Objectives of the commitment
As a European network of national research funding organisations, ERA-MIN (www.era-min-eu.org) wants to develop, strengthen and promote its current activities in support of the objectives of the EIP on Raw Materials. Based on the achievements of ERA-MIN FP7 project so far, the objective of this commitment is to ensure the follow up and scaling up of ERA-MIN actions in three different areas:the implementation of more joint transnational calls for R&I proposals, the strengthening of the European network and of the international cooperation, and the update of the ERA-MIN Research Agenda, a roadmap which has been considered as a background document during the elaboration of the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP).
Now that the call procedures are well set after the successful first ERA-MIN Joint call in 2013, the main objective is to launch and scale up one or two more calls in the coming 3 years with the aim of involving more funding agencies, dedicating a higher budget and covering more topics.
Please note that some ERA-MIN partners cannot at this moment commit to participating in this EIP RM Commitment but that they support ERA-MIN and the general objectives of the EIP: VINNOVA (Sweden), SGU (Sweden), NCBIR (Poland), MBFH (Hungary) and M2i (Netherlands).
Description of the activities
1. Implement new calls for proposals:
After the successful first ERA-MIN pilot joint call in 2013 between 5 European countries where 4 transnational R&I projects were funded, a second Transnational Joint Call will be launched in spring 2014. More funding agencies are expected to participate with a higher budget and it will target the whole value chain (primary resources, recycling and substitution).
ERA-MIN has set up efficient web based tools for submitting and evaluating proposals. It has also gathered a long list of potential evaluators.
Now that the procedures are well set, the objective is to launch and scale up one or two more calls.
The topics and the procedures of the call have to be agreed by the participating research funding organisations that are willing to commit national funds. A variable geometry could be implemented since not all organisations will support all the topics. It will address needs-driven research in order to support the competitiveness of EU industries and also promote and strengthen academia-industry collaboration. Both basic and applied research projects can be funded. In addition projects integrating social aspects could be funded. Whenever possible, it will be given support to an open access policy (publish summaries of funded R&I projects and future outcomes, organise joint kick-off and mid-term meetings within funded R&I projects to promote networking and the uptake of R&I results by end-users (industry, academia, society).
The projects selected and funded through those calls are participating in the implementation of the EIP objectives.
2. Enlargement of ERA-MIN partnership & reinforce international cooperation:
Enlarging the consortium is a dedicated task in ERA-MIN. Four more full partners have been added to the initial consortium since the beginning of the project (ADEME/France, TUBITAK/Turkey, SGUDS/Slovakia, UEFISCDI/Romania), and three new associated partners have joined (ENEA/Italy, KTN/ United Kingdom and GSI/Ireland). However, ERA-MIN wish to include as many European partners as possible, with possibly 3 new partners in the coming years.
Beyond enlarging the ERA-MIN partnership, a coordination scheme will be set up with relevant European Technology Platforms, PPPs and other initiatives to create better synergies.
Another task is to foster international cooperation through joint workshops or training activities. Indeed, cooperation with both developed countries and developing countries will be facilitated by the earlier ERA-MIN experiences. This action would participate in the pro-active international co-operation strategy of the EU.
3. Updating the roadmap:
The ERA-MIN Research Agenda was made publicly available on the ERA-MIN website in October 2013. It addresses issues covering the whole value chain, which have been discussed within five working groups gathering about 150 experts: 1) Primary resources supply; 2) Secondary resources supply (recycling); 3) Substitution of critical materials; 4) Public policy support and mineral intelligence; 5) Education and international cooperation.
In the context of this call for commitment ERA-MIN foresees to undertake a general review of the Roadmap after 3 years in order to update the existing content and add new forefront topics. The scope of the Roadmap should be extended to construction minerals and possibly other materials in a long-term vision going far beyond 2020. It might also be useful to adapt the order of priority, as well as to give an account of what actions recommended by the roadmap have been implemented and have actually been the topics of dedicated calls. This will be made possible thanks to the involvement of new stakeholders in this task.
Description of the expected impacts
By better coordinating research and innovation between Member States and the EU, ERA-MIN is supporting the implementation of the EIP objectives. This is the key to improve the global coherence in the field of non-energetic raw materials by pulling the resources together, fostering synergies and avoiding useless duplications of efforts, wasting money.
Through the ERA-MIN Roadmap, research and innovation needs can be better taking into account in national and regional raw materials programmes and the cooperation between academia and industry can be increased.
Through the projects selected and funded in its joint calls, ERA-MIN is linked to many actions in the SIP. Therefore ERA-MIN will maximize their impact. The funded projects should create economic opportunities linked to the demand for emerging technologies. Such opportunities involve a huge potential of skilled jobs creation and would support the development of strong highâtech SMEs.
