UK-Canada matchmaking for Critical Minerals R&D Competition

Please continue to use this site to search for partners for the UK-Canada Critical Minerals R&D Competition. This site will be live until the competition closes.

Innovate UK, Innovate UK KTN and National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) are working together to deliver an exciting online event to bring together industry and research from across the two nations.

The UK-Canada Critical Minerals Online Matchmaking Event is one of several activities in a larger programme to build and strengthen UK-Canada relationships around critical minerals and form collaborative partnerships to apply into a forthcoming bilateral competition.

Both the UK and Canada have identified that critical minerals and their associated technologies are vital for the forthcoming energy transition. Important applications include the electrification of road transport, expansion of wind energy production, in addition critical minerals are also used in consumer electronics and defence applications.

This matchmaking Event will consist of short knowledge sharing sessions and opportunities to pitch your projects to the audience, this will be followed by informal online networking to showcase knowledge on world class research and innovation in the critical minerals supply chains.

Join us for this virtual event and you will also gain access to the B2Match platform – this will allow you to schedule online 1:1 meetings with other attendees at a mutually convenient time outside of the session hours, up until the close of the competition.

• Industry representatives from Canada and the UK working across the critical minerals value chain

• Academic and laboratory researchers from the UK and Canada

• Delegates interested in understanding the Canadian and UK critical minerals technology landscapes

This conference will run with live sessions on both Wednesday 15th November 2023 and Thursday 16th of November 2023.

The running times by timezone can be found below:  

GMT – 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM  
EDT – 11:00 AM – 14:00 PM  
PDT – 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM

This event will run over two days.

Wednesday 15th November 2023 will focus on batteries and magnets innovation opportunities in the critical minerals and manufacturing processes for critical minerals value chains, including circular economy approaches from dismantling through to repurposing and reprocessing, and also finding alternatives to critical minerals

Thursday 16th November will focus on innovation opportunities in cross cutting topics including Environmental and Sustainability reporting methods, critical minerals provenance and supply chain tracking and Life Cycle Assessment approaches.

When registering you will automatically sign up for both days of the event. You can make changes to the days you are attending in the 'prepare my schedule' section of your profile.

Topics will include innovation opportunities in the critical minerals and manufacturing processes for critical minerals value chains, including circular economy approaches from dismantling through to repurposing and reprocessing, and also finding alternatives to critical minerals. 

• Welcome and introduction (5 mins)

• UK-Canada critical minerals funding competition overview (10 mins)

• Innovations in battery critical minerals (20 mins)

• Innovations in rare earth elements for permanent magnets (20 mins)

• Company pitches (1 hour)

• Airmeet networking (1 hour)

Would you like to make a 3 minute pitch during the live pitch session to other delegates?  If so you can indicate when you register if you would like to put yourself forward to pitch.

This session will include innovation opportunities in cross cutting topics including Environmental and Sustainability reporting methods, critical minerals provenance and supply chain tracking and Life Cycle Assessment approaches.

• Welcome and introduction (5 mins)

• UK-Canada Critical Minerals Funding Competition Overview (10 mins)

• Innovations in LCA, sustainability and ESG (20 mins)

• Innovations in supply chain modelling and critical minerals tracking (20 mins)

• Company pitches (1 hour)

• Airmeet networking (1 hour)

Would you like to make a 3 minute pitch during the live pitch session to other delegates?  If so you can indicate when you register if you would like to put yourself forward to pitch.

This event will cover all critical minerals on either the UK or Canada’s critical minerals list which can be found using the below links: 

UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-critical-mineral-strategy/resilience-for-the-future-the-uks-critical-minerals-strategy 

Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadian-critical-minerals-strategy.html