Advanced Materials for Europe’s strategic autonomy: key takeaways from the 15 June webinar

Advanced materials can strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy, says an expert panel. Advanced materials can play a pivotal role in strengthening Europe’s strategic autonomy, but success will depend on prioritising safety and sustainability, the circular economy, innovation ecosystems and effective data curation, according to experts speaking at a webinar on 15th June.

The discussion came as the European Commission prepares an Advanced Materials Act, expected before the end of 2026. To inform that process, the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) has handed an Evidence Review Report and Scientific Opinion to Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation.

At a SAM webinar on 15th June, an expert panel explored how advanced materials can contribute to Europe’s resilience, sustainability agenda and global competitiveness.

Introducing the session, Geoffroy Delamare of the European Commission’s SAM Secretariat outlined the two central questions addressed by the scientific advice: how advanced materials can support strategic autonomy, and how cross-fertilisation of innovation can be realised.

Olli Ikkala of Aalto University, Co-Chair of the SAPEA Working Group that produced the evidence review, highlighted Europe’s vulnerability in securing critical raw materials. Expanding mining operations is often socially and environmentally contentious, and he argued that increasing the recirculation of materials offers a more practical solution. Electronic waste, for example, contains valuable scarce materials that could be recovered and reused if recycling systems can achieve the consistency required for industrial-scale production.

Ikkala also pointed to bio-based materials and synthetic biology as promising routes to reducing dependence on fossil resources like oil. However, further research is needed to improve scalability and energy efficiency.

He stressed that progress on both fronts will require Europe to act collectively in the face of intense global competition.

Ikkala also identified a fragmented innovation landscape as a major challenge. He called for collaborative European “sandboxes” to support piloting and scale-up activities, together with ongoing investment in fundamental research and stronger digital infrastructures. Reliable data libraries and robust data curation, he argued, will be essential for future materials development. Europe should also ensure that strategically important data resources remain under European control.

Rafał Łukasik, representing the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, argued that strategic autonomy should be understood not as isolation from global markets, but as Europe’s ability to develop, assess and deploy critical materials in line with its values and public interests. He emphasised that safety and sustainability should be viewed as drivers of innovation and market success.

The Advisors’ recommendations include creating shared data spaces supported by FAIR data principles, AI and computational methods; developing standards that promote safety and sustainability; strengthening innovation ecosystems that connect research to industrial uptake; and investing in skills, infrastructure and interdisciplinary expertise.

Andrew Barry, Professor at University College London and also a Member of the SAPEA Working Group, challenged conventional definitions of advanced materials. Rather than focusing solely on technical properties, he argued for a broader perspective that recognises the socio-economic dimensions of materials. Advanced materials, he suggested, can increasingly be understood as “informed materials” developed through extensive use of data, simulation and AI. In this context, Europe’s strengths in data quality, transparency and public accountability could provide a significant competitive advantage. Barry also linked advanced materials to a broader transition away from an “extraction-first” economic model, arguing that sustainability and safety should be embedded in materials design from the outset.

Nicole Grobert of the University of Oxford echoed the need for Europe to build on its existing strengths in research excellence and standards-setting. She advocated for a greater focus on materials as a whole, including smarter steels, biomaterials and recycled construction materials, rather than concentrating on labels such as “advanced materials”.

According to Grobert, Europe must enhance its ability to convert scientific discoveries into commercial success. She called for measures like a single digital gateway for regulatory information, fast-track certification processes for small and medium-sized enterprises, harmonised standards and patient, long-term investment capital. She called for a cultural shift in which failed innovators are able to keep trying. She emphasised that blue-sky research must thrive across the entire research ecosystem.

Her three practical steps emerging from the Scientific Opinion were for open-access pilot facilities, the use of public procurement to stimulate early markets and the creation of a shared, AI-ready European Materials Commons.

During the Q&A, panellists agreed that Europe’s ambitions for strategic autonomy must be balanced with strong international collaboration. Barry noted that “all materials have different geographies”, with each material having its research networks and partnerships that frequently go beyond borders.

Łukasik spoke of the need to move from low- to high- Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), while reducing raw-material dependence through circularity by design, and speeding up innovation to market.

Both Barry and Ikkala cited the introduction of the COVID vaccine as an exemplar of how safety testing and development happened in parallel rather than in a slow linear chain, enabled by effective industry-science dialogue and communication.

The webinar concluded with Grobert’s point that Europe’s future competitiveness in advanced materials will depend not only on scientific excellence, but also on stronger innovation ecosystems, circular economy approaches and closer collaboration between stakeholders.

Watch the recording of this webinar.

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