The European Commission's (EC) Raw Materials Initiative (RMI) emphasises that raw materials are essential for the sound and sustainable functioning of Europe's industries and, in a broader context, of Europe's economy and society. The EC is committed to promote the competitiveness of industries related to raw materials. These industries play an important role in many downstream sectors in the European Union (EU) such as construction, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery, pharmacy, equipment, renewable energy devices, and defence. These sectors have a combined added value of around EUR 1,000 billion and provide employment for some 30 million people. Securing the undistorted supply of raw materials and, in particular, Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) is thus crucial and requires a sound and continuously updated knowledge base, namely the European Union Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB), as highlighted in the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials, in its Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP), particularly in the Action area no. II.8. In this context, and responding to a specific action of the 2015 Circular Economy Communication, the EC's Directorate General (DG) Joint Research Centre (JRC), in close collaboration with DG GROWTH, is advancing its Raw Materials Information System (RMIS). The first version (hereinafter referred to as RMIS 1.0) was launched in March 2015. The advanced RMIS (hereinafter referred to as RMIS 2.0) intends to become an information gateway and knowledge service centre for non-fuel, non-agriculture primary raw materials (e.g. extracted through mining) and secondary raw materials (e.g. recycled, recovered from waste). RMIS 2.0 will support European Union (EU) policy with tailor-made applications like the Raw Material Scoreboard and CRM assessments, as well as help coordinate other EU level data and information on raw materials. The EU policy support will rely on knowledge from the EURMKB. This knowledge will be made available in the RMIS from different sources. The coordination role will be jointly developed with Member States, industry representatives, and other stakeholders via the so-called Raw Materials Knowledge Gateway (RMKG), which will be the key RMIS' entry point to the EURMKB. The RMKG will also facilitate further coordination activities with a focus on compilation, presentation and application of EU level data. The official launch of the RMIS 2.0 will take place during the 2017 edition of the "Raw Materials Week" (November 6th to 10th), in Brussels. Towards such launch, this "Interim Progress Report & Roadmap" presents the up-to-date development of the RMIS, including the key policy support knowledge needs that shall be fulfilled, and starts linking identified (EURMKB) knowledge needs with knowledge providers. It also presents foreseen key building blocks for the policy support and several development milestones of the RMIS 2.0 (as of June 2017). The key building blocks focus on a number of themes, including: Critical Raw Materials (CRM) and criticality analysis; Material Flow Analysis (MFA) including the EC Material System Analysis (MSA); the Raw Materials Scoreboard; trade policy aspects; material efficiency and secondary raw materials; sustainability aspects; business & industry; Research & Innovation (R&I); and the policy context.
