Global stakeholder platform for responsible sourcing
The proposed project will set up an international platform on responsible sourcing (RS) that: 1. facilitates the development of a globally accepted definition of RS, 2. develops ideas for incentives facilitating responsible business conduct in the EU, supporting RS initiatives, 3. enables exchange of stakeholders for information exchange and promotion, 4. fosters the emergence of RS in international political fora, and 5. supports the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials. 

To achieve the above mentioned objectives, the platform will connect experts and stakeholders by means of a physical element (“Platform Spaces”) and digital element (“Digital Ground”):  

The Platform Spaces will allow practitioners (i) to gain a hands-on and peer-to-peer learning experience in workshops and site visits to exchange and learn from enabling factors, instruments and tools facilitating RS initiatives and business conduct for practitioners, and (ii) to engage with stakeholders at international conferences to further the concept of RS on the global political agenda.

The Digital Ground will (i) enable, through innovative digital tools such as digital conference spaces and webinars, more easily connect international players and engage them in networking, promotion and information exchange activities, and (ii) synthesise and make easily accessible ideas that incentivise RS initiatives and responsible business conduct.  

The proposed project will feature important Flagship Cases of mature and well-established RS initiatives for raw materials highly relevant for Europe’s future energy, mobility and infrastructure development. 

By engaging international experts and stakeholders via the digital and physical platform element, the project team will be able to engage these initiatives into mutual learning processes on success elements and challenges encountered, and to identify enabling factors that will help recently established and upcoming RS initiatives to become success stories.