Project duration: 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2024

Objective

Low level of innovativeness in the ESEE RM-sector is partly related to lack of professional LLL courses. Project aims to implement four innovation workshops in exploration, orebody characterization, extraction, and ore processing for the ESEE RM-professionals, and four spin-off programmes for RM-students at the participating ESEE Universities. Programmes content has been drafted based on questionnaire campaign conducted in the ESEE region.

The solution (technology)

DIM ESEE v.2 is a RIS LLL project focused on rising innovativeness within RM professionals in the ESEE region, having impact beyond and above the duration of the project. Targeted region lacks LLL courses for RM professionals (with the exception of obligatory, low-regulated educations for professionals related to safety, working in explosive environment etc.) whereas at the same time classical higher education system with outdated curricula have very little ability to follow development trends and adsorb new innovative and advanced tools and methodologies, reflecting in lower innovativeness rate of their students and alumnus – RM professionals. The project lasts for 4 years and is focused primary on the RM professionals, developing four innovative workshops, 3 days each, for a total of 120+ professionals: Innovation in exploration (2021), Innovation in process-oriented orebody characterization (2022), Innovation in extraction (2023), and Innovation in ore processing (2024). Innovation workshops are going to be implemented in Interuniversity Centre of Dubrovnik. Participating RIS Universities will collaborate in preparation of the joint spin-off workshops for RM PhD and MSc students, using prepared materials of the primary Innovation workshops. For the duration of the project three spin-off workshops are going to be implemented (Miskolc (2022): Innovation in exploration, Zagreb (2023) Innovation in process-oriented orebody characterization, Athens (2024) Innovation in extraction). Spin-off programmes are planned to last continuously for minimum of 3 years after the implementation, targeting RM students – future alumnus of the “Trainee” universities. During that period, we estimate that additional 60 MSc and PhD RM students will benefit from innovation courses, increasing level of innovation and entrepreneurial skills among the MSc and PhD student population in the region at 6%.

Partnership

• Dnipro University of Technology (NMU Ukraine), Ukraine
• Geological Survey of Montenegro (GSM), Montenegro
• Goce Delchev University, North Macedonia
• Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria
• National Technical University of Athens – NTUA, Greece
• Polytechnic University of Tirana – Faculty of Geology and Mining, Albania
• Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia
• Université de Liège, Belgium
• University of Belgrade – Faculty of Mining & Geology (UNIBG-RGF), Serbia
• University of Mining and Geology St. Ivan Rilski, Bulgaria
• University of Miskolc, Hungary
• University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, Slovenia
• University of Zagreb – Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering (UNIZG-RGNF) (Lead Partner), Croatia

For more information, please visit the project web page.

Project duration: 19 July 2017 – 18 July 2020

Objective

The objective of the project proposal is to upscale and implement an innovative process cascade specified to recover raw materials from electronic display appliances and printed circuit boards (PCBs). These items are highly integrated composites of polymers (25-40 %), glass (10-40%) and metals, including critical materials like indium, gallium, germanium, etc. Due to the small size of these items they are normally not subjected to mechanical or manual separation processes and treated in smelters instead. Smelter technologies, however, do not recover materials like plastics and glass and do not focus on low concentrated critical metals.

The solution (technology)

The DISPLAY project intends to supply a technical solution for a material oriented disassembly of display appliances and PCBs by combining electrohydraulic fragmentation, spectroscopic sorting and the solvent based CreaSolv® process. This cascade of innovative and developed processes (TRL 5) will produce glass, engineering plastics like PC/ABS and metal concentrates. The latter will be provided to downstream hydrometallurgical and pyro metallurgic recovery processes, including smelters. This approach will increase the overall material recovery and the economy of the recycling process since a much higher percentage of the waste is transferred into and sold as secondary raw materials. The strategic importance of this approach is highly promising: The disassembly cascade can be operated in regional recycling centres close to the network of existing WEEE recyclers. Plastics and glass are provided for re-application in regional markets. The pre-treatment technology provides higher concentrated metal fractions for further use in existing smelter plants. In addition, however, it may open the market to specialized small scale hydrometallurgical processors (start-ups). Thus, the innovative process cascade is not a competition to existing smelters, but it will lead to a diversification of the raw material supply market. Finally, European WEEE recyclers will benefit from the development, since recoveries for sorted WEEE items will increase. The project is subdivided into 8 work packages (WPs), starting with the obligatory feasibility study. WP 2 will define and adjust target fractions in order to fit requirements of downstream processors. WP 3 will focus on availability and collection of suitable input streams. WP 4, 5 and 6 will upscale the single processes to TRL 6, optimise processes and products and finally conduct a test sample production at TRL 7 (2 tonnes). Basing on these results are business plan will be developed in WP 7 as a base for further commercialisation of the technology on a European and global scale. WP 1, Project Management, will ensure a smooth project organisation and internal communication as well as multiple training dissemination activities, including education of Master and PhD student and international workshops.

