European Raw Materials Academy to be launched by the EIT

The 2024 Raw Materials Week happening from 9-13 December marked the announcement of the European Raw Materials Academy, to be implemented by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, supported with EUR 10 million from the Single Market Programme and Horizon Europe. 

The Academy will develop learning content and credentials to meet the skills gap along the raw materials value chain. It will support the upskilling and reskilling, by education and training providers in EU Member States, of the workforce required in the EU for, among others, exploration, extraction, processing, and recycling of raw materials.  

The Academy is expected to train over 100 000 participants in the raw materials sector with a view to foster domestic capacities along the value chain,  stimulate research and innovation and enhance circularity for critical raw materials.     

Critical raw materials are one of the foundations of our renewed industrial policy. They are essential for the decarbonation of our industry. Europe must ensure a diversified and resilient supply chain. We need to reduce our dependencies with our domestic production meeting high quality standards and at the same time secure substantial contracts with like-minded partners all over the globe. Making Europe a leader of critical raw materials production, research and knowledge is an essential element of our competitiveness and our European sovereignty. The European Raw Materials Academy is at the forefront of this needed change of paradigm. 

Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy

The European Raw Materials Academy is the second EU Academy to be set up under the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and implemented by the EIT, following the European Solar Academy, launched in June 2024. The EIT is also implementing the European Battery Alliance Academy, a successful precursor to the Net-Zero Academy model. As Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem, the EIT is best placed to utilise its large and thematic network of partners which include vocational and educational training providers, businesses, and academia to help develop and roll-out quality training programmes. The EIT as part of Horizon Europe, is the only EU innovation instrument dedicated to integrating education and skills with research and business. By building long-term partnerships called, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) between business, education, and research, the EIT has been able to amass a large portfolio of industry-focused skilling programmes and academies hat have trained over 880 000 learners.