EIT RawMaterials Convenes Rare Earths & Magnets Forum as Europe Pushes From Policy to Production

Highlights

• EIT RawMaterials will host the Rare Earths & Magnets SIGN Expert Forum 2026 on November 3–4 in Turin, Italy, uniting industry, OEMs, investors and policymakers.
• The forum signals Europe's shift from upstream mining focus to downstream processing, magnet manufacturing, recycling and offtake agreements.
• Key participants include Stellantis, Vacuumschmelze, Solvay, Mkango Resources and leading rare-earth researchers, reflecting a full value-chain approach.
• EIT RawMaterials manages over €600 million in strategic funding and supports 300+ partners to bridge the gap between innovation and commercial European capacity.
• The central challenge is no longer recognizing supply vulnerability but translating policy into bankable projects and qualified production before the next disruption.

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Europe's rare-earth strategy is entering the difficult phase: building the industrial chain.

EIT RawMaterials (opens in a new tab) will convene the Rare Earths & Magnets SIGN Expert Forum 2026 on November 3–4 at the Lingotto Congress Center in Turin, Italy. Under the theme "Towards a Concerted Action on the European Rare Earth Value Chain," industry, researchers, OEMs, investors and policymakers will examine how Europe turns critical-minerals policy into investment, demand and industrial capacity.

For REEx, the significance runs deeper. The forum's focus independently validates several pillars of the Great Powers Era 2.0™ thesis: a mine is not a supply chain; China's real advantage sits increasingly downstream; and resilience must now be valued alongside lowest cost.

REEx Insight — Europe Is Arriving at the Downstream Problem

For years, critical-minerals policy concentrated heavily on finding deposits and developing mines. REEx has argued that the strategic moat lies farther downstream: separation → metals → alloys → magnets → motors → finished systems.

EIT RawMaterials is increasingly organizing European strategy around much the same problem. Its wider programs explicitly span mining, processing and recycling, while its mandate through the European Raw Materials Alliance seeks investment across Europe's value chain. EIT RawMaterials itself says dependence on individual suppliers represents a risk and emphasizes diversification and industrial processing know-how.

That makes Turin noteworthy. Discussions of metallisation, magnet manufacturing, recycling, testing, offtakes and investment signal that Europe increasingly understands the difference between possessing geological resources and possessing an industrial ecosystem.

This is precisely where REEx's Great Powers Era 2.0™ framework becomes relevant. During peak globalization, efficiency rewarded concentration: if China could separate rare earths, make magnets or manufacture components more cheaply, sourcing from China was economically rational.

Yet the equation has changed. Resilience now has a price—and dependence has a cost.

Europe must therefore create enough demand, financing and policy protection for non-Chinese capacity to survive even when that capacity cannot initially match Chinese economics. EIT RawMaterials has separately identified financing as a major bottleneck and called for investment to move projects from innovation toward commercialization. The emerging competition is consequently ecosystem versus ecosystem, not mine versus mine.

Turin Moves the Conversation Toward Execution

The forum brings the downstream chain into one room. Participants include Stellantis, Vacuumschmelze (VAC), Solvay, Mkango Resources, market specialists and magnet researchers.

The important question is no longer whether Europe recognizes its vulnerability. It does. The question is whether Europe can translate recognition into bankable projects, binding offtakes, qualified production and sufficient scale before another supply disruption tests the system.

That is also the emerging dividing line between aspiration and actual strategic autonomy.

EIT RawMaterials: From Innovation to Industrial Sovereignty

EIT RawMaterials is an Innovation Community within the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and connects more than 300 partners spanning industry, academia, research and investment. It is mandated by the European Commission to lead the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA). Its current materials report more than €600 million in strategic funding, 600+ startups supported and 250+ products and services brought to market. Its finance programs explicitly seek to bridge the gap between promising technology and commercially operating European capacity.

REEx Connect

Organization / Person	Strategic Role
EIT RawMaterials — Bernd Schäfer	CEO & Managing Director; European raw-materials investment and innovation
European Institute of Innovation and Technology	EU institution supporting EIT RawMaterials
European Raw Materials Alliance	Builds investment pipeline and European value-chain resilience
Stellantis	Automotive OEM; downstream magnet demand
Vacuumschmelze (VAC) — Erik Eschen	European permanent-magnet manufacturing
Solvay	Rare-earth processing and advanced materials
Mkango Resources	Rare-earth development and recycling
Adamas Intelligence — Ryan Castilloux	Rare-earth and permanent-magnet market intelligence
TU Darmstadt — Oliver Gutfleisch	Functional materials and permanent-magnet research
Leading Edge Materials — Kurt Budge	European critical-materials development
Leiden University — Rene Kleijn	Sustainability and material-flow research
MagResources — Erick Petit	Magnet value-chain technology

REEx Bottom Line

EIT RawMaterials is not formally validating REEx or its Great Powers Era 2.0 thesis. But the direction of European policy and the structure of this forum independently reinforce it. The strategic contest is migrating downstream. Ore without separation is insufficient; separated oxide without metal and alloy capacity remains vulnerable; magnets without qualified OEM demand may not be bankable.

Europe increasingly understands the chain. Now it has to build it.

Rare Earths & Magnets SIGN Expert Forum — EIT RawMaterials (opens in a new tab)