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:
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.
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.
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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.
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
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/
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
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.
Peter Moser (Vice-rector of Montanuniversität Leoben was invited to the European Raw Materials Alliance kickoff meeting to give the commitee members a perspective from a research point of view:
“The European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA) is the first action of the Critical Raw Materials Action Plan of the European Commission. Research and development can play a vital role in the implementation of this by developing the necessary knowledge and theoretical frameworks that the approaches are based on, such as we have done in the past, like design of value chains, material efficiency of final products, etc. This initiative is highly appreciated and needed, however, systemically it is clear that in the future this alliance must expand its scope beyond building resilience for only value chains of specific materials. Society is undergoing a massive transformation currently, a transformation that needs to be successful for future generations to be able to meet their needs and live in favourable ecological conditions. This means that we cannot tackle challenges in our old conventional ways but that we need to transform our systems. Innovative technologies and change of human behaviour are the basis for meeting the ambitious climate targets of the Green Deal and the implementation of the sustainable development goals. In the following I will address the necessary research and development needs as a pre-requisite for this transformation because the kind of challenges we are facing are entirely new and we need new flexible and systemic ways to react to them. On the one hand, we need to create the knowledge basis for innovative technologies, alternative societal systems and responsible human behaviour. On the other hand, we also need to address the transformative needs of the R&D system itself to be fit for tackling these societal challenges effectively. Successful R&D in this context grows in a suitable biotope that we have to form – a biotope that attracts the most talented and creative researchers and provides them with a working environment where enthusiasm and inspiration is promoted, and stronger than the frustration from the frequent lack of R&D resources and bureaucracy.
In a nutshell:
In terms of people it is necessary that education and research work closely and in synergy so that our long-term human capacity needs are met. In terms of funding it is essential to provide stable and long-term funding frameworks to promote effective and visionary R&D environments. In terms of simplicity and low bureaucracy it is important to rethink how funding frameworks work. It is crucial to have uniform, simple and aligned rules across different frameworks.
The three ingredients for creating a suitable R&D biotope itself are:
In such type of new approaches and systems we have to implement much more the idea of short-term path finder projects, which upon success are followed by long term initiatives. A good first example in this direction is the European University initiative where a three-year starting period is followed by a long-term period of 10plus years of fixed financing, an approach that really promotes depth and excellence.
In conclusion, the societal transformation can be achieved on the basis of
Sustainable Carbon Supply and Energy Mining based on Methane decomposition is seen as a major contribution to a future carbon footprint reduction while maintaining a sustainable supply with raw materials and green energy. Natural gas is the fossil fuel containing the least impurities with an estimated global resource of around 800 trillion m³. Although the composition of natural gas can vary to some extent, its primary component is methane, CH4. By endothermic decomposition (methane pyrolysis) methane can be split into its components carbon and hydrogen (H2) where especially hydrogen is of interest as a future alternative for various industrial applications. Additionally, there is a high potential for various large-scale applications of carbon, especially in construction and agriculture, if the carbon is available at a lower price than from presently available resources.
We proudly present our new teaser video for RM@Schools. RM@Schools is a Wider Society Learning project funded by the EIT, focused on an innovative program to make science education and careers in RM attractive for youngsters. An active learning approach will be proposed to schools through RM Ambassadors by involving students in experiments with RM-related hands-on and digital educational toolkits, in excursions to industries, and in science dissemination activities. Apply here
The EnAct-SDGs project aims to create a dynamic network of universities, research institutes, industry and professionals to develop a roadmap to a modernised education. The project aims to promote innovation and new skills for sustainable development among the East and Southeast Europe (ESEE) university graduates and raw materials professionals.
The EnAct-SDGs project is looking for stakeholders from the Raw Materials Knowledge Triangle, primarily from the RIS eligible countries, that would like to join the EnAct-SDGs network and actively participate in the project’s activities.
Find the Call here: EnAct-SDGs website
The Climate-KIC The Journey Summer School is Europe’s largest climate innovation summer school for graduates and young professionals. The Journey is usually a 4-week full time programme. Participants visit 3 of the 25 locations involved around Europe, focused on climate action, innovation, systems transformation and community building.
This year „The Journey“ was held online with a multi-channel setup and a hands-on toolkit provided to every participant.
As we finish our second week of this year’s „The Journey“ we would like to say goodbye to our dear participants. We hope to welcome you in Leoben in person soon!
EnActSDG´s Summer school is a three days hands-on webinar on Innovation & Entrepreneurship for the Raw Materials industry. The programme is driven by the sustainability development goals and circular economy principles. Students will tackle on challenges proposed by the Industry to generate new business ideas and improve existing solutions; they will acquire new skills, learn to use new tools and develop a new mindset that will help building up their careers as innovation professionals.
The programme curriculum is provided by TU Freiberg, Montanuniversität Leoben, University of Trento and Hub Innovation Trentino, partners of ENACT project.
In this Pilot School students from TUKE, AGH and NTUA will participate as well as other students from the ESEE region.
We put a lot of effort into creating a booklet for our partners and for new interested parties. We wanted to distribute it this year but here we are with travel restrictions and lots of online meetings. Nevertheless you can view it online! Enjoy, All the best from the RIC Leoben Team
We are proud to see a publication in the International Mining magazine about our SafeDeepMining project. Visit http://www.safedeepmining.eu/ for course information and keep up the good work!
