MAGELLAN topics were highlighted at Deeptech Forum: shaping a sustainable future, held on 18 March 2026 at the French Ministry of Economic Affairs in Paris. The event took place during European Deeptech Week 2026 and brought together researchers, startups, industrial actors, investors and policy stakeholders to discuss how breakthrough technologies can support sustainable industrial transformation.
Alexandre Damiens, Head of Development and Industrial Partnerships for Rare Earths and Magnets at Orano, contributed to the forum’s discussions on critical metals, energy transition and economic sovereignty. His contribution focused on the strategic role of secondary resources in reducing Europe’s dependence on imported rare earth elements, particularly in a context where permanent magnets are essential for electric motors, renewable energy technologies and low-carbon industrial systems.
The discussion was highly relevant to MAGELLAN’s work on resilient rare earth permanent magnet value chains. It underlined that recycling cannot be treated only as an end-of-life activity, but must be considered from the design stage. This message is closely connected to MAGELLAN’s approach, which combines better magnet recovery, improved recycling routes, high-performance recycled-content magnets and electric vehicle traction motor designs that facilitate dismantling and material recovery.
A key point raised in the discussion was the need to balance circularity, performance and industrial competitiveness. Permanent magnets are not standard commodities: their specifications evolve across generations of technologies and applications. For this reason, the challenge is not simply to maximise recycled content, but to incorporate as much recycled material as possible while maintaining the high performance required by end users. This reflects MAGELLAN’s objective to demonstrate more sustainable permanent magnet solutions that can support Europe’s industrial resilience and clean energy transition.
Through this participation, MAGELLAN-relevant messages reached a broad deeptech and industrial innovation audience, contributing to wider discussions on critical raw materials, recycling, industrial scale-up and European sovereignty.