Partnership

• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (Fraunhofer), Germany (Lead Partner)
• Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile (ENEA), Italy
• Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, CEA (French Alternative  Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), France
• SUEZ Groupe SAS, France

For more information, please visit the project website.

Project duration: 01 January 2018 – 31 March 2019

Objective

The EIT Raw Materials PhD Summer School meets the need of creating new entrepreneurial education approaches to develop the entrepreneurial skills of professionals in the raw materials sector, in order to boost the competitiveness, growth and attractiveness of the European raw materials sector via radical innovation and entrepreneurship. This version will further roll out the Summer School internationally and implement e-learning elements.

The solution (technology)

DOCSUMCube offers a unique learning opportunity to PhD students who want to enrich their expertise in raw materials with entrepreneurial skills. Not only will they be able to position their research in the whole raw materials value chain, but at the same time they will be able to assess the economic relevance of their research, its scalability and the potential for turning it into a business. This tailor-made entrepreneurship programme is aimed at PhD students who are willing to work in a project-based team on actual current challenges in the circular economy put forward by raw material experts and industrial partners who are highly engaged in the conceptualisation of this programme.

Industrial partners may infuse ideas or projects into the program that they wish to see explored during the program. In this way industrial partners get to know highly skilled and motivated PhD students who may become future employees or colleagues. At the same time, PhD students get to know industrial partners in a completely different way than the more traditional research collaboration settings they are more familiar with and they also have the opportunity to provide solutions to real, complex industrial challenges.

Our experienced DOCSUMCube mentors, coaches and trainers not only bring in their expertise and experience but also offer a direct introduction to their professional network as such offering reciprocal network opportunities for all those involved. Let there be no doubt: the program initiates an ecosystem of learners consisting of PhD students, professionals and wider society and creates, as such, a solid basis to fully unleash the entrepreneurial potential of all those involved.

Partnership

• Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium (Lead Partner)
• Ghent University, Belgium
• Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH Aachen), Germany
• Swerea IVF AB, Sweden
• Université de Liège, Belgium

For more information, please visit the project web page.

Project duration: 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2022

Objective

With the cross-hub DocSumECE, we continue the successful interdisciplinary PhD summer schools on entrepreneurship in a circular economy developed in DOCSUMCO, -SQUARE and -CUBE. We address the demand for highly skilled students who combine knowledge with an entrepreneurial mindset to turn raw materials challenges into innovative solutions. Our program combines remote learning with a hands-on 5-day seminar to elaborate an industrial case study.

The solution (technology)

The fundamentals of the Circular Economy (CE) are considered a key to support the “European Green Deal” and the UN “17 Sustainable Development Goals”, fighting against climate change, depletion of resources, excessive consumption and exorbitant waste streams. The Circular Economy provides ideas and methods to keep materials longer in the value chain, both by rethinking traditional business models and mindsets and by innovative technological solutions. It is a key to make cities sustainable, reduce waste, increase recycling rates, enhance the percentage of clean energy. Within this framework, the cross-Hub DocSumECE offers a unique learning opportunity to those PhD students who want to enrich their scientific expertise with entrepreneurial skills within the challenging domain of the transition towards a circular economy.
The program comprises a remote pre-learning phase on entrepreneurship and the circular economy and a 5-day on-site summer school. The PhD students are trained to assess the economic relevance of their research, its scalability and potential for turning it into a business. Furthermore, they learn how to increase impact by addressing global challenges and circular thinking. During the 5-day on-site summer school, the students form interdisciplinary teams to work on a real industrial materials challenge put forward by raw materials experts and industrial partners. At the end of the summer school, the students pitch their result to turn an idea into an innovative business solution.
With our program, we bring together researchers from universities and research centres with industrial companies. Industrial partners get to know highly skilled and motivated PhD students who may become future employees or project partners. At the same time, PhD students get to know industrial companies, learn about their needs, scopes and way of thinking.
Our experienced mentors, coaches and trainers not only bring in their expertise and experience, but also offer a direct link to their professional network. The Summer School series initiates an ecosystem of learners consisting of PhD students, professionals and wider society and creates, as such, a solid basis to fully exploit the entrepreneurial potential of all those involved.

Partnership

• Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (MEERI), Poland
• Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH Aachen), Germany
• Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Sweden
• Université de Liège, Belgium
• Université de Lorraine, France
• Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, (KU Leuven) (Lead Partner), Belgium

Project duration: 1 December 2016 – 31 December 2016

Objective

The solution (technology)

The program focuses on the full raw materials’ value chain, and also on assessing the economic relevance of the research, its scalability, and potential for turning it into a business.

Partnership

• Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium (Lead Partner)
• Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen, RWTH Aachen, Germany
• Ghent University, Belgium
• Université de Liège, Belgium

For more information, please visit the project web page.

