RAWsiko - Materials around us: A Digital Serious Game to Teach about Raw Materials' Importance for the Transition towards a Low- Carbon Economy

Today some raw materials (RMs) have become essential in the manufacturing of common goods and technologies we use every day. Readily accessible RMs, such as rare-earth-elements, indium, neodymium, etc., are important to EU industries and allow the transition towards a low-carbon economy. With the future global resource use projected to double by 2030, addressing raw materials through the entire value chain becomes a priority as well as transferring these ideas to youngsters. "RAWsiko- Materials aroud us" is a serious videogame developed in the framework of Raw Matters Ambassadors at Schools, an European project funded by EIT RawMaterials, with the aim to offer teachers an educational tool able to increase student awareness of the current societal challenges for a sustainable innovation by using an innovative approach. RAWsiko is focused on RMs important for the EU economy but at risk of supply, their distribution in the world, their use in the modern technologies and why access to them is pivotal for European economy. The players can experience the complexity of the raw material supply that occurs behind some everyday life devices such as flat screens and lamps, but also behind the equipment for the transition to the renewable energies such as photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. RAWsiko can be a support to teach science, technology, and citizenship in a funny way by involving students from 11 to 19 years old and contributing to disseminate the issues of the European Green Deal and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nation Agenda 2030. Such knowledge and awareness among the younger generation is indispensable to secure sustainable success in the European raw materials sector and will help to create a new generation of people skilled in entrepreneurship and raw materials, and respecting our Earth.