On September 23rd and 24th, 2025, the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) workshop was held at the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) in Brussels. The event was co-organised with the Joint Research Centre (JRC).
The theme of the 2025 workshop was: “Leveraging raw materials to strengthen EU competitiveness: from research to innovation – Channelling knowledge from European projects and research initiatives into the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS).”
The workshop’s theme reflected the EU’s strategic push for secure, sustainable management of critical and strategic raw materials. Recent policy milestones such as the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), the Clean Industrial Deal, and the Circular Economy Act set ambitious targets for extraction, processing, and recycling to meet EU demand by 2030.
The workshop brought together leading voices from the European Commission, HaDEA, JRC, academia, industry, and EU-funded projects to address urgent challenges and opportunities in the rare earth elements (REE) and permanent magnet (PM) value chains.
This annual event is a cornerstone for bridging the innovation gap and advancing the EU’s competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience in critical raw materials. It provides a platform for EU-funded projects to leverage their knowledge, disseminate results, and scale up successful research outcomes through the RMIS, the EC’s reference knowledge platform on metals and minerals.
The workshop started with a welcome session led by Alessandra Zampieri, Director of the JRC, and Marina Zanchi, Director of HaDEA. It was followed by a high-level session on knowledge needs and forthcoming actions in the raw materials policy context, featuring representatives from directorate-general programmes covering internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs, environmental policy, research and innovation, international partnerships, trade and economic security, as well as statistical authorities.
A roundtable session on EU industrial competitiveness was followed by four sessions focusing on:
Vehicles
Permanent magnets
Advanced materials
Skill development for critical and strategic raw materials
The REMHub project was invited to present in the session on permanent magnets, sharing technologies with the potential to scale within the REE and PM value chains.
Recycled Magnet Production: Demonstrating that high-quality recycled NdFeB magnets can be produced in the EU, meeting industrial standards and supporting supply chain resilience.
Gentle Dismantling & Recycling: Re-X technology enables reuse, repurposing, and refurbishing of PMs from end-of-life products, including electric vehicles.
Side Stream Exploitation: Harnessing industrial side streams (e.g., from aluminium and titanium dioxide production) as new sources of REEs, reducing reliance on virgin mining.
Advanced Recovery Technologies: 4D scavenger filtration and membrane separation for efficient and environmentally friendly REE extraction.
Traceability & Magnet Passport: Digital tools for tracking the lifecycle of magnets, ensuring transparency and sustainability.
In addition, the project presented its activities for driving market development, providing regulatory input, and offering skills training through specialised courses, webinars, and active engagement on LinkedIn and at EU-level events.
The technical workshop also included poster sessions from EU projects working towards resilience in critical raw materials. Networking breaks offered opportunities to connect with other EU projects, including the HaDEA-funded PERMANET project, which aims to establish an innovative network of EU actors to ensure a resilient supply of rare earth permanent magnets in Europe.
The RMIS Workshop underscored the importance of collaborative innovation, policy alignment, and knowledge sharing to secure Europe’s future in critical raw materials.
REMHub’s scalable technologies and its planned business and innovation platform exemplify the type of integrated solutions needed to achieve circularity, competitiveness, and sustainability in the REE and PM value chains.
REMHub will continue fostering cross-EU project collaboration through the upcoming REMHub EU Project Clustering Session: Identifying Research Gaps and Challenges in REE and Permanent Magnet Recycling in the EU, scheduled to take place on October 1st at the PoliMI campus as part of the M12 consortium meeting events.