EU security of supply for critical/strategic raw materials.

Other aspects were addressed as the evaluation of environmental and social aspects, in relation to sustainability certification schemes and life-cycle impacts along specific value chains, or the knowledge that could help strengthening a more circular management of (raw) material resources.

The agenda included two sessions:

• Towards more circular and sustainable RM value chains, with the participation of the projects: ORIENTING (Horizon), CSyARES (EIT RM), PHOTORAMA (Horizon), CEWASTE (Horizon), CERA 4 in 1;
• Improving efficient mining and recovery of critical/strategic materials towards greater EU security of supply, with the participation of: BrineRIS (EIT RM), TARANTULA (Horizon), FutuRaM (Horizon), SCANDERE (ERA-MIN3), ERA MIN 3 (Horizon).

The opening session featured keynote speeches from Constantin Ciupagea (HoU, Land Resources, JRC), Victoria Petrova (HoU, Industry, HaDEA), Ignacio Calleja (EIT Raw Materials), and Peder Jensen (European Environment Agency - EEA) and Philip NUSS (DE-UBA & ETC/EEA).

Check out the recordings of the event, and the slides of the speakers here!

The annual RMIS workshop, jointly organised by JRC & HaDEA took  place in a hybrid form on November, 23-24.

European projects, as Horizon 2020/Europe projects, are among the most important knowledge providers to the RMIS. Continuing the well-established dialogue with project consortia, this 2023 workshop aimed at facilitating the integration of the most important projects’ outputs into the RMIS, contributing to meet RMIS development priorities while also ensuring higher visibility of these outputs.

The event focused on knowledge about critical, strategic and advanced materials, and in particular, on how RMIS together with key EU-level projects can facilitate related knowledge needs.

The high-level opening session of the workshop featured keynote presentations from DG GROW, DG RTD, DG INTPA, DG TRADE, as well as from EIT Raw Materials and UNECE.

Additional details, as well as access to slides and video-recordings of the event, are included in the dynamic-agenda.

The 2024 Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) Workshop, co-organised by the JRC and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), took place on 9-10 October at HaDEA's premises in Brussels.

The event brought together policymakers, EU agencies, research institutions, and representatives from academia to discuss the role of pan-EU raw materials knowledge developments in the community in supporting Europe's green and digital transitions with a focus on the RMIS.

The workshop was opened by Salla SAASTAMOINEN, Deputy Director-General (DDG) of the JRC, who emphasised the importance of knowledge on securing critical raw materials (CRMs) to ensure Europe’s sustainability and competitiveness. 

Salla was followed by Marina ZANCHI, Director of HaDEA, who highlighted the importance of collaboration between the European Commission, HaDEA, and EU-funded projects.

Both underscored how crucial it is to channel knowledge outputs from European projects into the RMIS to enhance the platform’s role in supporting EU policy goals.

Importantly, the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) identifies critical, strategic, and advanced materials as being essential for Europe’s future, particularly in meeting the demands of the twin green and digital transitions.

The workshop aimed to strengthen engagement between EU-funded projects and the RMIS. 

This year’s event featured an expanded dialogue between policy representatives from various DGs, such as DG GROW, DG RTD, and DG ENV, as well as representatives from the European Environment Agency (EEA) and key research institutions like TU Delft, KU Leuven, and ENEA.

The main objectives of the 2024 RMIS Workshop were to:

1. Increase Awareness of EU Projects: how the outputs from EU-funded projects on critical, strategic, and advanced materials can help fulfill policy and knowledge needs.

2. Integrate Project Findings into the RMIS: how to better incorporate findings from these projects into the RMIS to support policy development and improve the platform's role as a hub for raw materials knowledge.

3. Foster the Use of Advanced Materials: exploit the potential of advanced materials to substitute critical raw materials in key sectors such as energy, mobility, construction, and electronics, supporting the development of a research agenda in these areas.

Addressing the knowledge needs around raw materials is key for several policies - the Critical Raw Materials Act, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the forthcoming Clean Industrial Deal. The focus on securing sustainable supply chains and promoting circularity is critical for achieving the European Union's ambitious targets in decarbonisation, digitalisation and industrial growth.

The JRC, through its RMIS platform and in-house research, plays a fundamental role in supporting these policy frameworks by providing foresight analyses on supply, demand and circularity of raw materials in the contexts of security of supply and sustainability.

Outcomes of the discussions

The exchange of ideas and best practices between research institutions, industry, and policymakers is essential to support Europe’s raw materials strategy and ensure the sustainable management of these resources.

Participants at the workshop underscored the need for continued collaboration between EU projects and the RMIS to ensure that the vast knowledge generated by these initiatives is efficiently integrated into policymaking processes. 

Among the themes of discussions, participants highlighted:

• How specific projects can play a key role in developing essential knowledge on metals and minerals.
• How knowledge from specific Horizon projects can provide models for key sectors such as batteries on issues like circularity; enhancing models on batteries, electric vehicles, and other key sectors/technologies already included in the RMIS.
• How analyses linked to specific raw materials can enhance and verify related knowledge in the RMIS raw materials and country profiles.
• How other projects covering a broad range of raw materials and sectors, including information systems, could play a key role, with long-term business plans ensuring continuity.
• The vital role of education, giving recommendations for where the RMIS and its team could become more and more engaged in initiatives at the EU and Member State levels.