Critical minerals underpin AI infrastructure, electrification and advanced manufacturing, yet Europe remains structurally exposed across discovery, extraction and refining. Geological scarcity is not the only constraint. The real bottlenecks sit in data, processing capacity, capital deployment and geopolitical concentration.

This session explores how the mineral value chain is being redesigned end to end. From AI-driven subsurface intelligence and biological extraction methods to sovereign refining capacity, it examines how technology and industrial strategy can work together to build resilient, lower-impact and strategically secure supply systems for the decades ahead.

• Where are the real mineral bottlenecks, and are they geological, technological or geopolitical?

• How can AI-driven discovery and biological extraction materially reduce environmental impact while accelerating supply?

• What would it take for Europe to build sovereign refining capacity and secure the full mineral value chain?