SIP Implementation Document 2016

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN INNOVATION PARTNERSHIP ON RAW MATERIALS SIP Implementation Document 2016 Presented to the EIP Sherpas on 13/06/2016 1

2 This document is a working document of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials. The views expressed and information included in this document do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission and in no way commit the institution. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS... 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION The EIP on Raw Materials The EIP's Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) The EIP's Monitoring and Evaluation Scheme THE SIP IMPLEMENTATION DOCUMENT THE SIP'S LEVEL OF IMPLEMENTATION : GENERAL OVERVIEW THE SIP'S LEVEL OF IMPLEMENTATION : OVERVIEW PER PRIORITY AREA. 11 Priority Area I.A: Research and innovation coordination Priority Area I.B: Technologies for primary and secondary raw materials production Priority Area I.C: Substitution of raw materials Priority Area II.A: Improving Europe s raw materials framework conditions Priority Area II.B: Improving Europe's waste management framework conditions and excellence Priority Area II.C: Knowledge, skills and raw materials flows Priority Area III: International cooperation Biotic materials CONCLUSION NEXT STEPS ACRONYMS CSA Coordination and Support Action CRM Critical Raw Materials EC European Commission EIP European Innovation Partnership KIC Knowledge and Innovation Community H2020 Horizon 2020 MS Member State(s) OG Operational Groups RMC Raw Material Commitment SIP Strategic Implementation Plan SIPID SIP Implementation Document WP Work Programme 2

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The SIP Implementation Document (SIPID) monitors the level of implementation of the EIP's Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP), from its adoption in 2013 until the end of Its purpose is to provide an overview on the progress made towards the SIP's Action Area's objectives, including the use of the different instruments (Horizon 2020, Structural Funds, LIFE etc), the Raw Materials Commitments (RMCs) and other initiatives undertaken by all relevant actors (international organisations, Member States, industry, academia, NGOs, European Commission etc). The Strategic Implementation Plan sets out the objectives and targets to be reached by It includes 95 concrete actions, organised in 7 different Priority and 24 Action Areas including research and innovation along the value chain, raw materials knowledge, best practice, revision of selected legislation, licensing steps, standardisation, and policy dialogues. GENERAL OVERVIEW Since the adoption of the SIP in 2013, significant action has been undertaken on several fronts: The 2013 Call for Commitments led to the adoption of 80 Raw Materials Commitments (RMCs), which are voluntary joint undertakings that commit to implementing the SIP's actions. These Commitments currently include more than 750 unique partners from Member States and many non-eu countries. The subsequent Annual Monitoring Reports show that most of the Commitments are progressively successful in securing their budgets the total indicative budget of all Commitments is 1.75 billion. They are also delivering tangible results that will contribute to achieving the EIP's targets. The European Commission has addressed many of the SIP's actions in Horizon 2020 (H2020) 1, the EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programme. Based on the Work Programme, it is now funding 28 projects which deal with raw materials, with a total budget of almost 140 million. The SIP's Action Area II.9 has been completed through the launch of the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Raw Materials. It is expected that the KIC will also significantly contribute to the further implementation and coordination of the actions included in Priority Areas I.A, I.B and I.C. Many of the actions included in Priority II.B on waste management framework conditions and excellence are addressed in the Circular Economy Action Plan 2 and the proposals to revise EU directives on waste. Table 1 presents an overview of the Action Areas' level of implementation. The assessment of the Action Areas' level of implementation is based on an analysis of all relevant EU funded projects, RMCs, activities undertaken by the European Commission (studies, policies, etc ) and initiatives by the potential players identified in the SIP. 1 See 2 COM(2015) 614, see 3

