Ressourcen im Wandel – Österr. Klimatag 2023

Das Resources Innovation Center der Montanuniversität Leoben veranstaltet gemeinsam mit dem CCCA den 23. Österreichischen Klimatag an der Montanuniversität vom 11. – 13. April 2023.

Alle Details sind hier zu finden!

Invitation to the SUMEX MOOC – Massive Open Online Course starts on 7 November 2022

Mineral extraction is crucial to Europe’s twin digital and green transition. It is essential that these minerals are not extracted at the expense of the environment and people. In order to have a truly green transition, we also need sustainable management in the extractive sector: Minimising the environmental footprint of an extraction project while at the same time contributing to a local and societal license to operate. This transition to sustainable management is challenging, both for policy and industry.

The SUMEX Massive Open Online Course will address five key challenges that industry and policy face in this transition. The course makes use of scientific concepts and holistic sustainability concepts at the operational level and will outline potential solutions based on practical examples applicable across Europe.

Register Now!

What is in it for you?

  • Design, with other stakeholders, new sustainable management practices
  • Explain the environmental and societal impact of mineral extraction
  • Analyse environmental impact using tools such as the three pillars of sustainability
  • Discover sustainable management best practice in policy and industry

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to…

  • Reflect on the importance of a coherent approach to a sustainability framework in the extractive sector
  • Explain the societal relevance of raw material extraction
  • Investigate the main pillars of sustainable extractive management
  • Apply sustainability frameworks for mineral extraction to different institutional and local contexts
  • Identify and evaluate good practices in the extractive industry in a critical manner
  • Discuss with experts and peers the current state and related challenges of the European extractive sector
  • Explore the SUMEX and other important tools about good practice learning

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for leaders, managers and stakeholders in the mineral extractive industry who want to learn about the challenges, solutions and new developments in sustainability.

It will be especially useful for public administrators and industry practitioners wishing to understand and implement sustainability management at any stage of the mining life cycle, from exploration to post-closure.

This course also benefits those interested in the importance of raw materials for a sustainable future and the challenges connected to them!

EIT Open Day Austria & Slovakia, 23.09.2022

on 23 September 2022 in Vienna

Did you know that the @European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is the largest innovation ecosystem in Europe with more than 2,000 participating actors? Pretty impressive!
All EIT Innovation Communities follow a pan-European approach to connect business, education and research while also ensuring close collaboration with the local industry ecosystems!
And we are also near you in #Austria and #Slovakia! Join us in Vienna on 23. September for the EIT Open Day Austria & Slovakia and become part of our network!
Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eit-open-day-austria-and-slovakia-tickets-385617972737

@EIT Manufacturing @EIT RawMaterials, @EIT Health, @EIT Urban Mobility, and @EIT Culture and Creativity

April 2022 – Bundesministerin Elisabeth Köstinger besuchte das RIC Leoben

Am 20.04.2022 besuchte Bundesministerin Elisabeth Köstinger die Forschungseinrichtungen der Montanuniversität Leoben, die sich mit der Pyrolyse zur Erzeugung von Wasserstoff beschäftigen. Angesiedelt sind diese Aktivitäten im „Resources Innovation Center“ (RIC Leoben), dem Ministerin Köstinger eine Förderung von drei Millionen Euro zusagte, aufgeteilt auf die Jahre 2022 – 2028. Schwerpunkte der Förderungsvereinbarung sind die Arbeit an folgenden Bereichen:

  • Digitalisierung der Gewinnungs-; Aufbereitungs- und Verarbeitungsprozesse sowie Lieferketten für Rohstoffe – Digitale Innovation in Technologie und Administration;
  • Innovative Rohstoffe für die Digitalisierung sowie Substitution kritischer Rohstoffe
  • Hochreiner elementarer Kohlenstoff als Trägermaterial für digitale Anwendungen

Das Resources Innovation Center Leoben wird Forschungsthemen (Dissertationen) zu diesen Themen bearbeiten, in Einbeziehung von Forschungsförderung aus österreichischen, europäischen und globalen Förderprogrammen (FFG, Horizon Europe, EIT RawMaterials). „Krisensicherheit verlangt Rohstoffe. Nicht alle Rohstoffe sind überall unendlich verfügbar, daher ist das Resources Innovation Center (RIC) der Montanuniversität Leoben eine wichtige Institution, die wir mit drei Millionen Euro in ihrer Arbeit unterstützen. Schon heute wird hier daran geforscht, auf zukünftige Herausforderungen wissenschaftliche Antworten in Form von Innovationen zu finden“, so Elisabeth Köstinger.

