host sponsor
OVERVIEW
After highly successful events in Toronto and New York in 2025, the Innovation Forum returns to New York in 2026 with a half-day event to track the progress of America’s push for greater minerals and materials security. Across a series of panels and presentations featuring government officials, mining executives, investors, and other industry leaders, we’ll explore the drivers transforming minerals demand, the new procurement policies and strategies being deployed to build resilient Western supply chains, the innovations revolutionizing mining and processing operations, and the creative financing solutions needed to turn ambition into reality. From bilateral agreements and offtake contracts to breakthrough recycling technologies and hybrid capital structures, we’ll identify the most promising pathways for reducing dependence on non-market actors while advancing both economic competitiveness and national security objectives.
STRUCTURE + audience
- Half-day event followed by a networking reception hosted at Clifford Chance’s offices in New York City
- 100+ attendees, including leaders from government, industry, and professional services firms
- A program of panel discussions, fireside chats, and presentations on the themes outlined below
THEMES + AGENDA
REGISTRATION + NETWORKING LUNCH
OPENING REMARKS
Panel DISCUSSION | Taking the pulse: The advancement of minerals & materials security in the U.S.
- Demand drivers: How are trends such as the push for domestic semiconductor production, the pullback on green technology and clean energy, China’s looming trade restrictions, the modernization of America’s defense and aerospace infrastructure, and the data centre boom shaping the outlook for minerals demand in the U.S.?
- Shifting tailwinds: How has the materials industry moved beyond being price-dependent to being policy-dependent? What are the key challenges and opportunities emerging from this shift?
- Growth strategies: How are global mining companies competing with China for market share? Where are the biggest opportunities for growth and supply diversification and what are the attendant challenges?
- Renewed global supply chain cooperation: How is the U.S. administration navigating allied cooperation and trade negotiations for greater supply chain resilience in the western hemisphere?
Panel DISCUSSION | The forces reshaping Western supply chains for minerals & materials
- A new geopolitical paradigm: How far can governments go to exclude non-market players from Western supply chains? Which government initiatives—including procurement policy, stockpiling, public-private partnerships, and bilateral and multilateral agreements—are showing the most promise in this regard?
- International cooperation: Which bilateral and multilateral agreements are proving most effective in reshaping mineral supply chains? How is funding from EXIM and the DFC being effectively leveraged to diversify sources of supply?
- Strategic realignment: How are manufacturers reassessing their exposure to Chinese-controlled refining and processing? How is the business case for mitigating that exposure evolving and what strategies are being successfully deployed to that end?
- Decisional aids: What progress has been made to increase pricing transparency in minerals and materials?
- Deregulation: How have executive orders moved the needle for mining projects in the U.S.?
- Pax Silica: How is the view of technology supply chains as strategic assets impacting the AI ecosystem?
- R&D: How are new extraction techniques being used to shorten supply chains? Where is progress being made to build circular pathways for minerals and materials and what will it take for recycling to become an even bigger part of the picture?
- A future-forward ecosystem: How are government and industry working together to address funding gaps for emerging processing & recycling technologies?
Fireside chat | Driving innovation in mining and processing
- Dueling imperatives: How Western mining companies are managing to meet Western production standards while competing with China
- Operational excellence: The technologies and strategies being used to increase capital productivity and improve sustainability in mining & refining
- Homegrown ventures: The projects positioned to increase America’s market share in mining, processing, and recycling
Panel DISCUSSION | Innovation in financing
- Overcoming the capital productivity hurdle: What financing structures and capital solutions are proving most effective for de-risking mining projects and drawing private capital into the space? How is “catalytic” government capital acting as a signal for private equity?
- Building a future-forward ecosystem: How are government and industry stepping up to address funding gaps for emerging processing & recycling technologies?
- Innovative financing: How can hybrid capital solutions support the buildout of mines and processing & recycling facilities in the West?
Closing Remarks + NETWORKING RECEPTION
host sponsor
SPONSORSHIP
Partner with The Legal Innovation Forum to engage senior legal leaders and innovators shaping the future of the industry.
For inquiries, contact jacquie@adbinsights.com
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