POLE DE RECHERCHE ET D'INNOVATION EN MATERIAUX AVANCES AU QUEBEC (PRIMA QUEBEC)

Their core work

PRIMA QUEBEC is a Montreal-based research and innovation cluster specializing in advanced materials, operating as Quebec's representative bridge between North American and European research ecosystems. In practice, they participate in ERA-NET Cofund networks — multi-country funding coordination programs — contributing to joint research calls on raw materials, circular economy, and battery technologies alongside national funding agencies from 35 countries. Their institutional role is that of a co-funding and coordination body: they channel Quebec research capacity and funding into European-led initiatives rather than conducting laboratory research themselves. This makes them a strategic gateway for Canadian researchers and institutions seeking access to EU-funded materials research, and for European partners seeking North American collaboration.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

PRIMA QUEBEC's H2020 participation spans only two years of project entry (2020–2021), but the keyword shift is meaningful: their first project (ERA-MIN3) centered on upstream concerns — mineral raw materials, resource security, recycling, substitution of critical raw materials, and supply chain policy. Their second project (M-ERA.NET3) moved downstream and forward-looking, adding advanced materials manufacturing, battery technologies, and explicit Green Deal and SDG framing. This reflects a global trend in materials science: from securing supply of raw inputs toward creating high-value advanced outputs, particularly for the energy transition. Circular economy and international cooperation remained constants across both, suggesting these are organizational anchors rather than project-specific themes.

PRIMA QUEBEC is moving up the materials value chain — from raw material policy and recycling toward battery technology innovation and Green Deal-aligned advanced manufacturing, positioning themselves at the intersection of Quebec's mineral wealth and European electrification demand.

How they like to work

PRIMA QUEBEC participates exclusively as a consortium partner and has never led an H2020 project — a pattern consistent with an institutional co-funder or national cluster representative rather than a research executor. Both their projects are ERA-NET Cofund schemes, which by design involve large networks of national agencies and research bodies, explaining their outsized partner count (60 partners, 35 countries) relative to only 2 projects. This means working with them is less about direct research collaboration and more about accessing their network of Quebec-based researchers and institutions, or leveraging their position as a co-funder in future ERA-NET calls.

Despite only two projects, PRIMA QUEBEC has touched 60 unique consortium partners across 35 countries — a reach that reflects participation in ERA-NET programs, which aggregate national funding agencies from across Europe and associated countries. Their network is structurally European-wide with a North American anchor in Quebec.

What sets them apart

PRIMA QUEBEC is one of very few Canadian organizations with a foothold in H2020 ERA-NET programs, making them a rare transatlantic bridge for materials research between Quebec and the EU. Quebec has significant strategic assets — lithium reserves, hydroelectric power for clean smelting, and a growing battery supply chain — that PRIMA QUEBEC is positioned to connect to European research networks. For consortium builders, they offer access to a North American innovation ecosystem that most European consortia otherwise cannot reach through standard EU funding channels.

Highlights from their portfolio

• M-ERA.NET3
  The only project with recorded EC funding (EUR 59,812), it places PRIMA QUEBEC at the center of Europe's materials and battery technology ERA-NET — directly relevant to the Green Deal's electrification and supply chain ambitions.
• ERA-MIN3
  A long-running (2020–2026) multi-country network on critical raw materials and circular economy, where PRIMA QUEBEC's role connects Canadian mineral resources to European supply chain resilience policy.