Berlin, 20. March 2024. EIT RawMaterials announces a new strategic partnership with Atlantic Copper, the third-largest copper foundry and refinery in Europe, by launching the Atlantic Copper Resource Recovery Open Innovation Challenge for Young Professionals. This program seeks to drive forward-thinking in resource recovery and is currently accepting registrations from motivated young professionals until April 19, 2024.
Innovating for sustainability: recuperation of valuable materials
The task at hand is to devise sustainable extraction and utilisation methods for fluospar and arsenic from the streams of copper metallurgy industry, thereby transforming an environmental challenge into valuable resources. Fluorspar and arsenic have been recognised as Critical Raw Materials (CRM) by the EU in 2023.
“Atlantic Copper, the processing innovation pioneer, is committed to balancing industrial excellence and environmental stewardship. We are pleased to partner with EIT RawMaterials for this Open Innovation Challenge, a fantastic medium to connect businesses with emerging talent and unlock the potential of the next generation of environmental problem-solvers.” Guillermo Ríos, Innovation and Technology Director, Atlantic Copper
"We are excited to partner with industry leader Atlantic Copper for this vital Challenge that will help address Europe’s critical raw materials gap in an environmentally responsible way. EIT RawMaterials is a champion of European innovation, and our Open Innovation Challenge model plays a vital role to engage, inspire and empower the next generation of scientific and commercial talent around the real-world problems facing the industry.” Bernd Schäfer, CEO, Managing Director , EIT RawMaterials
Master’s students in their final year and young professionals are invited to apply.
Open Innovation Challenges by EIT RawMaterials are crucial to European advancements in circular economy. The competition is a part of the Open Innovation services that EIT RawMaterials offers, dedicated to sparking growth and innovation in the raw materials sector. The organisation leverages its extensive network to connect students, universities, companies, and startups throughout Europe, tackling pressing challenges and spurring industry progress.
Key dates
- Registration deadline: April 19, 2024
- Selection of the teams: April 29, 2024
- Presentation of the challenge: May 1, 2024 (TBC)
- Selected teams working remotely on challenge: May 1 – 30, 2024
- Final week in Huelva (presentation of each team) June 4-6, 2024
