Steel and humanity’s grand challenges

The connection between industry, science, technology and societal challenges is often left to social scientists or to policy makers. It is however an interesting way to reflect on the activity of an industrial sector or on the role of key materials relative to the way we live in the world today. This essay attempts to analyze the role of steel with respect to the societal challenges defined by the European Horizon 2020 research and innovation program to direct R&I and face them. While steel is clearly related to energy, resources, transport or construction, it is also connected, directly and indirectly, with softer issues like health, well being and the inclusiveness of society. This is due to the particular feature of steel: an enduring technology, which has accompanied mankind in its historical journey since prehistory, but also an advanced material which is plastic enough in terms of its innovation potential to provide new solutions to new problems, incremental ones and breakthroughs that are needed to induce paradigm shifts