We are very glad that Robert Obenaus-Emler was officially appointed Head of the Resources Innovation Center by the Rectorate of the Montanuniversität Leoben on 14 March 2024.
At the same time, the RIC Leoben was confirmed as one of the seven “Clusters of Excellence” at the research centre of the University.
The DIM ESEE 2023 Innovation workshop 18 – 20 October 2023 was again held in Dubrovnik/Croatia.
We enjoyed high-quality lectures from multiple experts in the field of raw materials, great networking and innovative ideas for the future in mining.
This year, the scientific program was organised by the RIC Leoben team, including topics related to digitalization and data processing, underground and surface mineral extraction, and robotics in mining. Additionally, industry experts from Austin Powder, Dok-Ing, Epiroc, and Sandvik provided fascinating insights into the future of mineral extraction.
More details: https://dim-esee.eu/
Anna is a Research and Project Manager at the RIC Leoben. Her field of activity includes networking, project applications and developments within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. Anna Meyer represents the Montanuniversität Leoben and the RIC Leoben in the Alliance of Sustainable Universities in Austria and the climate change Center Austria. Her task there is to transform Austrian universities to more sustainability, together with other alliance universities. She transfers the exchange of experience and the results of this activity to Montanuniversität Leoben. In addition, she supports the cooperation with the EIT RM partners in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
Anna Meyer is currently working on her PhD with the working title: “Writing for future generations – A corpus and critical discourse analysis of sustainability and its communication in the raw material sector”.
Multifactor model for investments in the raw material sector
After a decade of declining commodity prices, negative investment trends, debated mining legislation and increased overall risks, mining companies are struggling to survive searching for new sustainable investment options. The InvestRM project will create a decision-making tool for raw materials companies and investors, mining institutes, technical universities, geological surveys, non-governmental association, B&H government and state institutions in order to facilitate investment in the raw material sector. Project is focused on Bosnia and Herzegovina due to its critical raw materials potential, but will be fully transferable to other East and Southeast European (ESEE) countries. The project will deliver structured country data (entity based) together with relevant and validated geo-information on 120 critical raw materials deposits and occurrences within B&H: antimony, bauxite (as potential source of rare earth elements – REE), fluorite and magnesite. One of the special tasks is establishment of constructive dialogue with minimum 40 B&H SMEs and large companies throughout Banja Luka, Prijedor, Tuzla and Zenica, info-days in order to tailor the InvestRM decision making tool.
Investment opportunities in raw materials in Bosnia and Herzegovina BROCHURE Download
Duration: 01/2018 – 12/2021
Partner: Montanuniversität Leoben (Chair of Mining Engineering and Mineral Economics), Cemex Croatia, Mining institute Prijedor, Mining Institute Tuzla, University of Zenica, Metallurgical institute Kemal Kapetanović, University of Zagreb, Geological Survey of Slovenia
Professional Development for Engineers of Tomorrow
Duration: 06/2021 – 10/2023
The RIC Education Team has been awarded for the first time in 2021 a funding proposal for the “Programmatic Partnership between Kosovan and Austrian Institutions” in the framework of HERAS+ – Higher Education, Research and Applied Science plus”. The main objective of the project “Professional development for engineers of tomorrow -PDET” is to improve the employability and entrepreneurship of graduates of the University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini”. Kosovar youth are currently facing challenges in finding a job, while companies complain that graduates do not have the necessary skills to succeed in a particular industry. The gap between academic training at universities and the labor market is obvious and undeniable. The current project would address this problem through the establishment and functionalization of the UMIB Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Creation, and provide annual training programs that target two key issues facing college graduates. The first is to provide graduates with the soft skills required in the work environment and the second is to provide training in entrepreneurial skills.
The project was launched in Mitrovica in September 2022. In the first step of the work, a labor market analysis will be carried out together with the UMIB team in order to match the content of the workshops and trainings, which will be created based on these results, with the needs of the industry.