Im Rahmen des Projektes „EnActSDGs“ zielen wir, auf die Verbesserung der Fähigkeiten von Studierenden im Hinblick auf die Erreichung der Nachhaltigkeitsziele im Rohstoffbereich in Österreich und international – vor allem aber in den ESEE Regionen (East and South East Europe) ab. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, brauchen wir Sie und Ihre Meinung als ExpertIn. Dafür bitten wie Sie, eine kurze Umfrage zu beantworten. Selbstverständlich werden Ihre Angaben mit höchster Vertraulichkeit behandelt und anonymisiert ausgewertet.
Ihre Meinung kann ein wesentlicher Beitrag zu einer noch hochwertigeren Ausbildung und somit zur Qualitätssteigerung für den gesamten Rohstoffsektor sein. Darüber hinaus besteht die Möglichkeit das Unternehmen sowohl öffentlich wirksamer, als auch für Studierende zugänglich zu machen, beispielweise mit Vorträgen, Praktika, finanzierten Industrieprojekten oder finanzierten Projekten in der Grundlagenforschung.
Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf folgender Homepage. Dort finden Sie alle notwendigen Informationen wie die DSGVO, Ziele und Zweck des Projektes, als auch die Möglichkeit, sich dem Projekt und dem Netzwerk anzuschließen und somit Informationen über Ergebnisse und Veranstaltungen zu erhalten.
Seit der Entstehung der ESEE Education Working Group 2018 ist die Montanuniversität durch das RIC Leoben vertreten. In diesem Jahr wurde damit begonnen eine ESEE Education Concept Note zu entwerfen, welche 2019 fertig gestellt wurde. Die Concept Note zeigt die Vision der Working Group durch Weiterentwicklung der Bildungsmaßnahmen in der ESEE Region Innovationen im Rohstoffsektor voranzutreiben. Als Folge wurde die ESEE Education Initiative gegründet und Projekte wurden im Sinne der ESEE Education Concept Note geplant und ausgeführt. Die Zusammenarbeit im Team und das Networking der Gruppe waren sehr erfolgreich und lieferten einige Ergebnisse zu den Zielen der ESEE Education Working Group wie auch positive Entwicklungen für die Montanuniversität. So entstanden zum Bespiel neue Kooperationen und es kam zum erfolgreichen Einreichen von Projektanträgen. 2020 kam es zu einer Erneuerung der Working Group und durch RIC Leoben wurde die Teilnahme erfolgreich verlängert. Wir freuen uns auf eine verlängerte, erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit.
Am 3. März 2020 fand an der TU Graz ein WS zur CO2-Bilanzierung an österreichischen Universitäten und Fachhochschulen statt. Da das RIC Leoben im Zuge dieses Projektes der Allianz Nachhaltige Universitäten eine C02-Bilanz der MUL erstellt, wurde dieser WS genutzt und sich mit dem ClimCalc Tool vertraut zu machen und sich bezüglich des Prozesses der Datensammlung mit Vertreter*innen anderer Universitäten auszutauschen.
Am 6.März 2020 fand das 27. ExpertenInnentreffen der Allianz Nachhaltige Universitäten Österreich an der WU Wien statt. Als Vertreterin der MUL in der Allianz nahm RIC Leoben Mitarbeiterin Anna Meyer an dem Treffen teil und stellte aktuelle Aktivitäten und Pläne des RIC im Bezug auf Nachhaltigkeit an der Montanuniversität vor. Zusätzlich kam es zu einem regen Austausch unter den Allianzuniversitäten und einer Diskussion zur Verantwortung und Vordenkerinnenrolle der Universitäten in Bezug auf Nachhaltigkeit. Eine Präsentation der Green WG Challenges der Paris Lodron Universität, die Studierende Aufgaben zum Thema „nachhaltiges Leben“ lösen lassen, rundete das Treffen ab.
Wie machen wir Österreich durch eine neue Rohstoffstrategie fit für die Zukunft?
Am 4. März 2020 lud die AG Rohstoffe, ein Zusammenschuss von verschiedenen österreichischen NGOs, ein um über eine neue Rohstoffstrategie zu diskutieren. Letztes Jahr beschloss die österreichische Bundesregierung die Erarbeitung einer „Integrierten Österreichischen Rohstoffstrategie“. Die derzeitige Strategie fußt vor allem auf der Versorgungssicherheit der österreichischen Wirtschaft. Die neue integrierte Rohstoffstrategie soll ökologische und soziale Aspekte, sowie die Kreislaufwirtschaft als Rahmenmodel heranziehen. Die nun geplante Überarbeitung der Rohstoffstrategie soll in einem Beteiligungsprozess stattfinden und dies wir von den NGOs durchwegs positiv aufgenommen. Um den Dialog zu starten wurden einige Vertreter aus Regionen eingeladen, die über ihre Erfahrungen mit regionalem Rohstoffabbau und -verarbeitung und den verbundenen Konsequenzen berichteten. Abgerundet wurde die Veranstaltung durch eine Podiumsdiskussion zu nötigen Schritten, die die Politik leisten kann.