/Raw Materials and Circular Societies Prize

Raw Materials and Circular Societies Prize

Enter the Raw Materials and Circular Societies Prize and see your business idea brought to market

Backing innovators to secure Critical and Strategic Raw Materials from secondary sources for a green and digital future

Are you an entrepreneur who wants to be at the forefront of Europe’s green and circular transition? Do you have a new innovative solution to bring critical raw materials back into the European production loop? Submit your idea by 5 October to the Raw Materials and Circular Societies Prize to win €10,000 and bring your solution to the market.

The Raw Materials and Circular Societies Prize

The annual prize is an initiative by EIT RawMaterials in collaboration with the WEEE Forum, EYDE Cluster, and EUROMINES. The aim is to discover ground-breaking solutions for an efficient and sustainable supply of critical and strategic raw materials from secondary sources. These solutions are urgently needed to meet Europe’s demand for a green and circular economy.

There are three different categories of solutions, and the winning idea under each category will receive €10,000. In addition, they can join one of EIT RawMaterials leading support initiatives for entrepreneurs and innovators.

The three categories are:

  • Supply of secondary Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) and Strategic Raw Materials (SRMs) through the valorisation of mining tailings
  • Supply of secondary CRMs and SRMs through the valorisation of industrial wastes
  • Supply of secondary CRMs and SRMs through the recycling of end-of-life products

You can submit your application following the link below by 23:59 (CET) Wednesday 5 October 2022.

Why do we Need Your Solutions for Critical and Strategic Raw Materials?

Europe has an ambitious goal to become the first carbon-neutral continent but is reliant on the export of 30 CRMs and SRMs for the green and digital transition. Critical raw materials are a building block for Europe’s industrial ecosystems like automotive, renewable energy, construction, aerospace, digital and more. High-tech products and emerging innovations such as electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines rely on a sustainable supply of critical/strategic raw materials. These can include lithium, cobalt, magnesium, copper, and rare earth elements.

This is why Europe needs innovators like you. We need you to identify new solutions for sustainable access to CRMs from secondary sources so that valuable materials can become the new, green technologies tackling climate change.

Who can Enter?

The contest is open to any legal entity (or group of legal entities) established in an EU Member State, or a country associated to Horizon Europe, including:

  • SMEs (according to the European Commission’s definitions) having innovation projects relevant to the three different prize topics
  • Start-up or spin-off companies at least registered at the time of the application

The winners will be awarded €10,000 in each of the three topics. Winners will also be invited to join one of EIT RawMaterials support services such as EIT Jumpstarter, RawMaterials Accelerator, or EIT RawMaterials Booster. These services are tailored to entrepreneurs with different maturity levels of their business proposition.

Should you have any questions, please contact our team of experts: Ignacio Calleja, Senior Advisor – Circular Economy and Recycling, and Business Development Managers Lorena Jurado and Théo Berthet.

Key Dates

  • Deadline for submitting business ideas: 5 October 2022, 23:59 CET
  • Selection of ideas and notification of decision: by mid-October
  • Pitching contest and Award ceremony: October-November 2022

In case of applications by a team, the participants must appoint a contact person to represent them before EIT RawMaterials. Applications must be submitted by the contact person.

Entities that are a partner of EIT RawMaterials may not receive a financial award (see chapter 2 in the Prize Call guidelines).

The Raw Materials and Circular Societies Prize Partners

For this year’s edition of the Raw Materials and Circular Societies Prize, EIT RawMaterials has partnered up with leading experts from the WEEE Forum, EYDE Cluster, and EUROMINES. This will bring exceptional jury knowledge in the field covering the entire scope of novel business ideas on the sustainable supply of secondary CRMs and SRMs for Europe.

WEEE Forum brings operational expertise on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Since its foundation, the producer responsibility organisations (PROs) of the WEEE Forum have collected, de-polluted, and recycled or sent for preparation for re-use 28.5 million tonnes of e-waste.

The EYDE Cluster is the Norwegian Centre of Expertise (NCE) for the Sustainable Process Industry, working for the transition towards a sustainable future. EYDE members range from multinational companies delivering high-quality materials globally to education institutes. Members are mainly located in the South of Norway, a region with a strong tradition of producing tailor-made materials made from renewable energy with the lowest environmental footprint.

Euromines is the recognised representative of the European metals and minerals mining industry. The company promotes the mining industry and stands for responsible sourcing in Europe.

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