Unlocking NextGen Talent: Winners Announced at the Tapojärvi Challenge

The Tapojärvi Innovation Challenge for young talent, part of EIT RawMaterials’ Open Innovation Challenge for Talents, connects industry with a highly qualified pool of students and young professionals from leading European universities, offering companies fresh perspectives on real industry challenges. The Tapojärvi Innovation Challenge demonstrates how open collaboration can spark breakthrough ideas for a circular economy.

Set against the icy backdrop of the Snow Castle in Kemi, Finland, the Final of the 2025 Challenge brought together exceptional student teams whose innovative solutions to reuse side streams from mining, steel, and forestry presented the jury with a difficult decision.

Team GeoCura, students from the Master’s in Advanced Materials and Innovative Recycling at NOVA School of Science and Technology, Portugal, won first place and a prize of €10,000 for developing a geopolymer-based concrete that replaces cement with copper mine tailings and fly ash — cutting CO₂ emissions from concrete production by up to 80%. The material not only reduces environmental impact but also ‘self-heals’, repairing its own cracks using bacteria, dramatically extending structural lifespans.

“Using bacteria in the concrete industry is a brilliant idea that definitely deserves further exploration,” said Mauri Kauppi, Tapojärvi Board Member and competition judge.

“By utilising mining side streams in products like concrete, we are creating a better world and more sustainable mining,” said Fabiola Dodaj from the GeoCura team.

Other finalists also presented impressive solutions. Team RecyGeo, from Belgium and Hungary, created a fire-resistant, insulating geopolymer coating from paper and mining side streams, while Team Kaabricks developed bricks and panels from recycled textile residues and mining by-products.

Belgian team ECHRO, winner of the audience award, designed a process to extract high-value chromium from stainless steel slag while converting the remaining material into permanent carbon storage.

In total, 37 teams and 110 participants from across Europe took part in this year’s challenge – a turnout that reflects growing student interest in circular innovation and the raw and advanced materials industries.

Collaboration Driving Innovation

For Tapojärvi, the competition is an effective way to advance circular economy goals through collaboration between students and industry. “The Innovation Challenge helps us find solutions we might not see ourselves – and it connects young innovators directly with industrial reality,” said Mari Pilventö, Acting CEO of Tapojärvi.

Mikko Korhonen, Business Development Manager at EIT RawMaterials, noted that engaging students is essential to building a sustainable industrial future – and praised the exceptional quality of their work. “Young people bring fresh perspectives, innovative thinking, and creativity that drive sustainable solutions,” he said. “I was genuinely impressed by the high quality and originality of the ideas presented this year. As future decision-makers and workers, their participation ensures that sustainability values are embedded in industrial practices”.

Supporting Europe’s Circular Transition

With the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act and Green Deal pushing for more efficient resource use, initiatives like the Tapojärvi Innovation Challenge, supported by EIT RawMaterials, are becoming increasingly strategic. By recovering materials, reducing waste, and boosting efficiency, these student-driven innovations directly support Europe’s circular economy and industrial resilience.

“Technology development is moving so fast that no company can innovate in isolation,” said Korhonen from EIT RawMaterials. “Open innovation allows mining and circular economy companies to explore new ideas together and, in the best cases, turn them into real business opportunities.”

The winners of this year’s competition, GeoCura, have already filed a provisional patent with the Portuguese Patent Office (INPI) and plan to launch pilot-scale production within the next few years.

Learn more about EIT RawMaterials’ Open Innovation Challenges