New Thinking on Raw Materials Can Boost Industrial Competitiveness
How can industry make more sustainable and resilient decisions regarding critical raw materials? Through the ReSus Guidance project, stakeholders from research and industry will explore how sustainability and resilience perspectives can be integrated to strengthen the long-term competitiveness and robustness of industry.
As part of the Impact Innovation initiative, Vinnova offers funding through the Acceleration Fund, a call designed to support short and experimental projects where programme offices and their project partners, together with new actors, can explore and develop innovative approaches. The call supports industrial research and experimental development, for example by generating new knowledge through planned research or critical analysis, or by combining and further developing existing knowledge into new or improved products, processes, or services. With a focus on resilience, the call aims to create learning and insights that can be applied in the programme’s continued work.
ReSus Guidance has been awarded funding through the Acceleration Fund and is now entering its implementation phase. The project explores how sustainability and resilience perspectives can be integrated into strategic decision-making processes related to critical raw materials. Through indicator analysis, dialogue with industrial stakeholders, and collaborative future-oriented assessments, the project will generate knowledge and insights that support Net Zero Industry’s work on long-term industrial transformation and resilience. To better understand how sustainability and resilience can be linked in practice, the project will examine how different sourcing options affect both perspectives simultaneously.
According to Patrik Stenlund, researcher at RISE, the aim is to provide industry with a stronger basis for decision-making, enabling companies to reduce climate and environmental impacts while strengthening the resilience of raw material supply chains. The project will deliver knowledge and tools that help integrate sustainability and resilience considerations into strategic decisions, giving industry better conditions for assessing raw material choices and their long-term implications.
The work includes coordination and dialogue between stakeholders, mapping existing sustainability and resilience indicators in relation to EU regulations, and developing and testing an integrated guidance framework through interviews and workshops with industrial companies. The guidance will be tested in practice, and the results will be disseminated for broader use. The project brings together RISE, Chalmers University of Technology, and Combient, combining systems perspectives, research-based expertise, and close links to industry.
In the longer term, the ambition is to equip industry with better tools to navigate an increasingly complex environment, where sustainability requirements, geopolitical uncertainty, and access to critical raw materials are becoming ever more important factors for competitiveness and long-term resilience.
Follow the project’s progress and stay tuned for more exciting funding opportunities this autumn!