4 Priority and Action Areas Priority Area I.A: Research and innovation coordination I.1. Improving research and innovation coordination (4) Priority Area I.B: Technologies for primary and secondary RM production I.2. Exploration (2) I.3. Innovative extraction of raw materials (5) I.4. Processing and refining of raw materials (3) I.5. Recycling of raw materials from products, buildings and infrastructure (3) Priority Area I.C.: Substitution of raw material I.6. Materials for green energy technologies (4) I.7. Materials for electronic devices (2) I.8. Materials under extreme conditions (2) I.9. Applications using materials in large quantities (2) Priority Area II.A: Improving Europe s raw materials framework conditions II.1. Minerals policy framework (12) II.2. Access to minerals potential in the EU (8) II.3. Public awareness, acceptance and trust (4) Priority Area II.B: Improving Europe s waste management framework conditions and excellence II.4. Product design for optimised use of (critical) raw materials and increased quality of recycling (3) II.5. Optimised waste flows for increased recycling (4) II.6. Prevention of illegal waste shipments (2) II.7. Optimised material recovery (2) Priority Area II.C: Knowledge, skills and raw materials flows II.8. EU raw material knowledge base (6) II.9. Possible EIT knowledge and innovation community (3) II.10. Optimised raw material flows along value chains (3) Priority Area III: International cooperation III.1. Technology (6) III.2. Global raw materials governance and dialogues (4) III.3. Health, safety and environment (1) III.4. Skills, education and knowledge (4) III.5. Investment activities (6) Level of implementation Table 1: Indicative assessment of the Action Areas' level of implementation (number of actions included in brackets) Scoring: = very limited; = limited; = partly; = mostly; = completely 4

5 OVERVIEW PER PRIORITY AREA A key observation from the analysis of the state-of-implementation of the Priority and Action Areas is that there are significant differences between the Priority Areas that should be taken into account. First, there is an important difference between the technology oriented Priority Areas (I.A, I.B and I.C) and the non-technology oriented Priority Areas (II.A, II.B, II.C and III). While the technology oriented Priority Areas are extensively covered by the RMCs and EU research and innovation funded projects, there is a lower number of RMCs and research projects for the non-technology Priority Areas. It is important to note that this does not necessarily imply they are therefore less well covered. Second, the analysis clearly shows that the actions in the different Priority Areas are not all defined at the same level of detail. This may highlight the need to redefine some of the actions so as to increase the internal consistency of the SIP. Priority Area I.A: Research and innovation coordination The actions in this Priority Area remain relevant for the future. Their level of implementation is satisfactory even though further coordination would be desirable. The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 3 RMCs that will be contributing to this Priority Area. In the future the newly established Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Raw Materials is expected to play a pivotal role in the coordination of R&I coordination at EU level (see also Priority Area II.C). Priority Area I.B: Technologies for primary and secondary raw materials production The actions contained in this Priority Area are still relevant in view of speeding up the development and implementation of innovative breakthrough solutions, ideas and concepts. The European Commission has extensively addressed the issues covered by Priority Area I.B in Horizon The EIP has attracted 37 RMCs. Many of these Commitments are expected to contribute to the related EIP target to launch 10 innovative pilot actions. Further, next to the large number of FP7, LIFE+ and H2020 projects, there is a vast amount of relevant research and innovation projects in the EU's Member States. To avoid unnecessary fragmentation and facilitate potential synergies, this highlights the need for coordination at EU level (Priority Area I.A). Action Areas I.2 and I.5 have been partially addressed but they would benefit from a better coverage considering the importance of exploration and recycling in the raw materials value chain. Priority Area I.C: Substitution of raw materials The actions included in this Priority Area are still relevant. However, given that certain actions have not been addressed yet (e.g. in H2020) the level of implementation is currently not entirely satisfactory. This is for example the case for Action Area II.9 "Substitution of raw materials in applications using materials in large quantities". The European Commission included substitution of raw materials in a series of trilateral conferences on Critical Raw Materials (CRM) with the US and Japan. Furthermore it was foreseen that every Work Programme (WP) of Horizon 2020 would include a call on substitution. The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 8 RMCs that will be contributing to this Priority Area. The RMCs cover a diverse range of materials in specific applications and are expected to contribute to the 5

