Topic Day Workshop: Strategic Minerals and Industrial Development – South and North Perspectives
Topic Day Workshop
Strategic Minerals and Industrial Development – South and North Perspectives
Date: 11 February 2026
Time: 11:00 – 16:00
Location: Aula 237, Dipartimento di Economia e Management
Via Cosimo Ridolfi 10, Pisa
The Dipartimento di Economia e Management hosts the Topic Day Workshop “Strategic Minerals and Industrial Development – South and North Perspectives”, a one-day academic event dedicated to the role of critical raw materials in the energy transition and contemporary industrial development strategies.
The workshop is structured around a central seminar by Martín Obaya (CONICET; CENIT-EEyN-UNSAM), offering a comparative analysis of resource-based development strategies in the context of the global energy transition, with particular attention to lithium extraction in the Lithium Triangle (Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina).
Alongside the keynote seminar, the workshop includes contributions by Francesco Di Cunzo, Marisol Manfredi, and Jakob Nitschke, presenting ongoing research on critical raw material supply risks, innovation strategies, and the socio-ecological costs of the green transition.
The day concludes with a roundtable discussion open to participants, fostering dialogue between Global South and Global North perspectives.
Programme
11:00 – 11:30
Francesco Di Cunzo
From supply risk to innovation strategy: the role of critical raw materials in technology development
11:30 – 12:00
Marisol Manfredi & Jakob Nitschke
The socio-ecological costs of the green transition. The case of lithium in Salinas Grandes, Jujuy, Argentina
12:00 – 12:15
Coffee break
12:15 – 13:30
Seminar – Martín Obaya
Global dynamics and national legacies in resource-based development. The case of the Lithium Triangle
13:30 – 14:30
Lunch break
14:30 – 16:00
Roundtable discussion – Open debate
Seminar details
Speaker: Martín Obaya (CONICET; CENIT-EEyN-UNSAM)
Date and time: 11 February 2026, 12:15
Venue: Aula 237, Dipartimento di Economia e Management
Abstract
Minerals are central to the global energy transition, and resource-rich countries increasingly view this context as a window of opportunity for development. Despite broadly shared objectives, countries have adopted markedly different strategies in terms of policy instruments, governance models, and the balance of authority between state and market actors.
Focusing on lithium in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, the seminar develops a typology of development strategies—neoliberal, state-led, and hybrid—and traces their evolution over time. It shows how international development paradigms and technological or market dynamics interact with domestic institutional legacies in shaping national trajectories.
The seminar provides insights into how resource-rich countries navigate the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition by managing the interaction between international pressures and domestic constraints in their positioning within global supply chains.