Welcoming over 1500 professionals from across the globe over the three-day programme celebrating battery Research and Innovation, the 2021 Battery Innovation Days event was curated by the key European Research & Innovation initiatives (Batteries Europe, Battery 2030+ and the Batteries European Partnership Association) in partnership with the Batteries 1st and 2nd IPCEIs.

A lot of ground was covered across the 17 sessions which included high-quality debates on sustainability of the battery value chain, future disruptive technologies, research in the automotive industry, smart battery functionalisation, and much more.

The event was kickstarted on 23 November by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission, and coordinating the Commission’s work on the European Battery Alliance. According to him,

“Europe has made a giant leap in developing its battery industry since we created the European Battery Alliance four years ago. By 2025, the EU’s battery market will be worth 250 billion euros and will sustain up to four million jobs. Research and innovation, across the entire value chain, will be pivotal if we are to sustain this momentum. Europe has already established a strong research community represented, among others, by BEPA, Batteries Europe, and Battery 2030+. Now, we need to pull together our best talent and extensive expertise in a truly collaborative effort to ensure our leadership in this area. EU funding will continue to support innovation at every stage – to take another leap from ‘made in Europe’ to ‘invented in Europe’”.

 

The Battery Innovation Days event has been an opportunity for battery industry, research and policy makers to:

The Battery Young Research Award has also been presented as part of the event to Ana Cristina Martínez Maciel, a recent PhD graduate whose thesis pushed the scientific boundaries of the battery field, while simultaneously addressing acute industry needs.

Philippe Jacques, Secretary General at BEPA, led a session on the future R&I priorities for the battery value-chain. Gathering more than 225 participants, the session included a presentation on the key R&I areas identified in BEPA Technical Working Groups and to be addressed in the next Horizon Europe Work Programme. Following, three BEPA representatives moderated a discussion where the audience had the opportunity to provide feedback on the R&I topics presented.

All resources and recaps, including recordings and presentations, can be found on the Battery Innovation Days website by accessing the Agenda page, and on the official event’s YouTube channel.

For more information on the next edition of the Battery Innovation Days event, please address your inquiries to info@batteryinnovationdays.eu

Few weeks ago, submissions closed for the 2021 Batt4EU calls for proposals. This was the first round of calls published by the Batt4EU Partnership and it was a success: 61 project proposals have been submitted in the 7 different topics open for funding in 2021!

You can find the details of the proposals submitted per topic in the table below:

The evaluation of the proposals by the European Commission has already started and the publication of the projects selected for funding should be done beginning of 2022. Stay tuned for more information coming your way shortly!

Batt4EU calls for proposals for 2022 will be opening for submission starting in April 2022. The list of 2022 topics is available at this link. If you are interested in one of these calls, please note that BEPA will soon organise a public match-making event in order to provide more information on the calls’ requirements and to enable BEPA members to pitch their potential project idea.

In the meantime, the Battery Innovation Days will also offer some opportunities for battery stakeholders to connect and discuss 2022 Batt4EU calls within its networking area! To learn more about the event and register, please visit this page.

On Thursday, 21 October from 13:30 to 15:00, BEPA will host a session at the European Union Sustainable Energy Week along with Battery2030+ and Batteries Europe on “Batteries powering a greener and prosperous future: economic, societal and environmental impacts”.

For the European battery industry to thrive competitively while engraining the circular economy approach, an acceleration in investments, research and development, education and training is essential.

Representatives from Batteries Europe, the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA), Battery2030+ and the European Battery Alliance (EBA) will present the European battery research ecosystem, and together will discuss how Europe can achieve this, illustrating the benefits it will bring from an economic, societal and environmental perspective.

SPEAKERS:

-Batteries Europe: Edel Sheridan, SINTEF

-BEPA: Michael Lippert, Saft

-Battery2030+: Kristina Edstrom, Uppsala University

-EBA: Bo Normark, EIT InnoEnergy

Moderated by: Simon Perraud, Batteries Europe/BEPA/Battery2030+/CEA

Registrations are open at this link

Yesterday, 15th September 2021, 30 representatives from the European Commission and the Batteries European Partnership Association gathered in occasion of their first Partnership Board meeting!

