This policy brief builds on the policy paper “Unlocking Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in Europe: Bottlenecks, Challenges, and Prospective Priorities” (2026) and draws on a structured stakeholder survey conducted ahead of the Raw Materials Week 2025 side event “Crossroads of Innovation: Shared Challenges and Joint Solutions in Raw Materials.”

Respondents represent a broad cross-section of the European CRM ecosystem, including mining and industrial companies, research organisations, universities, SMEs, civil society representatives, a think tank, and consultancies.

The brief identifies key bottlenecks to scale-up — including financing gaps for pilot and first-of-a-kind plants, regulatory fragmentation, permitting complexity, and social acceptance challenges — and, more importantly, sets out priority recommendations to accelerate industrial deployment and strengthen Europe’s CRM value chains.

The full analysis underpinning these findings is available in the policy paper here.

Author: Andy Cormack