Objective

The objective of this project is to develop a tailor-made entrepreneurship PhD Summer School in raw materials. This unique entrepreneurship PhD Summer School program is aimed at being the focal point of an ecosystem of learners consisting of students, professionals and wider society by bringing all corners of the knowledge triangle together. Its ambition is to become the reference program in entrepreneurship in raw materials as it meets the current lack of a relevant multidisciplinary PhD educational program that enriches raw material competencies with entrepreneurial skills. PhD students will not only be able to position their research in the whole raw materials’ value chain but will at the same time be able to assess the economic relevance of their research, its scalability and potential for turning it into a business.

The solution (technology)

This PhD Summer School contributes towards stimulating the development of people that combine expert materials knowledge and an entrepreneurial mindset to drive innovations and business creation with the aim of taking Europe to the forefront in raw materials.

Partnership

• Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium (Lead Partner)
• Ghent University, Belgium
• Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH Aachen), Germany
• Université de Liège, Belgium

For more information, please check the official website of the project.

Project duration: 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2022

Objective

The solution (technology)

The DSM-School project is an initiative aimed to deliver a two-week summer school in Germany, Netherlands, and Norway for the dissemination of industry-relevant knowledge in deep-sea mining in order to increase awareness among students and PhD students to boost research and innovations in the field.

Partnership

• Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF), Germany (Lead Partner)
• Technische Universiteit Delft (Delft University of Technology), The Netherlands
• Stichting Nederlandse Wetenschappeliijk Onderzoek Instituten, The Netherlands
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
• Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria
• IHC Mining B.V., The Netherlands
• Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), Germany

For more information, please visit the project web page.

Objective

Enterprises often lack the expertise to adapt life-cycle responsible design in business operations. On the other hand, today’s students, the future professionals, need to learn how to embed circular economy principles into product design. We bring these 2 groups together by creating a modular education package where Master students around Europe analyse genuine industrial cases by utilizing modern pedagogical approaches such as virtual reality.

The solution (technology)

Circular economy demands new approaches to the product design phase. In the product design phase, many decisions are made that determine the circularity of the product as well as its overall sustainability. These issues can be further supported with optimal value chain and business model choices and innovations.

A transformation towards circular economy and sustainability is a significant issue that should be addressed not only by governments but also companies and academia. The e-CirP project initiates a platform of education modules to bring together actors within European countries to accelerate the transformation through Master of Science education. It provides an interactive education, networking and knowledge-sharing opportunity for students in the fields of environmental, mechanical, chemical, energy, civil and industrial engineering, sustainability assessment and product design. In addition, it provides an opportunity for companies to have their actual and topical challenges related to, for example, product design, life-cycle sustainability or circularity, to be examined by postgraduate students under the guidance of subject experts.

Partners

• Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland (Lead Partner)
• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (Fraunhofer), Germany
• Metso Outotec, Finland
• Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
• Technische Universiteit Delft (Delft University of Technology), Netherlands
• Università degli Studi di Padova (University of Padova), Italy
• University of Helsinki, Finland

For more information, please visit the project web page.

Objective

This project aims increase awareness among students (Target Group 1) and society (Target Group 2) in the RMs integrated in e-waste focusing on WEEE management, life cycle and related business opportunities by

• creating campaigns to engage schools
• developing and providing high quality educational materials and a gamification platform
• exposing young people to business opportunities
• demonstrating the results of these activities to the wider society.

The solution (technology)

Today’s “digital natives” are tightly linked to their electronic media and very skilled at utilizing fast and wide social interconnections; they cannot image living without them but they do not know that their future availability depends on material availability, including the ability to recycle e-waste. At the same time young people and adults buy an increasing number of electronic devices and gadgets for their entertainment and wellbeing, with these devices being characterized by rapid obsolescence. Moreover, e-waste management and the raw materials integrated into the devices offer increasing opportunities for new business.

EW@S is a way to make civil society and secondary school students from 5 European countries (at least 200 students) aware of the value of e-waste, of their environmental impact and of the economic challenge of the current EU lifestyle. The idea is to meet students at school and involve them in an educational activity including both frontal lessons, hand-on activities, and visits to facilities and labs focused on both scientific and entrepreneurial aspects. Moreover, students, with the help of project experts, will organise local waste collection to compete in an international challenge. The competition will be undertaken in real time through a web platform collecting information from all the teams around the Europe. The winner will win a trip across Europe to meet circular economy experts at a European level. Additionally, partners and students together will meet civil society in ad hoc events to present the circular economy and RM e-waste management, involving at least 200 people around Europe. Th eproject is open to all the European secondary schools and of course all the local NGO that would like to contribute to spread the relevance of RM for our future.

Partnership

• Hub Innovazione Trentino S.c.a.r.l. (HIT), Italy (Lead Partner)
• ACS Recycling Electronics de Catalunya SL, Spain
• Circularise, Netherlands
• Consell general de Cambres de Comerc Industria i Navegacio de Catalunya (General Council of the Catalan Chambers of Commerce), Spain
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy
• Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
• Fundació CTM Centre Technologic, Spain
• IVL Svenska Miljoeinstitutet AB (IVL Swedish Environmental Research lnstitute), Sweden
• Relight S.R.L., Italy
• Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy
• University of Limerick, Ireland

For more information, please visit the project website.