MOSAIC INNOVA, a Coordination and Support Action funded by HORIZON Europe, will run for 12 months. Its mission is to strengthen Europe’s innovation ecosystem around deep tech and critical technologies, while fostering sustainability, circularity, and industrial resilience across Europe. Main objectives of MOSAIC INNOVA are to

•  Reduce fragmentation between regional and national innovation ecosystems.

•  Foster cooperation between regions with different levels of innovation performance.

•  Promote the exchange of best practices and knowledge transfer.

•  Engage companies, clusters, research centres, and public administrations through communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities.

The project includes a European consortium committed to sustainable innovation: ISMC the Iberian Sustainable Mining Cluster, the International Center for Advanced Materials and Raw Materials of Castilla y León ICAMCyL Foundation, the Bulgarian Industrial Cluster Srednogorie, and Germany´s Geokompetenzzentrum Freiberg e.V.

Aim of MOSAIC INNOVA: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups focused on critical and deep technologies are crucial to enhancing value chains in digital innovation and clean technologies. The project will support them in transitioning to Industry 5.0 and foster an innovation ecosystem. The project will establish an excellence hub for deep-tech innovation, promoting knowledge exchange and technology transfer among partners. It involves local, regional, and national stakeholders to improve coordination and create better synergies between EU funds that promote resilient innovation and a circular economy. The project will summarise ecosystem actions and guide future developments, including stakeholder mapping, selecting four deep-tech companies, and analysing EIC Accelerator-certified entities applying for the Plug-in scheme.

GKZ is responsible for the following tasks: identifying, integrating, and supporting the most promising deep-tech enterprises within the MOSAIC project. Its role begins with establishing selection criteria and coordinating the process to identify companies with strong innovation potential, market readiness, and strategic value for the ecosystem. Once the most suitable enterprises are chosen, GKZ oversees their integration into the MOSAIC network, ensuring smooth collaboration and continuous evaluation to strengthen their innovation capacity. In addition, GKZ provides tailored support regarding funding and investment opportunities, helping these companies access suitable financial instruments for their business development. Through these combined efforts, GKZ acts as a central facilitator, ensuring the selected enterprises are effectively connected, supported, and empowered to contribute to the broader goals of the MOSAIC ecosystem.

Exploring technology loops and raw material supply schemes in chemical and rail industry. IDEALIST’s Learning Expeditions (LEX) support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to adapt to current and future challenges by identifying technological solution providers, and connecting to alternative business partners along value chains and innovative collaboration partners for material development. IDEALIST covers the three key industry sectors: Energy Intensive Industries, Aerospace & Defence, as well as Mobility, Transport & Automotive. Get connected with SMEs of the region as well as from the IDEALIST network. The main target groups of this two day event are SMEs interested or active in the field of raw material and feed stock supply, technologies for circularity and decarbonisation of processes, and innovative solutions in material development or digital solutions for chemical R&D/production processes. Please note that the language of the conference is English and the participation in the matchmaking activity is voluntarily. Day 1 – Conference Day: a full day of expert lectures and networking activities to get in touch with potential alternate suppliers, novel solution providers and inspiring experts from the seven European project partner countries and ecosystems to enlarge your own network, acquire new knowledge and learn about best practices. You may also benefit from startup pitches, B2B matchmaking and a ‘Walk & Talk’ in the vineyards. Day 2 – Site Visit Wacker Chemie: we take you to one of the major German production sites for silicon-based chemicals and materials operated by Wacker Chemie AG in Nünchritz. Main products are some 200 different silicones, pyrogenic silica and hyperpure polycrystalline silicon for the solar industry as well as silicone adhesives and sealants. The production site is a prime example for low-waste and energy-efficient production pioneering a drone project to identify energy and heat losses in the insulation. Find out more info and about registration here

15.5.2024: EU HORIZON IDEALIST Project Webinar on Circular Economy and Critical Raw Materials - Opportunities & Challenges | 4.6.2025

Webinar on the potential of the circular economy to address the challenges of critical raw materials; from the circular use of batteries to the processes in metallurgy. Afterwards there will be the opportunity for 1:1 meetings with the speakers.

Further information

We are pleased to inform you that the above peer reviewed article has now been published in the prestigious Magazin Economic Geology. You can download it here. It presents the current state of knowledge of effective, cost-efficient and environmentally sound exploration on NCT / NYF pegmatites, one of the main sources of hard rock lithium. We owe the research work on this topic to the EU GREENPEG project New Exploration Tools for European Pegmatite Green-Tech Resources, which was funded as part of the HORIZON 2020 funding programme under grant agreement number 869274.