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06 October 2026

Digital Marketing Services for the European Raw

Materials Academy and European Advanced Materials

Academy

Service Description

Overview

EIT RawMaterials seeks an experienced marketing and communications agency to support the European Raw Materials Academy and European Advanced Materials Academy, run under one shared brand, EIT RawMaterials, with their digital communication activities, working as an execution and delivery partner within the Academies' existing strategic narrative, positioning, and stakeholder alignment.

Background

EIT RawMaterials is a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), created by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), aimed at promoting innovation in the raw materials sector across Europe. Established in 2015, EIT RawMaterials works to secure the sustainable supply of raw materials to European industry by driving innovation, education, and entrepreneurship along the entire raw materials value chain.

As part of its Education and Skills offering, EIT RawMaterials leads two flagship European Academies, co- funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme: the European Raw Materials Academy (RM Academy) and the European Advanced Materials Academy (AM Academy).

The RM Academy upskills and reskills Europe's raw materials workforce across the value chain, from exploration and processing to recycling, circularity, and responsible sourcing.

The AM Academy strengthens Europe's leadership in advanced and sustainable materials, targeting students, researchers, and professionals working in high-performance materials for sectors such as energy, mobility, electronics, and construction.

RM Academy runs for 36 months (M1–M36); AM Academy runs for 48 months (M1–M48). Both are past their initial launch phase, now focused on developing its course library, establishing a stakeholder network of Learning Content Providers (LCPs).

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The two Academies share a single public-facing channel presence, editorial calendar, brand toolkit, and internal team, and a significant share of the contracted deliverables. They share social channels, a joint website architecture, and cross-Academy campaigns. The contractor must therefore always take a holistic approach for both Academies into account.

General Communications and Marketing Objectives

• Strengthen brand awareness and recognition of the Academies across priority audiences in industry, academia, and policy.

• Increase engagement with learners, training providers, and corporate stakeholders through relevant content and communications.

• Support outreach and visibility for Learning Content Provider partnerships and events.

• Ensure consistent, high-quality, EU-compliant visibility of both Academies across digital channels.

Scope of Work

The framework agreement will have a maximum total value of EUR 1,500,000 including VAT. This amount includes all agency fees, third-party costs, pass-through costs, supplier costs, production costs, travel-related costs where applicable, and VAT. EIT RawMaterials GmbH is not obliged to use the full maximum contract value. Services will be requested through a monthly retainer and through individual project-specific assignments under the framework agreement. EIT RawMaterials GmbH does not guarantee any volume of services or expenditure under this framework agreement exceeding the services of the monthly retainer.

The service portfolio outlined below is indicative and may be adapted during the duration of the framework agreement based on programme requirements, budget availability, and strategic priorities. The selected agency will be responsible for the following tasks across both Academies, unless specified otherwise, split into:

1. Basic Services – Monthly Retainer; and
2. Project-Specific Assignments.

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1. Basic Services – Monthly Retainer

The selected agency shall provide the following basic services on a monthly basis, covering both Academies unless specified otherwise. The estimated effort amounts to approximately 23 person-days per month reflecting the current stage and channel mix of the programme.

Strategic Communications Support

• Funnel strategy: maintain and evolve the integrated marketing strategy against each Academy’s current funnel stage (i.e. Establishing, Stakeholder Outreach, Awareness/Perception Management, Conversion, Retention) • Editorial calendar: manage a shared editorial calendar across both Academies, segmented by project, audience, and funnel stage • Toolkit and brand consistency: maintain the communications toolkit for LCPs, partners, and programme stakeholders, including key messages, social media templates, brand implementation and guidance, and ensure consistent application of brand guidelines across all channels. • Reporting: deliver monthly and quarterly performance reports across all channels, interpreting performance data and providing actionable recommendations for optimisation. • Competitive monitoring: conduct quarterly monitoring and reporting of comparable initiatives, including other sector-specific upskilling/reskilling academies, to inform positioning and messaging.

