Innovation partnership to overcome Europe's raw materials shortages

Fra EU og Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship lyder det den 29. februar 2012:

The supply of raw materials, the lifeblood of today's high-tech industry, is increasingly under pressure. With a view to increasing Europe's own production, the European Commission has proposed today to set up a European Innovation Partnership on raw materials. Pulling together capital and human resources, Member States, companies and researchers will join innovation efforts to support exploration, extraction and processing of raw materials. For example, it has been estimated that the value of unexploited European mineral resources at a depth of 500-1,000 metres is about € 100 billion. New technologies will help to extract deeper, in more remote areas and under harsh conditions. Action is also needed to develop substitutes for critical raw materials and to improve recycling of the 17 kg electric and electronic equipment waste that each EU citizen produces annually today.
Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, highlighted the need for improved access to minerals to enhance the development of low carbon products, such as thin photovoltaic layers, energy-efficient lighting, and electric cars. Also other growth sectors would profit, such as advanced passenger jets, infra-red optics and fiber glass.

... og videre:
The main areas covered by the Raw Materials European Innovation Partnership
The EIP on raw materials will tackle the entire value chain of raw materials regardless of whether they are of primary (virgin materials) or secondary (recycled materials) origin and of whether they are hosted on land or on the seabed.
As such the EIP addresses all aspects including exploration, extraction, refining and processing, sorting, collecting and recycling, as well as substitution.
The Partnership will help develop technologically driven solutions as well as non-technological options including the use of demand-side instruments (e.g. public procurement, standards).