In March 2023, in the Communication accompanying the Critical Raw Materials Act (COM(2023)165), the European Commission announced a Coordinated Plan with Member States on Advanced Materials. This plan, inspired by the Materials 2030 Manifesto, aims to tackle the main policy challenges on Industrial competitiveness, Materials efficiency & circularity and Economic security, by better aligning R&I policies between the European Commission and the Member States.
A few months later, in September 2023, President Von der Leyen in her ‘Letter of Intent to Presidency of Council and Presidency of the European Parliament’ pointed out “Advanced Materials for industrial leadership” as one of the key priorities for 2024. This topic was on the agenda of the meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 8 December 2023.
On February 27th, a new policy Communication “Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership” was released by the European Commission and we are happy to see that most of the actions proposed build on input provided by AMI2030. This Communication proposes actions along 5 pillars:
- European research and innovation on advanced materials: a launchpad for the twin transition, EU resilience and open strategic autonomy
- Fast track from lab to fab
- Increasing capital investment and access to finance
- Fostering the production and use of advanced materials
- Overall governance framework
As part of pillar 3, to strengthen the EU’s strategic cooperation with industry, a new co-programmed public-private partnership ‘Innovative Materials for EU’ has been proposed under Horizon Europe’. This partnership should offer the opportunity to unlock private capital, doubling the EU’s expected contribution of EUR 250 million for 2025-2027, allowing to scale and accelerate the deployment of advanced materials. See the full communication here.