Content and Asset Production

• Core content: produce ongoing long-and short-format content (copy and video) for digital channels, including social copy, articles, web copy, impact stories, learner testimonials, and LCP partnership content, which are in line with the agreed content strategy and messaging pillars for each Academy. • Newsletter: conceptualise, draft, and distribute a quarterly newsletter for each Academy's stakeholder base.

Performance Marketing

• Paid channels: manage and execute live campaigns on LinkedIn, Meta and Google (Search and Display/remarketing), which are the channels currently used to amplify organic reach and drive LCP and learner leads. • Optimisation: optimise and diversify campaigns across platforms based on performance and budget efficiency, with weekly check-ins and monthly reporting. • Transparent reporting: report on campaign results against defined KPIs including CPL, CPC, CTR, reach and conversion, broken out by campaign and project. • CRM/automation: recommend and advise on marketing automation or CRM touchpoints where appropriate (e.g. HubSpot or equivalent); implementation to be scoped separately

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Social Media Management

• Channels: manage the EIT RawMaterials Academy presence on LinkedIn (primary channel) and Instagram (secondary channel, including short-form video), YouTube (inactive but needs to be activated). • Content plan: develop and implement a monthly social media content plan, with a baseline cadence of approximately 3-4 LinkedIn posts/week and 2-3 Instagram posts/week, confirmed against current output. • Publishing & community management: publish and manage content, adapt approved messaging into platform-specific formats, and provide community management (comments, DMs, collaboration requests). • Analytics: monitor and report on social media performance with recommendations.

Website management and Maintenance

• Content updates: support ongoing, routine content updates to Academy web pages that are hosted on the EIT RawMaterials website / dedicated landing pages), including news, partner profiles, event announcements. • Analytics: provide monthly web analytics with recommendations. • Conversion support: provide UX and content recommendations to improve conversion on key pages (LCP sign-up, course enrolment, contact forms)

Event Communication Support

• Event calendar & strategy: maintain a rolling calendar of relevant sector events, conferences, and webinar opportunities across Europe, and advise on which the Academies should organise themselves versus attend/exhibit at based on audience fit, funnel stage, and expected LCP or learner reach to guide where time and budget go.

Reporting and Grant Compliance Support

Both academies operate under European Commission grant agreements (Horizon Europe, EIT) with specific communications obligations. The agency must understand and work within this context.

• Structured reporting: monthly and quarterly reports against defined metrics (reach, engagement, web traffic, follower growth, leads, media mentions), split by Academy and mapped to the Exposure  Engagement  Transformation measurement tiers already in use. • Quarterly budget versus deliverables report.

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• EU/EIT visibility: ensure all public materials display the EU emblem and funding statement (or the EIT/KIC logo and text, as applicable) at least as prominently as any other logo, plus the standard EU funding disclaimer: “Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. • Audit readiness: maintain an up-to-date activity log and asset library, available within three working days of request. • Grant deliverables: support preparation of communications and marketing deliverables for RM Academy: the Marketing & Communications Strategy and its two updates; for AM Academy: the Marketing & Communications Plan, the Stakeholder Engagement & Strategic Synergies report, and the Communication & Dissemination progress report

• Audit readiness: maintain an up-to-date activity log and asset library, available within three working days of request

2. Project-Specific Assignments

The following services are provided as individual assignments, scoped and quotes separately as they arise.

Strategic Communications Support

• Baseline audit: conduct an initial audit of both Academies' brand presence and channel performance (social, website, email, paid), benchmarked against current output, to set a foundation and provide recommendations before campaign work begins.

Content and Asset Production

• Thought leadership: develop articles, white papers, and briefings, including sustained content series tied to major research output such as white paper launches.

• Branded materials: design and produce presentations, factsheets, and digital banners for events, campaigns, and stakeholder communication, primarily digital, with print produced only where required for specific in-person or policy events.

Performance Marketing

• Tracking & attribution: set up and maintain conversion tracking across all paid channels including Meta Pixel, Google conversion tracking, and consistent UTM parameters, with lead data flowing back to the CRM, in line with GDPR and cookie-consent requirements.

