The IMPACT Alliance
The United States is at a pivotal moment to translate research into global industrial leadership by demonstrating, at scale, the technologies that will secure critical mineral supply chains, strengthen manufacturing competitiveness, and power the next generation of American industry.
The Joint Research Alliance for Innovative Materials and Processing for Advanced Critical Technologies (IMPACT) is a national collaboration designed to accelerate the transition from research to real-world industrial deployment.
Led by the Natural Resources Research Institute, a state-chartered applied research institute of the University of Minnesota, hosted by the Duluth campus, in partnership with the National Laboratory for the Rockies, IMPACT brings together place-based demonstration environments and national laboratory research capabilities to strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and critical material supply chains.
Vision Statement
IMPACT advances industry-scale innovation and process demonstration to reinforce supply chains for critical minerals and materials, extend the frontiers of advanced manufacturing, and drive energy security, making the U.S. more globally competitive.
Bridging the Gap from Discovery to Deployment
The United States faces growing pressure to secure domestic supply chains, modernize industrial systems, and deploy new technologies at scale. IMPACT exists to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial reality by providing environments where new materials, processes, and energy systems can be tested, validated, and advanced toward deployment.
What We Do
Through demonstration at scale, IMPACT aims to strengthen U.S. industrial innovation by:
- Translating DOE-funded research into scalable technologies for globally competitive American industry
- Strengthening domestic supply chains for critical minerals and materials
- Integrating novel resource processing and impact management, energy and water conservation, and advanced materials manufacturing
- Accelerating energy systems innovations in generation, storage, and delivery
- Engaging communities and supporting a future-ready workforce
A National Demonstration Platform
IMPACT integrates semi-industrial testbeds, lab-to-pilot facilities, high-performance computing, and predictive modeling to accelerate discovery-to-deployment. NRRI’s Duluth and Coleraine campuses and the National Laboratory for the Rockies’ Golden campus operate as a connected system, enabling industry-relevant testing at meaningful scale.
IMPACT also supports future-ready workforce development and strengthens community-connected innovation ecosystems that enable industrial transformation.
Current Projects and Initiatives
- NLR leads DOE’s Industrial Technologies Office (ITO) Tramp Element Removal Innovation (TERI) Center of Excellence, leveraging IMPACT to demonstrate and de-risk tramp element removal technologies.
- Aluminum alloys in military aircrafts often contain 5% lithium or higher by weight; however conventional recycling technologies are unable to recover that lithium. With the U.S. Department of Defense, IMPACT is researching advanced metal processes.
- IMPACT is a joint research alliance that provides technical expertise to Midwest Industrial Transformation Initiative (MITI), a framework for aligning regional industrial assets with national priorities for competitiveness, resilience, and workforce readiness.
Partners
Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI)
University of Minnesota
National Laboratory for the Rockies (NLR)
U.S. Department of Energy