6 EIP's target to find substitutes for at least three applications of CRM and scarce raw materials. Finally, according to the Operational Groups (OG) members the current actions are a good start, even though some of them may be either too specific or too general and they may be too focussed on CRMs. Therefore they suggested that in the future there may be a need to redraft some of the actions. Priority Area II.A: Improving Europe s raw materials framework conditions The actions in this Priority Area are still relevant, especially those on public acceptance, awareness and trust. The European Commission has published a number of studies and reports on Member States minerals policies and good practices. Priority Area II.A was also addressed in the H2020 Work Programme. The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 10 RMCs that will be contributing to this Priority Area. Nonetheless the actions of this Priority Area are relatively ambitious and would benefit from further initiatives by the potential players identified in the SIP. There is also scope to cluster and streamline a number of similar actions to increase the focus of this Priority Area. Some prioritisation may also be desirable. Priority Area II.B: Improving Europe's waste management framework conditions and excellence The actions in this Priority remain relevant. The Priority Area is not extensively covered by Horizon 2020, but the European Commission has undertaken many initiatives to implement the different actions, mainly through the Circular Economy Action Plan and the proposals to revise EU directives on waste. The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 7 RMCs that deal with waste management framework conditions. These Commitments cover a variety of issues such as waste shipments, WEEE recycling, extended producer responsibility etc. With regards to the future, more attention should be given to initiatives that aim at reducing waste generation. Priority Area II.C: Knowledge, skills and raw materials flows The actions on the knowledge base and optimised raw material flows along value chains are still considered relevant. Action Area II.9 on the launch of a KIC on Raw Materials has been fully completed. It is expected that the KIC will also significantly contribute to the further implementation and coordination of the actions included in Priority Areas I.A, I.B and I.C. The European Commission has published a number of studies and reports that contribute to this Priority Area. The Priority Area was also well addressed in the H2020 Work Programme. There is a very good complementarity between the RMCs, the H2020 projects and the EC actions on the EU Raw Materials Knowledge base (in particular with the recent launch of the Raw Materials Information System). Nonetheless there is still the need to maintain coordination between these projects and to ensure that raw materials related databases will be maintained. Priority Area III: International cooperation The actions in this Priority Area remain relevant. The relatively low level of implementation of the actions can probably be attributed to the fact that most of the actions are linked to 6

7 actions in other Priority Areas and the fact that many actions are developed outside the scope of the EIP in the context of the raw materials diplomacy dialogues. Therefore there may be a need to revise the SIP and to describe the actions in a more strategic way. Only two policy actions in H2020 (Coordination and Support Actions) focus on international cooperation by addressing strategic dialogues respectively with raw materials producing and technologically advanced countries. Further initiatives from potential players identified in the SIP may also be beneficial. Biotic materials There are twelve Action Areas that include actions that are directly or indirectly relevant to biotic materials. The fact that these actions are spread across different Priority Areas (i.e. I.B, II.B and II.C) and, in some cases, do not specify that biotic materials are included in the scope of the action, is found to hamper their coverage and level of implementation. This would call for a specific section in the SIP on biotic materials and/or a stronger involvement of biotic materials in actions addressing both biotic and abiotic RM. Overall, actions on biotic materials would benefit from more initiatives to be undertaken by the potential players identified in the SIP. However the involvement of specific stakeholders for biotic materials is very limited respect abiotic materials, these could be taken into account during the renewal of the OGs composition. CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS Overall the 2015 SIPID shows that thus far the implementation of the actions included in the SIP is well on track, but that further initiatives are needed. The strong participation to the EIP's Call for Commitments has demonstrated the EIP's power to mobilise stakeholders to work together to implement the SIP. To take things further a mid-term review and a final evaluation exercise are expected respectively in 2017 and in The 2017 SIPID will monitor the SIP's level of implementation at action level, using individually defined key performance indicators. This might also be a good opportunity to redefine some of the actions and to increase the internal consistency of the SIP. 7

8 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. THE EIP ON RAW MATERIALS European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) have been established to accelerate the market take-up of innovations which address key challenges for Europe. The EIP on Raw Materials overall objective is to ensure the sustainable supply of raw materials to the EU economy THE EIP'S STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (SIP) The Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) is the EIP s action plan 3. It incorporates inputs from EU governments, industry, academia and NGOs, consulted at meetings of the EIP s Operational Groups. It was endorsed by the EIP s High Level Steering Group on 25 September The Strategic Implementation Plan sets out the objectives, targets and actions to be reached or implemented by It consists of two parts: Part I sets out the EIP's objectives, targets, Priority Areas and overall strategy, whilst Part II includes 95 concrete actions, organised in 7 different Priority and 24 Action Areas including research and innovation coordination, technologies for raw materials production, substitution, framework conditions, knowledge and skills and international cooperation.. An overview of the SIP Priorities Areas is provided in Annex THE EIP'S MONITORING AND EVALUATION SCHEME The EIP on Raw Materials' Monitoring and Evaluation Scheme was adopted by the EIP's Sherpas in March It sets out that progress will be tracked on four different levels: the EIP s Raw Materials Commitments, Action Areas, targets and objectives (see Figure 1) 4. Figure 1: Overview of the EIP's monitoring and evaluation scheme 3 4 All documents related to the SIP can be found at All documents related to the EIP's monitoring and evaluation activities can be found at 8

