The Critical Minerals Project enables innovation and responsible technology adoption to strengthen mineral supply chains supporting the global energy transition. Led by C4IR Saudi Arabia in partnership with the World Economic Forum under the Securing Minerals for Energy Transition (SMET) initiative, the project convenes public and private stakeholders to accelerate innovation across the mining and energy value chains. It brings together industry leaders, regulators, investors, and innovators to identify adoption barriers, unlock enabling conditions, and align priorities across the ecosystem. Through a pioneering Innovation Assessment Framework designed to evaluate innovation across the mining and energy sectors, supported by a practical toolkit, the project guides informed investment and technology deployment decisions and strengthens a resilient, innovation-driven critical minerals ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and beyond.

Impact

• Strengthened national readiness to secure resilient and innovation-driven critical mineral supply chains aligned with energy transition priorities and global sustainability objectives.
• Reduced investment and adoption risk through a structured, indicators-based assessment approach for evaluating emerging mining and energy technologies.
• Enhanced collaboration between innovators, industry leaders, regulators, and investors to accelerate responsible deployment of frontier technologies across the minerals value chain.

Goals

• Establish and convene a multi-stakeholder Critical Minerals Community to align national priorities, industry needs, and innovation opportunities across the ecosystem.
• Design an Innovation Assessment Toolkit that translates the global best practices into a practical evaluation framework for mining and energy technologies.
• Identify key enablers, barriers, and scaling pathways for emerging technology adoption through targeted stakeholder engagement and pilot implementation.