Events archivos - ISMC - IBERIAN SUSTAINABLE MINING CLUSTER

Category: Events

ISMC participates in the “EU INDUSTRY DAYS 2023” promoting innovation valleys

ISMC participates in the European Industry Days 2023, which this year will be held in Malaga between 4 and 6 October and will be attended by such relevant personalities as Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission; or Maive Rute, Deputy Director General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission, who will also be in charge of opening the event.
It is Europe’s annual flagship event that focuses on key industrial policy debates, connects industrial pioneers and boosts the knowledge base of European industry. The cluster’s CEO and technology expert, Santiago Cuesta López, will bring to the table the cluster’s experience in creating innovation valleys in what is intended to be “an open forum to discuss industrial challenges and co-create solutions and policy responses in an inclusive dialogue with a wide range of partners from industry, EU countries, civil society organisations, universities and citizens” explained Cuesta López.

In particular, Cuesta López, will participate in a session under the title “From regional innovation valleys to new EU value chains” where he will highlight his strategy for raw material sustainability focused on circular industrial economy and digitalisation, “as part of a cluster-led plan to connect regions, generating a network of highly specialised raw material innovation valleys, with a strengthened industry and no supply bottlenecks. A resilient Europe in which local industrial actors can achieve green and digital transition, strong value chains and strategic autonomy,” he detailed. Proof of this is the new BATMASS project, which has been promoted by ISMC for the creation of the first battery supply valley in Europe and whose funding amounts to 10 million euros through the European Commission’s interregional innovation investment tool “I3”.

All the information about the event HERE #EUID23

New Open Call for SMEs within I4-GREEN project

ISMC is a partner of the I4GREEN project whose mission is to boost EU interregional collaboration.

I4-GREEN unleashes the green innovation power of EU Interregional Ecosystems, reducing EU dependence on imports of Critical Raw Materials and the negative impact on the environment of their mining process.

I4-GREEN will provide financial support and services to up to 15 SMEs deploying new products, processes and/or technical services into the IHO pilot (Iron Holm Oak – PILOT 1, located in Extremadura, Spain) and E-LIX pilot (PILOT 2, located in Andalusia, Spain).

The Open Call contains all the documents needed for understanding: the Call conditions (Call announcement, Guide for applicants & FAQ) and all documents for submitting your proposal (Application template & Supporting documents for application).

The final goal is to promote technology transfer, services, and products into targeted sectorial SMEs and to boost cluster collaboration tools involving business services and financial support to SMEs in the ecosystem.

I4-GREEN is closely collaborating with the project MINE.THE.GAP, which provides the digital platform to submit applications for the I4-GREEN Open Call.

Submit your proposal until 15th September 2023, 17:00 CET.

Visit the project website for more information.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2023 / ISMC leads European raw materials emergency

ISMC closed this week the first stage of activities in 2023, and continues its unstoppable growth, already affiliating more than 55 companies along the entire mining and raw materials value chain. The entity continues its growth with the opening of new offices in cities such as Seville and Murcia, from where they intend to reach more Spanish SMEs working in the value chain of raw materials, “with the clear objective that Spain becomes the European reference for the sustainable supply of critical raw materials,” said Santiago Cuesta López, director of the cluster.

The association held its ordinary General Assembly in Madrid on 15 June, where it presented the results of the last year’s fundraising and innovation bonds, as well as the projects and initiatives that are on the way, “our goal is to consolidate an ecosystem of companies relevant to the mining sector and its associated services at national level, that accelerates the transition towards a new innovative and sustainable industry, with international projection and with the capacity to ensure the European supply of raw materials that will shape the technologies of the future”, underlined the technologist who has managed to attract 3 million Euros to León, and almost another 5 million that will mainly benefit companies from León and Andalusia. The funds will be allocated to regional, national and international innovation projects, within the prestigious Horizon Europe programme, and all of them will be coordinated and promoted from the innovation procurement office that the national raw materials cluster has in the León Technology Park. “We are closing a very beneficial year for the consolidation of the cluster. We have achieved a strong European presence and attracted international funding of close to 3 million euros, which positions us as a benchmark in supporting innovation and boosting business. We continue to grow exponentially to consolidate mining territories and regions together and thanks to all the companies that trust us by joining the cluster” explained Cuesta López.

Cuesta and his team have positioned the cluster in the most important European social development circles in 2022 as well as in the most relevant international dialogue tables for the “European Pact” for raw materials promoted by Ursula Von der Leyen.

ISMC will play a key role in the XV International Congress on Energy and Mineral Resources, to be held in León from 22 – 24 November this year, and will organise during October, together with the metal mining association AMINER, a high-level trade mission to Morocco to find synergies and opportunities for mining exploitation and services for companies from León.

The National Raw Materials Cluster is already a priority actor in the European Union, having established strong links with the European Commission and its Directorates-General for Growth and Industry, Environment and Regions, as well as its European Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), the European Agency for the Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME), the European Institute of Technology for Raw Materials (EITM), the European Institute for Mining and Metals Technology (EITM), the European Commission and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Industry and Entrepreneurship (DG Environment), as well as the European Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), the European Institute of Technology for Raw Materials (EIT Raw Materials) and the European Smart Specialisation Platforms (S3P), in particular the one dedicated to the mining industry and its associated value chains as well as coordinating at European level the sustainable raw material supply pilot for the battery value chain (S3P Platform – AMBP).

