Purpose:

IRMHUB is Europe’s first Investment Hub for Circular and Sustainable Raw Materials Supply to face Europe’s critical dependencies on non-EU countries for essential raw materials used in strategic industries.

In response to this challenge, IRMHUB establishes a European meta-hub, supported by three interregional hubs in : Southern, Northern, and Central-Eastern Europe  to coordinate innovation investments in the sustainable extraction, processing, and circular recovery of critical raw materials. These hubs connect less developed and transition regions with advanced ecosystems, enabling shared investment pipelines and strategic alignment with EU resilience and green transition goals.

The IRMHUB hubs are structured around the following key areas:

• HUB 1 : Renewable Energy and E-Mobility Applications: Focused on Rare Earth Elements (Nd, Sc) for wind energy (eolic/offshore), and permanent magnets used in motors and actuators, especially for electric vehicles (EVs).
• HUB 2 : Battery Materials for Stationary and Mobile Energy Storage: Dedicated to materials such as lithium (Li), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and graphite for battery production and electric mobility.
• HUB 3 : Semiconductors, Microchips, and Data Technologies: Centred on metals and Rare Earth Elements needed for the manufacturing of semiconductors, microchips, and advanced data technologies

Consentia’s role:

Consentia is responsible for the development of the Social and Sustainability Investment Framework, ensuring that all interregional innovation investments are grounded in robust social and environmental principles. In addition, Consentia supports the validation of investment plans by applying methodologies that integrate social, regulatory, and sustainability aspects, contributing to the coherence and responsibility of raw materials innovation across the IRMHUB project.

Results:

Among the core deliverables anticipated from IRMHUB are the:

• Establishment of three regional raw materials hubs in Southern, Northern, and Central-Eastern Europe, each tailored to regional strengths and priorities in raw materials value chains.
• Development of a central Meta-Hub to connect the regional hubs, enabling knowledge sharing, strategic coordination, and EU-wide collaboration on circular and responsible raw materials.
• Creation of integrated service portfolios and innovation roadmaps to support SMEs, regional authorities, and industry clusters in adopting sustainable, circular, and resilient practices.

Partners and clients:

The IRMHUB consortium consists of 26 organisations, 14 full partners and 12 associated entities from nine EU countries and Serbia, coordinated by the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece. The partnership includes universities, technology centres, public administrations, innovative SMEs, and industrial clusters : Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Technical University of Košice (TUKE), Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), ICAMCYL Foundation, Iberian Sustainable Mining Cluster (ISMC), Secretaría General de Industria y Minas (Spain), Corporación Tecnológica de Andalucía (CTA), Associazione Fabbrica Intelligente Lombardia (AFIL), EcoCastulum, MNLT Innovations, and Fivrec.