9 2. THE SIP IMPLEMENTATION DOCUMENT This document, the SIP Implementation Document, focuses on the level of implementation of the EIP's SIP at Action Area level. Its purpose is to provide an overview on the progress made towards the Action Area's objectives, including the use of the different instruments (Horizon 2020, Structural Funds etc), the Raw Materials Commitments (RMCs) and other initiatives undertaken by all relevant actors (international organisations, Member States, industry, academia etc). The SIP Implementation Document is a synthesis of 3 sources of information: 1) The "SIP overview fiches": the Commission has gathered information on the stateof-implementation per Priority Area, including the relevant Raw Material Commitments, Horizon 2020 and other EU funded projects and initiatives undertaken by the European Commission and by potential players identified in the SIP. These fiches are included as Annex 2. 2) The "SIP survey": in February 2015 the EIP launched an extensive questionnaire targeted at relevant research and innovation projects. Over a period of four weeks stakeholders from all Member States sent information about 303 projects and replied to specific questions concerning the different Action Areas. These projects are listed in the column "Initiatives by potential players" in Annex 2. An analysis of all the projects reported is included in Annex 3. 3) "OG recommendations": in May 2015, based on the SIP overview fiches, the members of the EIP's Operational Groups (OGs) were asked to give their views and recommendations on the relevance and level of implementation of the SIP's actions, on possible obstacles and synergies and on the possible need for further initiatives to complete the implementation of the SIP. 3. THE SIP'S LEVEL OF IMPLEMENTATION: GENERAL OVERVIEW >> The EIP fulfils an important coordination role The European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials is a stakeholder platform that brings together representatives from industry, public services, academia and NGOs. Bringing together various players is important, because raw materials supply is characterised by interlinked complex value chains. The added value of the EIP is thus that it provides coherent advice to policy makers and fosters synergies between relevant research and innovation projects. The coordinating function of the EIP should not be underestimated. In the context of this exercise for example, the EIP has gathered information about more than one hundred EU funded projects and 303 relevant research and innovation projects that are ongoing in the Member States. This information will be a good starting point to further strive to reduce fragmentation, avoid overlaps and foster synergies and complementarities between different projects and initiatives. 9

10 >> The EIP's stakeholders are actively implementing the SIP's actions Since the adoption of the Strategic Implementation Plan in 2013, the EIP has demonstrated its mobilising power. The 2013 Call for Commitments for example attracted 80 Raw Materials Commitments (RMCs) 5, which are voluntary joint undertakings that commit to implementing the SIP's actions. These Commitments include more than 750 partners from all Member States and many non-eu countries. The subsequent Annual Monitoring Reports show that most of the Commitments are progressively successful in securing their budgets the total indicative budget of all Commitments is 1.75 billion. They are also delivering tangible results that will contribute to achieving the EIP's targets. The 2015 Annual Monitoring Report also found that the majority of the Commitments acknowledge several benefits of being an RMC, such as being better prepared when applying for public funding and getting connected with partners with similar interests. >> The European Commission has undertaken many initiatives to implement the SIP's actions The European Commission has addressed many of the SIP's actions in Horizon 2020, the EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programme. Based on the Work Programme it is now funding 28 projects which deal with raw materials, with a total budget of almost 140 million. Raw materials are included in Societal Challenge 5 "Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials" with a dedicated budget of more than 600 million for the period Furthermore the Commission has also published a number of studies and reports, reviewed EU legislation on waste and organised, in the particular case of critical raw materials, a series of conferences with the US and Japan. >> The assessment of the Priority Areas' level of implementation should be done on a case-by-case basis A key observation from the analysis of the level of implementation of the Priority and Action Areas is that there are significant differences between the Priority Areas that should be taken into account. First there is an important difference between the technology oriented Priority Areas (I.A, I.B and I.C) and the non-technology oriented Priority Areas (II.A, II.B, II.C and III). While the technology oriented Priority Areas are extensively covered by many potential players through the RMCs and EU research and innovation funded projects, the nontechnology oriented Priority Areas may rather require public authorities to take the initiative. This may explain the lower number of RMCs and research projects for the non-technology oriented Priority Areas and does not necessarily imply they are less well covered (some projects or RMCs may also cover several actions at once). Second, the analysis clearly shows that the actions in the different Priority Areas are not all defined at the same level of detail. This may highlight the need to redefine some of the actions so as to increase the internal consistency of the SIP. 5 It is to be noted that this document takes into account the situation at the end of 2015, i.e. still taking into account the Commitments that were disqualified because they did not comply with their monitoring requirements, but not the newly adopted Commitments from the 2015 Call for Commitments. 10