At a critical time when raw materials are not only essential for the production of a wide range of goods and services used in everyday life, but also for the development of emerging and globally competitive technologies, “the work of the cluster is more than necessary to ensure access to a stable supply of many raw materials as it is a major challenge for national and regional economies with limited production, such as the EU economy, which is dependent on imports of many minerals and metals needed for industry”, concluded Cuesta López.

The ISMC cluster has, in the last year, demonstrated the relevance of its role in driving the green economy and sustainability in the field of raw materials. Through the European mechanisms of cascade financing and innovation bonds, it has provided 13 Spanish companies with the necessary economic resources to implement sustainability, environmental protection or circular economy measures. In addition, several companies from León have benefited from the cluster’s activity, including Pizarras la Baña, Pizarras Matacouta and IPC Control, which are already implementing digitalisation processes and digital twins in their operations, thus reducing their energy consumption and environmental impact.

ISMC opens debate on Europe’s raw materials future and energy transition in Madrid

The Iberian Sustainable Mining Cluster (ISMC), through the MINE.THE.GAP H2020 project funded by the European Union, is organising an investment event in raw materials on 1 June at the Hotel Emperador in Madrid, coordinated by its director general, Santiago Cuesta López, who will be accompanied by senior European officials such as Madalina Ivanica, Deputy Director in the unit of the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission.

The event “European investment forum for raw materials” aims to find solutions and business and institutional synergies that serve as a basis for solving the problem of supply of critical raw materials to European industry. To this end, it will hold a series of sessions where global investment experts will present the barriers that mining projects frequently face, providing lessons learned from around the world that the European Union may have the opportunity to apply.

The conference will be divided into three areas that will revolve around the value chain of raw materials, strategic resources and the agents involved as vital elements for the transformation of the sector, “as a starting point, the global framework and the outlook for the sector, analysing investment mechanisms, and in a second session, various round tables on the keys to geopolitics, raw materials and technological dependence”, explained Cuesta López.

The importance of geopolitics and the international context will be a key point on the agenda, where experts from the Ministry of Defence and international figures such as Sebastián Contín of AsiaGlobal Fellow – the University of Hong Kong and Brian Wong will debate, moderated by Jesús Morales, journalist and deputy director of 20MINUTOS.

In addition, a round table will be held to present success stories in the implementation and development of raw materials projects worldwide and to present the latest technologies applied to the extraction of raw materials in a sustainable way, by leading companies such as Técnicas Reunidas, Silver-X, Minas de Alquife and the Federation of Mining Companies of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Finally, there will be a session on business opportunities and synergies between investors and leading technology-based companies, “presenting cutting-edge projects that are fundamental for a transition towards digital and sustainable mining in Europe and worldwide”, said Cuesta López. In addition, “the political barriers and institutional investment mechanisms that can facilitate the acquisition of advanced cutting-edge technologies in a sector that will be strategic for the EU economy in the coming years should be analysed”, he stressed.

The day will end with the presentation of products and services from international SMEs highly specialised in sustainable mining technologies, which will be made available to companies and investors.

This raw materials investment forum is presented as an essential meeting for dialogue in which a “joint model will be proposed to halt the international energy and raw materials crisis, which requires urgent and sustainable solutions, focusing strategically on industry and the technological system”, said Cuesta López.

Presenting a success case in Finland as a catalyst for innovation in the sector / #CLUSTERSMEETREGIONS EVENT

ISMC holds Innovation Summit with experts and leading companies from all over Spain

Under the title “Spring Raw Materials Innovation Summit”, Santiago Cuesta López, general director of the ISMC cluster, led this first conference of the 2023, in which in addition to “attracting experts and leading companies to the province, we presented new opportunities for European growth towards sustainable mining”.

During the conference, the relative progress of some of the international reference projects in which the ISMC projects in which the cluster is involved. Projects such as RESILEX, C-SINK, S34I and MADITRACE, leading in the generation of technologies that facilitate the mining of strategic resources with a low environmental impact, which together environmental impact, which together mobilise a total of more than 40 million euros, where León will be an essential axis.

The structure of the day facilitated the creation of a space for strategic dialogue between the attendees, with the aim of activating and boosting the mining sector and its associated services, from the regions to Europe. Through the European Essential Raw Materials Act, a key European initiative consolidated in March 2023, the framework has been established to ensure a secure and sustainable supply of essential raw materials” commented Cuesta López during one of his speeches, “and this is where the cluster comes in, acting as a catalyst among sector leaders to ensure secure and sustainable supply chains for the green and digital future of the European Union”.

During the conference, the urgency of Europe’s dependence on imports, often from quasi-monopolistic third-party suppliers, was highlighted. often from quasi-monopolistic suppliers in third countries, and Cuesta López underlined that “we need to mitigate the We need to mitigate the supply risks related to these strategic dependencies to improve Europe’s economic resilience. to improve Europe’s economic resilience, as evidenced by the shortages following the Covid-19-19 conflict. shortages after the Covid-19 conflict and the energy crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine”.

