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This international cooperation dates to the first EU-US-JP Trilateral Conference on Critical Materials held in Washington in 2011. Since 2011, Trilateral Conference on Critical Materials have been held annually. They have been organized by European Commission (EC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to recognize the strategic importance of critical materials and share a common interest in working together as part of the EU-US-JP Trilateral Critical Materials Initiative in research and development towards: improving extraction, finding substitutes, improving use efficiency, encouraging recycling and strengthening the overall critical materials supply chain.

Many of the rapidly emerging technologies in the energy, transportation and telecommunication sectors - from solar panels and wind turbines to electric vehicle components, advanced batteries, communications systems, lighting and cell phones - are made with materials that have unique chemical and physical characteristics, including magnetic, catalytic and luminescent properties. Some of these materials, which include some rare earth elements, battery and other energy related materials, are at risk of supply disruption and are often considered as critical materials.

The draft agenda of the event can be found here.