11 4. THE SIP'S LEVEL OF IMPLEMENTATION: OVERVIEW PER PRIORITY AREA PRIORITY AREA I.A: RESEARCH AND INNOVATION COORDINATION - This Priority Area counts 4 relatively similar actions, most of which are still considered relevant by the members of the Operational Groups. - The Action Area on "research and innovation coordination" was addressed in the Horizon 2020 call topic SC5-13 ( ), which was attributed to the project VERAM ("Vision and Roadmap for European Raw Materials). Three RMCs also contribute to the implementation of this Priority Area. - According to the OG members there is a need for greater involvement of industry and MS and their funding agencies. - The analysis of the projects reported via the SIP survey shows that there is a need for more coordination between the different actors and research projects. - In the future the newly established Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Raw Materials is expected to play a pivotal role in the coordination of R&I activities at EU level (see also Priority Area II.C). PRIORITY AREA I.B: TECHNOLOGIES FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RAW MATERIALS PRODUCTION - This Priority Area counts 13 actions on exploration, extraction, processing and refining and recycling. Most of the actions are still considered relevant by the members of the Operational Groups. - The European Commission has extensively addressed the issues covered by Priority Area I.B in Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The lion's share in term of budget was focused on innovative breakthrough solutions addressing the 4 Actions Areas mentioned in the SIP. - The EIP attracted 37 Raw Materials Commitments which are implementing the actions included this Priority Area. They mostly deal with exploration/geology, mining, deep sea mining, mineral processing and metallurgy, forest operations and processing and waste management. Many of these Commitments are expected to contribute to the related EIP target to launch up to 10 innovative pilot actions. - Next to the large number of projects funded by FP7, H2020 and LIFE, the SIP survey revealed that there is a considerable amount of relevant research projects ongoing in the Member States. This highlights the need for better research and innovation coordination (Priority Area I.A). - The analysis of the projects reported in the SIP survey shows the following (see also Annex 3): o Novel exploration strategies, such as 3D modelling and real-time mining operations monitoring are often embedded in wider sustainable mining concepts. The lack of 11

12 geological knowledge and the lack of relevant data are considered the most significant barriers. o In the field of innovative extraction of raw materials, reported projects tend to follow two main objectives. The first being increased automation including advanced sensing, sorting, close-to-surface processing and remote controlled operations along all steps of mineral extraction. The second objective is the introduction of novel technologies for extraction and processing leading to decreased environmental footprints. o A significant number of the projects reported in the field of processing and refining of raw materials address the processing of low-grade ores. Novel processing technologies will enable the development of high-quality products. The utilization of sensor based sorting is another common goal implemented for the enhancement of underground mine operations or the pre-sorting of lower grade ores. o Projects on secondary raw materials production so far typically aim to develop technical solutions for exploration, sorting and separation in urban mining, most notably for the recovery of valuable materials from landfilled waste. A high number of projects reported activities not aiming at the recycling of raw materials but developing novel technologies for decreasing various inputs such as energy or water and reducing various output wastes, such as fly ash, mining waste or soils that require disposal. PRIORITY AREA I.C: SUBSTITUTION OF RAW MATERIALS - This Priority Area includes 10 very precisely defined actions organised in four Action Areas. Most of the actions are still considered relevant but the level of implementation of certain actions is not satisfactory yet. This is particularly true for Action Area I.9 "Applications using materials in large quantities", which has not yet been addressed in H The European Commission has undertaken a study on the substitution of CRM in permanent magnets. It has also included substitution of raw materials in a series of trilateral conferences on CRM with the US and Japan. Furthermore it is expected that every Work Programme of Horizon 2020 will include at least one call on substitution, which was already the case for WP The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 8 RMCs that will be contributing to this Priority Area. The RMCs cover a diverse range of materials in specific applications and are expected to contribute to the EIP's target to find substitutes for at least three applications of CRM and scarce raw materials. - According to the OG members, the current actions are a good start, even though some of them may be defined either in too much or too little detail. The OG members also think that the SIP focuses too much on CRMs. Substitution should not only be driven by the assessment of criticality, but should rather be performance driven. They therefore suggested that some consideration and recrafting of the actions will be needed in the future. Substitution was identified as a long-term strategy, therefore supporting actions 12

