Technological Transitions and Critical Raw Materials- Global Geopolitics & Regional Inequalities

Speaker: Prof. Simona Iammarino, University of Cagliari, Italy, and LSE, UK

LAND ECONOMY RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES - MT2024 

Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), such as rare metals and earth elements – are essential inputs in the current technological and industrial transformation, working as a (for now) irreplaceable material basis for technological innovations enabling the dual (digital and green) transition. Own recent research (Diemer, Iammarino, Perkins & Gros, 2022; Li, Ascani & Iammarino, 2024; Li & Iammarino), has revisited the role of natural resources in technological shifts, proposing the notion of material-based technological regime underlying innovation in some industries, and arguing that the dual transition can also be viewed as a material-based paradigm shift. At the same time, global CRM supply and value chains are subject to significant geopolitical risks and vulnerability, which are very likely to affect places’ industrial and technological competitiveness and firms’ advantages, behaviour and strategies. Indeed, recent European initiatives, such as the EU Open Strategic Autonomy (OSA) and the Critical Raw Materials Act (2023), and the UK Critical Mineral Strategy 2022/23 (CMS), are intended to make the continent more competitive and autonomous by promoting innovation along the entire value chain. However, the regional distribution of the natural endowment of such vital resources, its relationship with the geography of green technology and product developments, and ultimately the potential for intra-European CRM networks, value chains and development policies, are still understudied. Our research moves a step towards analysing the geography of European natural CRM endowments and mining capabilities, and their implications for the efforts of de-risking the CRM supply. We use data from the European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI), the US Geological Survey (USGS), and Orbis to map the distribution of CRMs across EU regions and investigate the relationship between CRM resources and green transition in the EU mining industry. This exercise is a first step to assess the extent to which the principles introduced by OSA and CRMA and similar macro policies could ensure balanced and fair territorial development in Europe and beyond.

SIMONA IAMMARINO is Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Cagliari, Italy; Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography & Environment of the London School of Economics (LSE); affiliate faculty member at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) L’Aquila, Italy. She was Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE (2009-2022), where she acted as Head of Department (2014-2017) and academic member of the LSE Council (2016- 2020). Since 2023 she is in the Scientific Committe of the Luiss Institute for European Analysis and Policy (LEAP), Rome.