The Indian Ministry of Mines has officially designated two additional institutions as Centres of Excellence (CoEs) under the National Critical Mineral Mission. The newly recognized institutes are the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore and the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) located in Hyderabad. This announcement was made on Saturday.
According to the Ministry, these CoEs are tasked with conducting pioneering research and development aimed at advancing technology readiness to levels suitable for pilot plants and pre-commercial demonstrations, specifically targeting technology readiness levels (TRL) 7 and 8. The focus will be on critical minerals that are essential for sectors such as clean energy, mobility transition, electronics, defense, and space.
The initiative seeks to consolidate expertise and develop innovative technologies to ensure secure supply chains for critical minerals. Prior to this announcement, seven institutes had already been recognized as CoEs, bringing the total number of CoEs to nine.
“The CoEs will engage in transformative research to enhance the nation”s capabilities in science and technology concerning critical minerals,” stated the Ministry of Mines. Each CoE will function as part of a consortium, utilizing a hub-and-spoke model to harness research and development efforts in the field, while pooling the core competencies of each member organization under a unified framework.
To participate, each CoE is required to include at least two industry partners alongside two academic or research institutions in their collaborative network. Collectively, the nine recognized CoEs have incorporated approximately 90 industry and academic or R&D spokes, as reported by the Ministry.
In conjunction with the National Critical Mineral Mission, the Centre had recently opened applications for the Critical Mineral Recycling Incentive Scheme, which has a budget of Rs 1,500 crore. This scheme is designed to enhance the industry”s capacity to recycle critical minerals from electronic waste, spent lithium-ion batteries, and other materials like catalytic converters from end-of-life vehicles. Large recyclers may receive incentives of up to Rs 50 crore, while smaller recyclers are eligible for incentives reaching Rs 25 crore.