13 such as speeding up development through modelling could be used to increase the impact of the other actions. - In order to reduce fragmentation of efforts, OG members also suggested the set-up of an annual event where stakeholders across the whole supply chain can interact. With regard to the action on rubber, they noted that this action has raised attention to the issue and helped bring together different actors. PRIORITY AREA II.A: IMPROVING EUROPE S RAW MATERIALS FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS - This Priority Area counts 24 relatively ambitious actions, organised in 3 Action Areas. Most of the actions are still considered relevant by the members of the Operational Groups. Nonetheless, because the actions are described in a very detailed way there is scope to cluster and streamline a number of similar actions to increase the focus of this Priority Area. Some prioritisation may also be desirable. - The European Commission has published a number of studies and reports on Member States' minerals policies and good practices. Priority Area II.A was also addressed in H2020 WP The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 10 RMCs that will be contributing to this Priority Area. Due to the overlapping level of implementation of the different actions, most RMCs cover multiple actions at once. Nonetheless this Priority Area would benefit from further initiatives by the potential players identified in the SIP. - The Action Area on Public Acceptance, Awareness and Trust (PAAT) is considered to be particularly relevant, yet so far the number of projects and initiatives is not satisfactory. Because public acceptance and trust is very important, in particular with regard to raw materials production in the EU it may be beneficial to integrate actions on PAAT in all other Priority Areas. PRIORITY AREA II.B: IMPROVING EUROPE'S WASTE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS AND EXCELLENCE - This Priority Area counts 11 actions organised in four Action Areas. Most of the actions are still considered relevant by the members of the Operational Groups. - Many actions are addressed by the European Commission through a revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation, the proposals to revise the EU directives on waste, packaging and packaging waste and landfill of waste, the Circular Economy Action Plan, the launch of a mandate to CEN for standardisation of material efficiency in ecodesign and the publication of several studies and reports. - In terms of level of implementation, this Priority Area has received relatively little attention in Horizon 2020, but the actions on Critical Raw Materials in product and waste flows and on waste collection systems will be addressed in the Work Programme

14 - The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 7 RMCs that deal with waste management framework conditions. These Commitments cover a variety of issues such as waste shipments, WEEE recycling, extended producer responsibility etc. - A key observation from several members of the Operational Groups is that the majority of the research and innovation projects address recycling challenges rather than re-use, eco-design, life extension strategies etc. PRIORITY AREA II.C: KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND RAW MATERIALS FLOWS - This Priority Area consists of 12 actions organised in three Action Areas. Most of the actions are still considered relevant. - Action Area II.9 is completed with the launch of the EIT KIC Raw Materials 6 in December The EIT (European Institute of Innovation & Technology) is an independent body of the European Union set up in 2008 to spur innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe to overcome some of its greatest challenges. It brings together leading higher education institutions, research labs and companies to form dynamic cross-border partnerships Knowledge and Innovation Communities, KICs - that develop innovative products and services, start new companies, and train a new generation of entrepreneurs. The mission of the EIT Raw Materials is to boost the competitiveness, growth and attractiveness of the European raw materials sector via radical innovation and entrepreneurship. The launch of the KIC on Raw Materials is also expected to contribute significantly to Priority Areas I.A, I.B and I.C. - The European Commission has published a number of studies and reports that contribute to this Priority Area. The Priority Area was also addressed in H2020 WP The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 6 RMCs, which all cover the actions on the knowledge base. There are no RMCs that deal with optimised raw materials flows along value chains (Action Area II.10). - There is a very good complementarity between the RMCs, the H2020 projects and the EC actions on the EU Raw Materials Knowledge base. Most of the on-going projects reported so far tend to be more focused on data and information gathering. There is still the need to maintain coordination between these projects and to ensure that raw materials related data bases will be maintained. The lack of harmonised international reporting standards is also an issue. - The partnerships reported in the Action Area "Optimised raw materials flows along value chains" cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from overarching raw materials information systems to specific wood harvesting technologies. These partnerships typically foster collaboration and information sharing among actors from different sectors (academia, industry, governments), rather than targeted collaboration along the value chain. Projects aiming to create value chains are typically related to wood or mining

