Helene Köpf, Kai Rasenack
In 2015 the German Resource Research Institute “GERRI” was founded as a virtual institute and a
national network by five leading German research institutions of the raw materials sector. The founding
partners of GERRI – TU Bergakademie Freiberg, RWTH Aachen University, Clausthal University
of Technology, Fraunhofer project group materials recycling and resource strategies IWKS at the
Fraunhofer Institute ISC and the Helmholtz-Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) at the
HZDR – offer broad knowledge and experience in the following fields of expertise: exploration &
mining, processing, hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, materials, waste management, machinery,
modeling and special analytics. The main goal of GERRI is to strengthen transdisciplinary research
along the entire value chain of metalliferous minerals and raw materials. Furthermore, GERRI is intended
to become a central nucleus for innovation between politics, industry and academic research.
GERRI’s unique feature is a competence mapping, which bundles the available knowledge and experience
within all competence fields of this network. Their methods and processes of technical infrastructure
are directly linked to relevant elements of periodic table and material flows.
GERRI is embedded in the “Research for Sustainable Development (FONA)” program of the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which is part of the funding program “r4 – Innovative
Technologies for Resource Efficiency – Research on the Provision of Economic Strategic
Raw Materials". After the expiry of the five-year funding period, GERRI is envisioned to persist independently
as a network and will be financed, amongst others, by industrial and research funds.