New Measures for Resource Sovereignty

Without them, there would be no smartphones or electric cars. They are found in game consoles in our living rooms and in solar cells on our roofs: critical raw materials. Recources such as copper, lithium and rare earths are indispensable for many key technologies in the High-Tech Agenda Germany (HTAD). At the same time, they are only available in limited quantities. Ensuring that these raw materials are available as a basis for science and industry is therefore an important lever of the HTAD.

Federal Minister for Technology Dorothee Bär sums it up: “Raw materials are both a prerequisite and a driver of key technologies and are indispensable for Germany's resource sovereignty and economic growth.” With a new research offensive, the Ministry of Research, Technology and Space are now strengthening the skilled labour base and technological know-how to enable critical raw materials to be extracted and processed in an environmentally friendly manner. At present, their extraction consumes a lot of resources and is estimated to be responsible for around ten per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

For know-how and skilled workers

We are launching a whole package of measures. Together with partners from industry, we will invest over 60 million euros in the coming years. The initial focus will be on extraction and processing methods that are more resource- and energy-efficient. The use of AI will play a key role in this.

Specifically, we are supporting alliances between science and industry that are developing new technologies for the safe and efficient exploration, extraction and processing of primary raw materials. We are focusing mainly on European and German deposits.

We are strengthening the skilled labour base and promoting junior research groups throughout Germany. In each of these groups, we are integrating research or industry partners from strategic raw material countries such as Australia, Chile and Canada. In this way, we are further expanding our raw materials diplomacy.

We are actively involved in the new European research partnership “Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition”. This partnership deals with critical raw materials and the circular economy. It brings together around 50 research funding organisations from Europe and beyond. In Europe, we want to invest around 300 million Euros in this area over the next seven years.

More momentum, not only for key technologies

All three measures are interlinked. They enable us to strengthen the leverage of the HTAD's “securing the supply of critical raw materials” and increase its momentum for key technologies and strategic research fields. This will open up more opportunities for those involved in research and development and increase efficiency in the implementation of new ideas.