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• Campaign strategy and development: develop strategy and creative for new paid media campaigns and launches.

Website Management and Maintenance

• New builds: develop new web sections or landing pages to support campaigns, events, and grant reporting milestones

Event Communication Support

• Event comms: develop end-to-end communication and dissemination plans for each Academy's flagship events and webinars - pre-event promotion, registration drive, live coverage, post-event amplification

• Promotional materials: produced primarily as digital assets, with print collateral only for specific in- person or policy events (e.g. the RM Summit, EIT Education and Skills Days)

• Live coverage: provide live coverage for key events - social updates, short interviews, real-time posting - remote by default, with on-site coverage where the event and budget warrant it.

Additional services

• Creative development: video production for mid-to long-form video content.

• Training and capacity-building: workshops for internal team on digital trends and tools.

• Channel diversification: identify and manage collaborations with sector-relevant influencers, industry thought leaders, and creators to extend reach among learners and industry audiences beyond owned channels.

Reporting and Grant Compliance Support

Both Academies operate under European Commission grant agreements (Horizon Europe, EIT) with specific communications obligations. The agency must understand and work within this context.

• Annual report: provide an annual brand awareness report against defined metrics - reach, engagement, web traffic, follower growth, LCP pipeline, media mentions

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Expected Content Deliverables in 2026

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Communications & Dissemination Grant Deliverables List:

Academy Grant Agreement KPIs

The tables below reflect the cumulative KPI targets set out in each Academy's Horizon Europe grant agreement (Table 2.3, Main D&C activities KPIs and timing). These are phased across the full project rather than by calendar year:

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Target demographics and expected engagement

The Academies' combined audience primarily includes:

• Individual learners, students, and early-career professionals (B2C): care about career growth, recognition, and purpose; reached via Instagram, LinkedIn, and course pages

• Learning Content Providers (LCPs) and training partners (B2B): VET providers and education/training organisations who host and deliver Academy content; care about collaboration pathways and co- branding; reached via the communications toolkit, alignment calls, and direct outreach

• Industry professionals and large enterprises (B2B): Strategic HR/L&D Leads, Business Unit/Operational Directors, and Innovation Leads/CTOs, who care about workforce planning, efficiency, and technology adoption; reached via LinkedIn, email, industry groups, and events/webinars

• Policymakers and EU/EIT partners (B2G): care about policy alignment, impact, and sustainability; reached via press, EU events, and policy briefs

Cooperation

The agency will be committed to a contractual engagement structured as an initial 12-month term, with up to two annual renewal options. Each renewal is capped at the earlier of a mutual performance review and the relevant Academy's grant end date. As RM Academy's grant ends before AM Academy's, the engagement may continue on AM Academy alone beyond that point, subject to a separate scoping conversation tied to RM Academy's financial-sustainability plans.

The agency will plan and manage project timelines to ensure that all milestones and deliverables are met on schedule. As an indication of the close working relationship between the agency and the project team at EIT RawMaterials, it is expected that a weekly working meeting will be held between them to align on communications and marketing activities.

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Additionally, EIT RawMaterials will provide the agency with guest access to the organisation's project management tool, ClickUp, to facilitate task tracking.

The working language for both Academies is English only. It is expected that the team delivering the work has full professional proficiency in the English language.

The agency shall maintain and continuously update comprehensive documentation that covers the work implemented and the staff effort devoted to the tasks. Such documentation shall be made available to EIT RawMaterials, upon request, within three working days, for the purpose of satisfying any auditing obligations or other legal requirements.

The agency is expected to provide the following key capabilities as part of the project team. Each team member must have at least 3 years of experience (minimum requirement):

• Key Account Manager - lead point of contact

• Group Account Director or equivalent

• Communication and Brand Strategist(senior)

• Art director

• Video Producer/Editor

• Copywriter

• Graphic Designer

• Digital Performance Marketing specialist

• Social Media Manager

The agency’s CEO or equivalent will be available for an annual strategic review or in the event of an escalation.

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