Specialist workshop: Resilience for businesses – security of raw materials as a competitive factor

For twelve out of seventeen strategically vital raw materials, the EU’s – and therefore also Austria’s – supply from third countries is at serious risk. In roughly half of these cases, China is the country on which the EU is most dependent for imports. In total, over 50 % of Austria’s annual exports, worth around 97 billion euros, depend directly on critical raw materials.

To secure the raw materials needed for production, companies must ensure that these are available in sufficient quantities and at the right time. However, geopolitical turmoil and events linked to climate change are making it increasingly difficult to guarantee this supply.

The circular economy offers a practical way, available right now, to enhance raw material sovereignty and resilience, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of our economy. Using selected raw materials as examples, we aim to illustrate how this is already working, discuss current developments in Europe and beyond, and explore the framework conditions necessary for establishing the secondary raw materials market.

Following a brief introduction, there will be an in-depth discussion in an interactive World Café setting.

The focus is on the following areas:

• Phosphorus – Recovery and utilisation
• Scrap / Metals – Secondary raw materials for industry
• Bioeconomy / bio-based raw materials
• Framework conditions & market design

©️ Christina Zhang on Unsplash