ISMC Special Session – AMINER. Extraordinary General Assembly of the ISMC Cluster 17/10/2022

The ties of the Iberian Sustainable Mining Cluster with Andalusian mining are growing. This is being demonstrated in the strong alliance with AMINER (Association of Research Companies, Extractors, Transformers Miner-Metallurgical, Auxiliary and Services), as well as with more and more companies based in Andalusia and in collaboration in large projects.

Knowing the great importance of the Mining and Minerals Hall (MMH) for the sector, we have strengthened our collaboration with AMINER and various European partners to organize various activities under its umbrella. The ISMC-AMINER special session was attended by prominent personalities and professionals from the national and Andalusian mining sector. In addition to a program of brief interventions, we bring to Andalusia the assembly of ISMC, in which the voice of the Andalusian industry will have great prominence.

Pitching of MINE.THE.GAP projects in the Mining and Minerals Hall

On 18 October, 18 SMEs presented the R&D projects that they are developing with MINE.THE.GAP support at this year’s Mining and Minerals Hall 2022 (MMH). The MMH is a world meeting that gathers the present and future knowledge of mining. It took place at the Seville Conference and Exhibition Centre (FIBES) and welcomed professionals of the industry from all over the world.

Open the second call for the European project MINE.THE.GAP aimed at SMEs for the green and digital transformation of mining and raw materials

The European project MINE.THE.GAP, in which the ISMC cluster participates together with an international consortium made up of 11 partners from Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Finland, Bulgaria and Poland, has already opened the second call for SMEs in mining and raw materials, information and communication technologies, advanced manufacturing, resource efficiency and circular economy sectors, can apply for aid in terms of innovation vouchers. With an available budget of up to €1.5 million to develop them collaboratively, and with an amount that can be financed in projects of up to €50,000 per SME, this call will be open until March 14, 2022.

To be eligible, the SMEs participating in MINE.THE.GAP will have to form consortiums with two or three European partners among the eligible countries with the aim of facing the challenges of the 21st century mining and raw materials, which include the extraction sustainability, the circular economy, the digitization, the supply chain and logistics or the environmental footprint, among others.

There are two types of innovation vouchers available to applicants:

The MINE-PoC vouchers will finance up to €25,000 per SME for the design of a prototype/proof of concept to demonstrate its viability (TRL 6-7).
The MINE-Demo vouchers will finance up to €50,000 per SME for the development and testing of simple pilots in a production environment with all the characteristics of the product/service/solution (TRL 7-8).

This European Union project also offers a virtual platform to introduce yourself and look for future partners: https://h2020-minethegap.eu/login/

To know all the information, see applicable conditions, and submit proposals, consult the MINE.THE.GAP website

Briefing in Spanish

Next January 20 from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m., the Spanish partners of the project will organize a National Infoday of the second open call of MINE.THE.GAP, in which the financing scheme will be presented, the requirements so that the SMEs participate and will frame the project in their political context.

It is necessary to register in advance through this link.

About MINE.THE.GAP project

The MINE.THE.GAP project is an EU-funded INNOSUP H2020 Innovation Action (GA 873149) that will develop and provide a support platform for the reinforcement of existing value chains and the development of new industrial value chains in the commodity and mining sectors through sectoral and cross-regional innovation and support services in cluster-related SMEs through synergies and interactions with providers and enablers in the existing and emerging fields of ICT, circular economy, resource efficiency and advanced manufacturing.

XV International Congress on Energy and Mineral Resources

Date: October 28-30, 2020

Venue: Exhibition and Conference Centre in León (Spain)

El pasado mes de enero se confirmó que S. M. el Rey Felipe VI ha aceptado la Presidencia de Honor de este XV Congreso Internacional. Bajo el lema “Trabajando para la sociedad”, este XV Congreso pondrá de relevancia la importancia de la minería para la sociedad, el impacto positivo de las actividades extractivas en los sectores que facilitarán la transición hacia las energías verdes y los retos para el futuro en materia de energía y medioambiente, ingeniería, metalurgia y tratamiento de aguas.

A key event this year: XV International Congress on Energy and Mineral Resources

ISMC will actively participate in the XV International Congress on Energy and Mineral Resources to be held this year in León. The event is being organised by the Official College of Mining Engineers of the Centre of Spain (COIMCE) together with the High Council of Colleges of Mining Engineers. The event, which will take place between October 28 and 30, will bring together more than 400 professionals and 150 companies from the raw materials and mining sector, as well as students and technicians who will share common projects and interests.

Last January, it was confirmed that S. M. King Felipe VI has accepted the Honorary Presidency of this XV International Congress. Under the motto “Working for society”, this XV Congress will highlight the importance of raw materials for all societies, the positive impact that the extractive industry will have for enabling the energy transition and the future challenges in terms of energy and the environment, engineering, metallurgy and water treatment, among many others.

Visit the congress website >