15 waste. Information flows along the value chain are limited. Information gaps between various actors might lead to suboptimal matching of supply and demand. PRIORITY AREA III: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION - This Priority Area counts 21 actions organised in five Action Areas. Most of the actions are still considered relevant but the level of implementation of actions is currently very low. This can probably be attributed to the fact that most of the actions are linked to actions in other Priority Areas and are not implemented on their own. Therefore, there may be a need to revise the SIP and to describe the actions in a less prescriptive way. More attention should be paid to health, safety and environmental performances; to skills, education and knowledge (specific actions to be implemented in the future by the EIT KIC) and to investment activities. - The Priority Area on international cooperation is the one where the European Commission has taken a large number of initiatives such as the Raw Materials Diplomacy events, the series of EU-US-Japan trilateral Conferences and the Foreign Partnership Instrument. Two policy actions (CSAs) in H2020 WP also focus on international cooperation by addressing strategic dialogues respectively with raw materials producing and technologically advanced countries. - The 2013 Call for Commitments only attracted 6 RMCs that deal with international cooperation specifically. This may again reflect the need to integrate the actions on international cooperation in the other Priority Areas. Further initiatives from potential players identified in the SIP may also be beneficial. BIOTIC MATERIALS - There are 12 Action Areas that include actions that are directly or indirectly relevant to biotic materials. The fact that these actions are spread over different Priority Areas (i.e. I.B, II.B and II.C) is found to hamper their coverage and implementation. This would call for a specific section in the SIP on biotic materials and/or a stronger involvement of biotic materials in actions addressing both biotic and abiotic raw materials. - The European Commission has launched a study on the cascading use of wood, launched a public-private partnership (Biobased Industry Joint Undertaking) and addressed a number of issues regarding secondary raw materials in the Circular Economy Action Plan. The action on sustainable wood mobilisation (II.10.3) will be addressed in H2020 WP The 2013 Call for Commitments attracted 5 RMCs that deal with biotic materials specifically. Three of them address forest resources but from different angles (technology, knowledge, policy coordination, etc.), one addresses paper recycling and one is focused on substitution of natural rubber. The IMPACT Commitment on paper recycling became a Horizon 2020 project ImpactPapeRec) funded by WASTE

16 5. CONCLUSION Overall the 2015 SIPID shows that thus far the implementation of the actions included in the SIP is well on track, but that further initiatives are needed. With 80 Raw Materials Commitments including more than 750 unique partners from many different countries the EIP has demonstrated its power to mobilise stakeholders to work together to implement the SIP. The European Commission is now funding 28 projects which deal with raw materials, with a total annual budget of almost 140 million via Horizon It has also undertaken a number of studies and other initiatives to implement the SIP. Furthermore, through the SIP survey, the SIPID identified more than 300 research and innovation projects that are relevant to the actions included in the SIP. This shows that the EIP has an important role to play to continue to bring stakeholders together, so as to reduce fragmentation, avoid overlaps and foster synergies and complementarities between different projects. 6. NEXT STEPS The EIP's monitoring and evaluation scheme 7 foresees three moments to make up the balance of the EIP's relevance and achievements: an initial exercise in 2015 to set the baseline, a midterm review in 2017 and a final evaluation exercise in Given the large number of actions in the SIP the 2015 SIPID should be seen as a first mapping exercise that aims at providing an overview of the many projects and initiatives that contribute to the implementation of the SIP. This will be a good stepping stone to the 2017 SIPID, which will monitor the SIP's level of implementation at action level, using individually defined key performance indicators. This may also be a good opportunity to redefine some of the actions and to increase the internal consistency of the SIP, given that the 2015 analysis of the level of implementation of the SIP finds that the actions in the different Priority Areas are not all defined at the same level of detail. 7 See 16