Objectives of the commitment
The overarching, general Objective of MINSPIRE is to enable collaboration between the Raw Materials industry and relevant stakeholders across interfacing areas of crucial importance, such as energy, environment (water, land, air), health & safety, climate-related and other natural hazards, as well as organization & management for different contexts.
Encompassing the specific objectives:
- promoting knowledge co-creation and knowledge comunication across these key interfacing areas relevant to RM industry.
- Bridging Policy and Actions related to interfacing areas.
- Opening unbiased, well documented, discussion spaces using scientifically proven and innovative approaches to communication of facts, figures and semiquantitative statistic information, ensuring a wide outreach, thus enabling the build up of informed trust.
- Enabling innovative RD&I sustainable mining pilots.
Description of the activities
MINSPIRE understands the complexity of the Raw Materials challenges as an opportunity to deliver cutting edge, satisfactory responses to the increasing pressure for more technological, healthier lifestyles and societies in balance with environment.
The role of both new technologies and new approaches is crucial, but even more so crucial is the fact that they should not act from separate silos but jointly. Since both traditional and modern practices for any materials production line are currently challenged by a number of interdependent matters that have become urgent, a multidisciplinary and multisectorial perspective is required to accompany any core technological approach in order to outline solutions that are supported (and furthermore, promoted) by the full society.
As the problems are interdependent, they require non-linear solutions. This can be achieved by implementing a multidisciplinary perspective into raw materials projects from the start. MINSPIRE activities will thus, enable such interaction, establishing firstly a virtual platform and focusing activities on the European-to-the-Globe interactions, with an emphasis on the EU-Latin America relationship.
The plaform will:
1. Identify best practices that secure positive impact, from local-to-global (and back to-local) business & society-wise.
2. Outline recommendations that will be transferred to international study groups, global fora, local authorities and NGOs.
3. Outline an integrated matrix of related indicators that cover quantitative, semi-quantive and qualitative information, in relation to the full raw materials value chain, in a circular economy perspective.
4. Foster key pilots on Research, Development and Innovation activities, by identifying key consortia/projects that exhibit a large potential for producing high-end technologies integrating innovative non-technological approaches also, which can be portraited as an example of sustainable raw materials production best practice.
5. Creation of a global discussion space that aims to build trust, based on open, unbiased and well documented communication. This will be achieved by establishing
i. Sessions of (e-)Seminars, Discussion and Workshops for multilevel stakeholders.
ii. Globally open (e-)repositories and links/references.
It is envisaged that the virtual platform will enable a scheduled set of online activities that will conduct to at least one annual physical gathering, plus other smaller set of roadshows and co-creation activities aimed to engage industries from different yet complementary sectors. Furthermore, academia and research will engage to accompany the process for education / research outputs that are required by the projects.
Topics that will be addressed jointly will include SCR, Laws, Number of professional and technical people formed, technological and non-technological solutions related to the energy, environment, health and saftey, organization & management and innovation.
MINSPIRE will:
-HIGHLIGHT THE GOOD PRACTICES, applying filters to separate Sustainable Mining from simple âexploitationâ of resources.
-COMMUNICATE these filters adequately via academic engagement and using the open science method, platforms of communication on different levels based on scientific integrity.
- PROMOTE PARTICIPATION of stakeholders at different levels, targeting them according to their connection with the raw materials activity, in to generate a climate of shared responsibility.
-GENERATE multidisciplinary knowledge to provide society-supported techno solutions.
Description of the expected impacts
Expected impacts of MINSPIRE are:
1. Increased number of new initiatives created as a result of co-creation and communication and participative communication strategies implemented.
2. Increased number of partnerships generated between large host companies and providers of new technologies and new approaches. Especifically, a higher number of integrated SMEs and NGOs is expected as a result of MINSPIRE actions.
3. Increased number of society-supported business initiatives with both local & global reach.
4. Enhanced understanding of the role of raw materials on the quality of life for human society as well as for environmental care. In particular, MINSPIRE will increase awareness on the fact that the VERY TECHNOLOGIES required to look after the environment, human health and climate balance make use of key raw materials to achieve their necessary performance.
5. Enhanced number of business, research and education connections between Latin America and European actors that lead to the development of innovative products and services.
OUTPUTS that MINSPIRE will produce:
i. Set of recommendations
ii. Repository of unbiased information, references and links.
iii. Matrix of indicators related to society / raw materials industry interaction, for the EU-Latin American context, expected to be useful also to project or integrate into existing global indicators concepts.
iv. Fostered pathways for key pilot cross-disciplinary EU-Latin America activities, that can be a flagship of sustainability via implementation of new approaches and technologies.
The timeline expected for such high impact activities is:
2016: Growth of network & seed funding
2017: Pilot actions
2018: Network consolidation
2019: Evaluation of further actions
2020: As per decision
Coordinating organisation & role
Name of the coordinating organisation: Trinity College Dublin (TCD)Country: IrelandEntity profile: AcademiaRole within the commitment:
TCD is a EIT RM core partner, Ireland's N°1 university, ranked 78th (QS World University Rankings 2015). TCD is committed to RM with a strategy linking the full value chain with their interfaces through multidisciplinary teams composed of world-leading researchers. TCD will coordinate, structure and foster the establishment of a collaborative network/platform that will allow the integration of industrially driven needs with world-class research.
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 15-03-2016 to 15-12-2020