Co-chaired by Philippe Froissard (Head of Unit Clean Planet at DG RTD) and Michael Lippert (BEPA President, SAFT), the meeting was opened by the European Commission with a speech highlighting the need to work hand-in-hand for a competitive, sustainable and circular battery value-chain in Europe.

In his welcoming remarks, Philippe Froissard noted that the meeting was an excellent opportunity to look into the ongoing and future activities of the Batt4EU Partnership, but also to look back at the progress made since 2019 when the first discussions around the proposal to establish a European Partnership for batteries were happening. At this stage, there was indeed no association and no established Partnership, but battery experts nevertheless worked jointly to define R&I recommendations for the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021-22, and, as he mentioned: “this process was successful because both parties were already applying the principles of the Partnership: co-creation and trust”.

BEPA now brings together more than 178 members and the Batt4EU Partnership was officially launched in June 2021 with the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding, the document witnessing the collaboration between the European commission and the private-side.

Michael Lippert affirmed that this “co-creation spirit” should be kept for all future meetings; the Partnership Board shall be a forum to discuss the needs and the fit-for-purpose solutions for the European battery community.

These welcoming remarks were then followed by an update on BEPA members, activities and collaborations established in the previous months. In this perspective, the European Commission highlighted the added value of creating synergies and collaborations with other European Partnerships and battery initiatives.

After discussing how the next Horizon Europe Work Programmes will be elaborated, one of the main achievements of the Partnership Board meeting was the finalisation of the Partnership Board rules of procedure, which establishes the guiding principles of the relationship between the European Commission and BEPA. In this perspective, it was re-assessed that the Partnership Board should be the main body to provide battery R&I recommendations to the European Commission.

After more than a year of work, the Batt4EU Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), the key document summarising all the R&I priorities of the battery community in the upcoming years, was also officially adopted and is now publicly available! You can download it via this link.

To conclude, the European Commission provided more information to BEPA delegates with regards to the Additional Activities Plan that will need to be approved by the Partnership Board by the end of the year.

As a next step, the elaboration of the recommendations for the next Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-24 will start within BEPA Technical Working Groups. The second Partnership Board meeting will take place by the end of 2021 with a view to discuss the consolidated R&I recommendations.

 

 

 

 

BEPA is glad to be an official co-organiser of the 1st edition of the annual conference on battery Research and Innovation, the Battery Innovation Days that will take place online on 23-24-25 November 2021

The event sets itself as an opportunity for some of the industry’s expert thought leaders to converge and provide hot takes on the latest developments within the European R&I Battery domain, exchange views on key strategic approaches to deploying crucial technologies, and assess future R&I needs for a more competitive and sustainable European battery value-chain.

Plenty of additional side activities will be available during and after the event!

Battery Innovation Days features interactive exhibitor booths: learn more about our exhibitors by connecting remotely or through their websites with them. Make sure you attend the delivery of the Battery Young Research Award: honoring academic excellence in battery research, the award recognises the commitment of those students supporting scientific advancements in the field. Last but not least, Battery Innovation Days creates a space to connect and spark conversations regarding the topics of the event, and not only, via designed networking opportunities.

 

Almost seven months in since the Batteries European Partnership Association kick-started its Research and Innovation (R&I) mission to support the EU net-zero roadmap, more than 178 private stakeholders have joined the initiative.

During the past summer months of July and August, 9 new members joined BEPA, moved by the mutual interest in building a competitive and sustainable European battery value chain.

We give our warmest welcome to our new members and look forward to a successful journey to boost the European R&I together:

During the past few months, BEPA Technical Working Groups (TWG) have already made their first steps towards establishing R&I topics for the next Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024. Bringing together industry, research and other organisations’ experts from specific R&I areas, BEPA’s TWGs’ members discuss the impending R&I priorities that need to be addressed in the coming years in Horizon Europe.

With the summer days now drawing to a close and the last calendar page turned to September, we are ushered in the last quarter of the year, facing the array of possibilities still around us before 2021 winds down.

TWGs will start coordinating meetings from September 2021, so do not hesitate to join BEPA if you would like to provide your recommendations for future battery R&I – there is still some time left!

BEPA is pleased to support the World Energy Storage Day taking place online on 22 September 2021.

