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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Objectives of the commitment

If Europe wants to increase its independence in the supply of raw materials, it has to develop the primary and the secondary resources sectors. This will be possible if industries can adapt their skills to the requirements of the European society, in terms of technology, policy, standards and if all the workers contributing at each step of the value chains have a relevant and up to date level of knowledge.
In Europe, and worldwide, educational and research centres can help in delivering this training, being at the origin of innovation and skilled for delivering education and training programmes.
The first objective of this commitment is to create a long lasting International Network of Training Centers focusing on the production of metals from primary and secondary, delivering trainings on the whole value chains of metals to professionals, adapted to a specific need of an industry.

Description of the activities

The first task will be the creation of the International Network around a core group of European and International educational and research centres. This network will be organized starting from PROMETIA, centered on mineral processing and extractive metallurgy. It will not only address the technological issues but also all the issues related to the integration of these activities in the metals value chains (policy, standards, life cycles, environmental context…), From the very beginning, links with relevant industries will be established for helping in defining the business model of this long lasting network. Different options will be analysed and the most relevant will be selected and implemented. In particular, the need of an official administrative structure will be assessed, and its operational costs estimated. Existing networks will be contacted to exchange on their feedback (for example, with ENEN, European Nuclear Engineering Network).
In order to be attractive and propose a relevant level of training, the network will map skills and knowledge in the EU and the third countries. The combination of European and international centres will allow the development of a wide range of training, taking the best from very different contexts and experiences. It will then be possible to provide trainings taking into account the specific situation of one or the other country. The existing relationships of the members of this commitment with organisations of other countries, more particularly in Latin America or in South Africa will be a key parameter for the devleopping the international training centre.
In the next step, the network will identify key knowledge gaps and emerging needs through an open consultation with the key players in the metals value chain. This will allow the network to anticipate its training courses according to new innovations reaching the market and develop up to the industrial level in Europe or worldwide.
With all this information in hands, the network will propose a roadmap for improving skills and knowledge, as well as establish common training programmes in the raw materials sectors. On this basis, a specific training course will be developed and delivered to a test-group for demonstration.
The training Network will focus on the metal value chain, from primary to secondary resources, from mining to recycling, from processing to extractive metallurgy. It will address the different steps of the value chain including the technology, policy and standards aspects, repositioning each value chain in the European and international context. Process development, life cycle assessment, risk assessment, technical-economic approach will be the different fields addressed

Description of the expected impacts

First, the network will contribute to the implementation of the Raw Materials Initiative and achieving the objectives of the EIP on Raw Materials, in particular in terms of establishing and maintaining strong and sustainable relationships with the leading training institutions in the relevant countries.
Establishing this network at the international level will allow a cross-matching of the competences and expertise between Europe and other countries, helping in increasing the EU competence and expertise in the field of the primary and secondary raw materials;
By delivering a training offer adapted to the need of industry, the Network will help to improve availability of qualified and skilled workforce leading to higher competitiveness of the EU raw materials industry;

Coordinating organisation & role

Name of the coordinating organisation: PROMETIACountry: EuropeEntity profile: Multi-national organizationRole within the commitment:

Prometia promotes mineral preocessing and extractive metallurgy for mining and recycling. one of its pilllars is training and education. PROMETIA gathers already the key European universities and RTOs in the field.
PROMETIA will laed the commitment

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: No

Period to implement the commitment: from 01-11-2017 to 31-05-2019