ERAâMIN, through the selection and funding of projects, will also have an impact on the environment through promoting extracting methods that are more respectful of the environment, and fostering recycling and substitution. It will also stimulate the development of ecofriendly technologies. Therefore ERA-MIN is participating in the EIP objective of putting Europe at the forefront in the raw materials sector and mitigating the related negative environmental, social and health impacts.
Coordinating organisation & role
Name of the coordinating organisation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (CNRS-INSU)Country: FranceEntity profile: Governmental/public bodyRole within the commitment:
CNRS will coordinate this commitment and organize the update of the ERA-MIN Roadmap (Research Agenda). It is also interested in participating in the next joint calls.
Other partners
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V.
Name of the organisation: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V. Country: Germany Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: Fraunhofer will lead the CFRP and GFRP recycling research.
Fraunhofer will perform corrosion tests on the developed materials.
Fraunhofer will work with CIDAUT on the implementation, validation and refinement of LCCA tools for the project. Fraunhofer is the Quality Manager of the Consortium and will oversee deliverables and general reporting are produced with the best possible quality following agreed review standards.
Fundacion Cidaut
Name of the organisation: Fundacion Cidaut Country: Spain Entity profile:
Role within the commitment: CIDAUT will lead the research activities on materials recycling and compounding, implementing lab scale demonstrators of each process at its premises and, later, supporting end-users upscale the processes.
CIDAUT will perform mechanical tests, microstructural analyses, injection moulding capability studies on the developed materails, and will work with Fraunhofer on the implementation, validation and refinement of LCCA tools for the project.
RWTH Aachen University (Institute of plastic processing (IKV)
Name of the organisation: RWTH Aachen University (Institute of plastic processing (IKV) Country: Germany Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: RWTH will implement the novel 3D Generative Preforming process (3D Fibre Spraying) that enables to create high-value long fibre-reinforced 3D preforms for thermoplastic and thermoset composites at low process costs (different kinds of yarn as a raw material, low tooling costs due to low cavity pressures). This cost effective technology allows to align the sprayed fibres in order to produce high-performance, engineered anisotropic products.
Universita' di Cagliari
Name of the organisation: Universita' di Cagliari Country: Italy Entity profile:
Role within the commitment: University of Cagliari is one of the leading European organization in the resin design and coupling with thermoplastic and thermose materials. University of Cagliari will support in the definition of the composite materials, both from CFRP/GFRP, ABS and Rare Earth composite material.
Relight
Name of the organisation: Relight Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - SME
Role within the commitment: RELIGHT will work with ITRB to provide the research partners with residues for the recycled ABS supply and the REE recovery processes, including their HydroWEEE process as part of the processes to be studied and analyzed.
Piaggio Aerospace
Name of the organisation: Piaggio Aerospace Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - large company
Role within the commitment: Piaggio Aerospace is one of the project End Users (Aeronautics Industry): as such it will provide requirements and further applications that could be developed with the Consortium Materials. Piaggio will assist in the compounds selection, provide Fraunhofer with specific corrosion requirements on business jet size aircraft, and will assess that the developed materials performance fits the selected applications desired improvements.
Blackshape Aircrafts
Name of the organisation: Blackshape Aircrafts Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - SME
Role within the commitment: Blackshape Aircrafts is one of the project End Users (Aeronautics Industry): as such it will provide requirements and further applications that could be developed with the Consortium Materials. Blackshape will support to fulfill the requirements of the aeronautics industry on ultra light jet, light jet and trainer for Syllabus, and will assess that the developed alloys performance fits the selected applications desired improvements.
KU Leuven
Name of the organisation: KU Leuven Country: Belgium Entity profile: Academia
Role within the commitment: KUL will collaborate on the balance problem studies and will lead the rare earth recovery research with the solvometallurgical and ionometallurgical processes.
KUL will also contribute to the final compounding selection.
KUL is the Dissemination Manager of the project, promoting that all partners are active on the project Dissemination.
FIDAMC
Name of the organisation: FIDAMC Country: Spain Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: FIDAMC is going to lead the Work Package on Compression Moulding with CFRP-enhanced materials. As part of the AIRBUS Group, FIDAMC will also be able to provide the input material.
FIDAMC successfully developed a 3D Printer of own design to serve the Aerospace Industry and will be supporting Smart Lab 3D Industries in its 3D printer design.
COMPOSITE INNOVATION CENTER
Name of the organisation: COMPOSITE INNOVATION CENTER Country: Canada Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: Composite Innovation Center is one of the world leading organization in the field of Composite materials, both from carbon fiber and vegetal-based fibers.
Composite Innovation center has successfully implemented, at lab-scale, recycling processes for CFRP and GFRP.
Existing EU Contribution: Yes
Period to implement the commitment: from 01-01-2014 to 31-12-2016