November 2021 – Triple N Magazin

Im November 2021 erschien die erste Ausgabe mit dem Titel „Nachhaltigkeit entdecken“. Das Magazin verschafft einen Überblick über die vielfältigen Beiträge der Universität zur Nachhaltigkeit. Mit Inhalten zur Entwicklung des Nachhaltigkeitsverständnisses an der Montanuniversität, Aktuelles aus Projekten und Nachrichten aus unseren Netzwerken und Allianzen auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene wurde der Bogen weit gespannt.

September 2021 – Current publications in the BHM journal

We are proud to have published numerous papers in th current Berg- und Hüttenmännische Monatshefte. They are mostly published in both german and english, all current papers can be found here as mostly open access.

The BHM is the only Austrian journal for the entire mining and metallurgy sector. It is divided thematically. The issues with even numbers mainly report on the extraction of solid mineral raw materials in the form of original articles, whereby the authors come from both the practice-oriented industrial sector and the university research sector. The odd-numbered issues are dedicated to the metallurgical sector. It covers both the extraction of metals, including recycling, as well as further processing and metallurgy, and the refractory industry. Environmental issues and sustainability occupy a large space. The sections „Montan-Rundschau“ and „Aus der Industrie“ provide brief, concise information on current economic events in the industry and introduce new products and processes.

European Forum Alpbach – Technology Symposium 2021

Montanuniversität Leoben as part of the TU Austria-Universities was responsable for on of the breakoutsession for European Forum Alpach. The topaic was „Plastics? Sustainable!“

Plastics are essential in our daily life, yet their image is very negative. In fact, the majority of plastics are used in valuable products e.g. in medicine, mobility, infrastructure or energy transmission and thus contribute to many SDGs. This BOS deals with various aspects of plastic, including their environmental relevance and usage behaviour. How plastics fit into the Circular Economy Approach will be discussed and ideas on the sustainability increase of plastic products will be presented.

ENG | BS 7: Plastics? Sustainable! from AITtomorrow2day on Vimeo.

Find out more about the ALPBACH TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM 2021 at https://www.ait.ac.at/en/news-events/alpbach-technology-symposium-2021

April 2021 – RIC Leoben joined the Green Tech Jam

At this year’s online Green Tech Jam, the solution of the challenge „Circular Economy meets Distributed Ledger – a transparent PET bottle product cycle“ set by the Montanuniversität Leoben (involved institutes: Resources Innovation Center & Industrial Logistics), which was developed by an interdisciplinary team of students, won the first place. The team „sixpack“ was supervised by the Chair of Industrial Logistics during the 24-hour challenge and consisted of three Slovenian students from Graz University of Technology as well as three Montan students. They were able to prevail against 7 other teams, each of which worked on one of 6 different challenges provided by the companies t-matix, BDI, Komptech and AI.engineer as well as the Climate and Energy Fund, and us.

In the Android app developed by the team “sixpack”, QR codes attached to bottles can be scanned and information about the bottles retrieved from the distributed data storage. The path of the bottle – from PET production to the supermarket – is displayed graphically on a map and unconventional energy comparisons with more or less everyday activities (e.g. the duration of headbanging during a concert) are carried out and visualised.

At the interdisciplinary Hackathon under the slogan “Code & Concept for a greener future” organised by the Green Tech Cluster Austria together with the Climate Change Center Austria (CCCA) and Graz University of Technology,8 teams of students from different disciplines and different european universities had around 24 hours to work on a problem relating to the topics of climate and the environment and to present a digital solution for it. In total 36 international students participated at this event. The MUL challenge also competed as part of one of two Climathon challenges at the Green Tech Jam. Climathon is a global climate hackathon under the umbrella of EIT Climate-KIC.

More information about the whole event can be found at https://www.greentech.at/nachlese-green-tech-jam/

March 2021 – Minerals used in everyday objects

The game of „The Briefcase of mineral applications“ aims to familiarise the player with the minerals that are used in the manufacture of everyday objects. The specific target audience are primary and secondary schools which include from 6 to 18-year-old students and their teachers. The project is orientated for Wider Society Learning (WSL) and aims to raise students’ knowledge of mining activities and mineral applications. Given the era of a growing prevalence of online teaching and learning, we believe tools such as this one will prove to be effective and beneficial for the education of young people by using both their native and the English language.

Try it our here: https://www.thebriefcasegame.eu/home

January 2021 – Investment opportunities in raw materials in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This brochure has been created in the framework of the project InvestRawMaterials – Multifactor model for investments in the raw materialsector, case study Bosnia and Herzegovina, funded by European Instituteof Innovation and Technology (EIT) under the KIC Raw Materials program. In this brochure, we present you the outcome of the devoted work of theentire project consortium from 2017 to 2019. Here you will be able tofind the summary of the most relevant economic and legal data pertaining to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as geological data on 14 carefullyselected antimony, bauxite, fluorite and magnesite deposits. We hopethis brochure will find its way to interested parties and fulfill its purposeas a guide to the investors in this prospective, but insufficiently investigated area.

Download the brochure here

Project overview