Innovative advanced materials and new production processes – reducing dependencies on Critical and Strategic Raw Materials (IA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU and Processes4Planet partnerships)

Expected Outcome: Reducing dependencies of critical and strategic raw materials through partial or total substitution by safe and sustainable innovative advanced materials and/or via more efficient use of critical and strategic raw materials in production processes; Speeding up the innovation cycle within value chain(s) important for European industry; Enhancing competitiveness of the industries and operational costs, while making supply chains more secure; New or improved production processes, innovative advanced materials and products that are safer and more sustainable, supporting a clean and autonomous economy; and Demonstrating how the safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) chemicals and materials framework can guide innovation. Scope: The focus of this topic is on alternatives for the substitution or more efficient use of critical and strategic raw materials [1] . The design and development of innovative advanced materials (IAMs) and processes should lead to an innovation cycle covering the (re)design of materials and production processes, and the integration of IAMs into products. Proposals should develop IAMs or process technologies to replace or reduce the use of critical and strategic raw materials in strategic areas and sectors such as energy, mobility, construction, electronics, medical devices or chemical industries. Proposals should address one or several of the following approaches: Design, development and production with targets on performance, safety and sustainability of IAMs substituting or making a more efficient use of critical and strategic raw materials. Innovative industrial processes for the reduction of the use of critical and strategic raw materials focussed on optimizing process safety, sustainability, flexibility, scalability, cost-efficiency. Co-development strategies for IAMs and industrial processes. These strategies should demonstrate the value of co-development through specific use cases while maintaining broad relevance across various materials and process types. Proposals should demonstrate clear use case(s), market and potential to grow. The substitution barriers for the selected applications should be identified and a driving mechanism for a maximal substitution in the targeted value chains proposed. The scope includes necessary adaptations of related processes and technologies to ensure alignment with and integration in industrial manufacturing in order to facilitate the uptake of the developed solutions. If relevant, challenges for the adaption of existing production lines should be identified and solutions proposed…