MIN-GUIDE Newsletter Nr.4, Feb 2017
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Minerals Policy Guidance for Europe
In this edition, you will find: project achievements, information on our 1st Annual Conference and 2nd Policy Laboratory, news from the EU Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials, and upcoming events.
The MIN-GUIDE project published a comprehensive report on good practice cases in minerals policy governance in Europe. The Report describes 9 good practice cases on minerals policy governance in EU Member States on the concept of ‘Good Governance’ in general policy decision-making along three areas: 1. Strategic national minerals policy frameworks, 2. Permitting and licensing procedures for exploration and extraction, 3. Instruments for stakeholder involvement.
These good practice cases inform public policy decision-makers and stakeholders working in the mining sector about how to (re)design minerals policy governance instruments and mechanisms in order to achieve larger degrees of policy coherence and integration, an enabling business environment as well as legitimacy and transparency. To this end, the good practice cases outline key aspects, which provide in-depth comprehension and understanding on how the policy works, as well as identify crucial factors that led to the preferred outcomes of the policy.
In December 2016 MIN-GUIDE published a
project report on innovation within mineral and metallurgical processing. This included a detailed overview of the stakeholder network and innovation processes relevant to this part of the value chain, as well as an analysis of the innovation system including related internal and external facilitators and barriers to innovation. From an extensive list of innovations within the sector along with an overview of relevant policies and legislation, three specific innovation cases were selected for further scrutiny, including categorisation according to innovation type and link to specific policies.
An important finding was that most innovations within this segment of the value chain are indirectly rather than directly linked to policies. This is due to the fact that wider societal challenges such as for instance resource and energy efficiency, environmental considerations, etc. are driving the selection of particular processing methods, flowsheets and implementation of novel technologies. The interrelation between policy and innovation mostly appears prevalent in terms of legislation mainly imposing restrictions, while other policies such as various funding schemes for industry-coupled research programmes act as facilitators for innovation. In particular, the tedious permitting procedures involving a huge amount of conflicting and overlapping legislation have been mentioned by several sources as the most significant inhibitor, both for the development of the industry and
innovations within the sector. These early case studies and the concepts for analysing innovations will be further expanded as part of the continued work within the project.
The MIN-GUIDE project team recently published the second report of its work package 3, innovation in exploration and extraction. The report builds on the first report, "Innovation evaluation criteria and best case practices in exploration and extraction", which was published last October. It identifies EU and Member States' policies relevant to innovation in minerals exploration and extraction, coming to the conclusion that innovation in this part of mining's value chain is mainly driven by business opportunity, with policy playing only a secondary role. Where it does play a role, however, is through legislation facilitating innovation. This is mainly the case for societal challenges, i.e. environmental issues or health and safety. Indirectly, RDI related policies, tax (incentive) and education policies can also influence innovation.
The first MIN-GUIDE Annual Conference, entitled “Minerals Policy and Governance in Europe”, took place as a major event during the first European Raw Materials Week in Brussels, on 2 December 2016. Minerals policy decision-makers and high-level experts from across Europe met in Brussels to learn about and share their expertise on minerals policy and good practice in minerals policy governance. As a one of the core MIN-GUIDE activities, the first Annual Conference acted as a platform for networking and community building to 75 experts from 25 countries. High-level keynote presentations and interactive sessions on good practice exchange enabled the participants to exchange knowledge and experiences on the MIN-GUIDE stock-taking of mineral policies in all EU Member States and the EU level.
The MIN-GUIDE project also presented version 1.0 of the MIN-GUIDE Online Minerals Policy Guide.Discussions among experts in three interactive workshops focused on the topics of policy coherence and integration (strategic national policy frameworks), enabling business environment (streamlined permitting procedures), and transparency & legitimacy (stakeholder involvement actions). These three interactive workshops allowed participants to hands-on learn and exchange about good practice success criteria, explore their transferability in their own context, and discuss gaps and future needs. In that sense, the three sessions have further complemented the outcomes of the MIN-GUIDE Policy Laboratory workshop 1, and have been summarised in a project report.
The second MIN-GUIDE Policy Laboratory workshop entitled “Innovations and Supporting Policies for Mineral Exploration and Extraction” aims to provide an overview of and reflect upon innovation examples in exploration and extraction, including deep-sea mining, and how they link to Policy in the EU Member States. The Policy Laboratory format, designed by MIN-GUIDE partners, engages participants from policy, industry, Geological Surveys, and research in an intensive and interactive exchange.
This allows the participants to hands-on learn from good practice cases, to explore transferability in different contexts and to reflect upon future needs.
Finally, the outcome of the second Policy Laboratory will contribute to further develop the Online Minerals Policy Guide. More information about the Policy Laboratory can also be found on the MIN-GUIDE website or write an email to policylab@min-guide.eu.
Andreas Endl (Institute for Managing Sustainability, Vienna University of Economics and Business) gave a key-note presentation at the 4th Annual High-Level Conference of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials, on 1 December 2016 in Brussels.
The presentation informed participants about the most recent project results of the MIN-GUIDE project – a stock-taking of EU level and EU Member States minerals policy and good practice cases on minerals policy governance.
The presentation also provided an overview of the project’s activities that complement the implementation of the EIP Strategic implementation and, thus, benefits its core stakeholder groups. In addition, the presentation outlined upcoming project activities that investigate innovation activities along the mining value chain and how they relate to the minerals policy frameworks in EU Member States such as the current MIN-GUIDE report Policy Framework and Legislation for innovative Exploration and Extraction.
The 1st EU Raw Materials Week: full documentation online
The 1st edition of the "EU Raw Materials Week" gathered a wide range of European and international stakeholders from industry, academia and government to debate and discuss raw materials policy and initiatives. It took place in Brussels from 28 November to 2 December 2016. The Raw Materials Week was centred around a series of events organised by the European Commission addressing the latest news regarding raw materials in the EU.
The full documentation of the Raw Materials Week and its related events can be found online.
European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials is renewing its membership
The EIP is completely renewing its membership for both the High-Level Steering Group and the Operational Groups. DG GROW is seeking to establish a balanced group with representatives from Member States, industry, civil society and the research community.
As the mandate of the group selected in 2013 comes to an end, DG GROW has called for applications (deadline 31 January 2017) in view of selecting new members for both the EIP's High-Level Steering Group and its Operational Groups.
International cooperation on natural resources
Brussels
9-10 Feb 2017
This conference will foster the convergence of terminology and the comparability/ compatibility of data, thus contributing to the creation of a solid European Knowledge Database on mineral and energy resources.
European Industry Day
Brussels
28 Feb 2017
The EU Commission invites policy makers and key industrial players to take stock of existing actions and stimulate debate on a joint vision for the long-term future of EU industry. Innovators and the tech community will share the stage with key EU political leaders.
Circular economy stakeholder conference
Brussels
9-10 March
To showcase the key deliverables achieved so far and to debate future deliverables with stakeholders.
The event will culminate with the formal launch of the EU Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 innovation and research programme under agreement No. 689527
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Gerald Berger & Andreas Endl
Vienna University of Economics and Business
Institute for Managing Sustainability.
Welthandelsplatz 1, A-1020 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1313360