Fundacion ICAMCYL, International Center in Advanced Materials and raw materials of Castilla y Leon, is a private non-profit foundation, competence center, created and supported by the Government of Castilla y Leon, to foster the development of advanced materials for the regional industrial network, and to valorise the richness in raw materials of Castilla y Leon, in line with its RIS3. ICAMCYL has been founded thanks to the interest and economical contribution of the main industry of Castilla y Leon, being shareholders or part of its industrial panel relevant international companies in the sectors of mining and transformation of raw materials, glass, engineering and advanced technologies. The foundation coordinates the raw materials, critical materials strategy and resource efficiency in Castilla y Leon region (Spain) in close synergy with its governmental agency ICE-CyL, and plays a key and catalytical role as experts in the RIS3 regional strategy of Castilla y León, being also well-aligned with several of its priority lines and objectives. With the support of the Junta de Castilla y León, ICAMCyL is a competence centre with the aim of aligning itself and working on the region's intelligent specialisation strategy (RIS3). One of its main lines of action is sustainable mining, making it the only centre in the region dedicated to the restoration of one of the regions with a long history of coal mining, Castilla y León. ICAMCYL is linked and devoted to the promotion of the regional industrial competitiveness, with an industrial alliance of 20 SMEs and LE that define its own intrinsic pathway into industrial innovation.

Moreover, ICAMCYL has promoted the constitution in 2018 of the Iberian Sustainable Mining Cluster (ISMC) with more than 50 industries (mostly SMEs) from the sector of the extractive industry and associated services. ICAMCYL holds the General Management, executive secretary and Technical Direction of the cluster.

ICAMCYL takes part of the international strategy of industrial resource efficiency management, energy efficiency, eco-innovation and critical materials substitution, being directly related to the European Innovation Partnership in Raw Materials (EIP-Raw Materials). In this regard, ICAMCYL takes part of different Action Groups (highlighting 1.8 SUBST-EXTREME, 1.7 RESET and MIREU) within the EIP-Raw materials. Moreover, ICAMCyL contribute to the necessary clustering actions in Europe. In close cooperation with the Government of Castilla y Leon (DG Energy and Mines), we define and adapt regional integrated roadmaps in synergy with the RIS3 in Castilla y León and mirroring to other EU regions and its smart regional specialization.  ICAMCyL is working intensively in ICT solutions and data management of raw materials and reserves in the territory. We have already created a catalogue of tailings with digital access and we will contribute to the RMIS initiative (http://rmis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/). ICAMCyL is a key agent in the coal transition strategic roadmap of Castilla y Leon region, promoting currently two innovation poles and building a social restructuration plan with Leon council for the restoration of villages and provinces with a long history and high economic dependence from coal mining.

ICAMCyL, in close collaboration with the regional government of Castilla y León, participates in two key European initiatives linked to the Smart Specialisation Platform for Industrial Modernisation (S3P-Industry) which aims to support EU regions committed to generate a pipeline of industrial investment projects following a bottom-up approach - implemented through interregional cooperation, cluster participation and industry involvement. In particular, the thematic area of “Advanced Materials for Batteries“ and “Mining Industries“; both highly relevant to offer alternative solutions for a just transition and by extension to coal regions. In the “Advanced Materials for Batteries” ICAMCyL is leader for the pilot “Sustainable raw materials extraction and processing“. The "Mining Industry“ thematic area will have its kick-off meeting in September 2019.

From 1st January 2019, ICAMCyL is officially project partner of the EIT KIC Raw Materials.

Current participation in European projects and actions

- “Recovery of Tungsten, Niobium and Tantalum occurring as by-products in mining and processing waste streams” (TARANTULA) (Grant Agreement No. 821159). Call: CE-SC5-06-2018 - New technologies for the enhanced recovery of by-products. https://h2020-tarantula.eu/

- “Mining and metallurgy regions of Europe” (MIREU) (Grant Agreement No. 776811). Call: H2020-SC5-15-2016-2017: Raw materials policy support actions (CSA). https://mireu.eu/

- Thematic platform “Mining Industry”: The focus of this partnership is on Mining industry, related industries and services and global value chains. The background for this partnership is in Interreg Europe project Remix and H2020 project MIREU. This partnership operationalizes the work of these projects and shift the focus on inter-regional investments. https://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/mining-industry

- Thematic Platform “Advanced Materials for Batteries”: The main objective of the partnership is to develop joint R&D&I projects on topics of advanced materials, their characterisation, durability, suitable for extreme working conditions with the goal to deploy them in the field of batteries. Batteries here are electro-chemical products with the final goal of enabling electro-mobility and enhancing the capacity and performance of stationary energy storage. https://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/batteries

- “Innovative CRM substitution technology” (INNOCAT). Call: KIC Raw Materials - KAVA Call5 - Internationalisation/RIS: INNOCAT aims to diffuse an innovation in the domain of recycling and substitution of Platinum group metals (PGMs) in automotive catalysts, and aspires to build up communities in RIS-eligible countries, namely ecosystems of innovation, to stimulate the emergence of start-ups and foster further business development, based on the commercialisation potential of this technology. https://eitrawmaterials.eu/project/innocat/

- “Mining the European Anthroposphere” (MINEA). Call: COST Action CA15115: International network of experts to evaluate primary and secondary resources necessary to secure the future supply of raw materials. https://www.minea-network.eu/