To commemorate the World Energy Storage Day (WESD) on 22 September, being recognized worldwide, Customized Energy Solutions (CES) and India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) is organising the 5th global conference and virtual expo, which will be held virtually on 22 September 2021. WESD is a global movement initiated by various apex trade bodies working to promote and adopt energy storage, e-mobility & green hydrogen technologies for a sustainable future.

The forthcoming edition of WESD is expected to attract global participation with an intent to facilitate bi-lateral trade, market development and new research and innovation, which will invite 100+ countries, 100+ regulators & policy makers, 100+ International speakers,1000+ organisations, 100+ partners & exhibitors and 20,000+ global delegates. IESA is the proud organiser of the WESD-Global Conference & expo 2021. IESA is the premier alliance to focus on the advancement of advanced energy storage and e-mobility technologies in India and CES is one of the fastest-growing energy consulting & services companies, operating in North America for the past 22 years.

Register here!

After the official launch of the BATT4EU Partnership in June 2021, BEPA – the Batteries European Partnership Association – has taken swift action! From 13th to 23rd July, the 5 Technical Working Groups (TWGs) of the association, covering the whole battery value-chain, have kicked-off. For more information on the BEPA Technical Working Groups, click here.

Currently bringing together between 70 and 120 participants per group, these TWGs aim to bring together industry, research and other organisations’ experts from specific R&I areas in order to discuss the impending R&I priorities that need to be addressed in the coming years in Horizon Europe.

The main mission of TWGs is, therefore, to identify, prioritise and draft the R&I topics which will be submitted to the European Commission as recommendations for the next Horizon Europe Work Programmes. In this context, the TWGs have to consider the topics which will have the biggest impact on industrialization and competitiveness for the European battery value-chain; the calls will be drafted accordingly so to yield the highest R&I results.

The kick-off meetings mainly introduced the tasks and deliverables that are expected from each TWGs; they also gave the Core Team in charge of each TWG the opportunity to introduce themselves and brainstorm on the most urgent R&I topics (Please find the results of the TWGs Core Teams election at the end of this article).

All TWGs meetings saw fruitful discussions and deep dives on some of the most pressing issue. In TWG1 (dedicated to Raw materials and recycling) for example, discussions were focused on the link between battery manufacturers and end-of-life / 2nd life aspects, and the need to collaborate with other BEPA TWGs to make sure that such matters are tackled. High-capacity, high-voltage aspects, and their continued relevance for cell manufacturers are the topics addressed in TWG2 (dedicated to Advanced materials and manufacturing), instead. It was also raised that high-power applications should be considered together with other solutions aside from Li-batteries technologies; this would ensure more flexibility in calls for proposals. In TWG3 (dedicated to Battery end-uses and applications), experts brainstormed mostly on the combination of vehicle technologies with cells and on the modelling of 2nd life batteries, something that is highly linked with mobile applications, especially at the design phase.

Additionally, 2 cross-cutting TWGs have been established under BEPA to deal with those battery aspects cross-cutting the entire value-chain. In TWG4 (dedicated to Safety & Reliability) for example, BEPA experts pointed out the importance of the “safe-by-design” topic: including safety aspects from the beginning of the production process of battery materials. Here the common agreement was that BEPA will need to coordinate with regulatory and standarisation bodies with a view to defining harmonized safety standards. Finally, in TWG5 (dedicated to Sustainability), the link between manufacturing and sustainability was also highlighted: design and manufacturing have a key impact on the carbon footprint and sustainability standards of the battery value-chain. In this perspective, harmonization of LCA and S-LCA methods were also crucial points for discussion.

In light of such productive brainstorming sessions, TWGs will start coordinating meetings in September 2021 to start working on the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024. The TWGS will be provided with input, amongst others, from the ETIP Batteries Europe, which gathers the full range of R&I needs for the battery value-chain.

If you wish to join BEPA Technical Working Groups and help us design the future R&I priorities for the European battery sector, please note that you can only do so by first becoming a member of BEPA (more information on how to join BEPA available at this link). Once your BEPA membership has been approved, you will be able to register in one of the Technical Working Groups (registration form available at this link).

REPRESENTATIVES ELECTED IN TWGs’ CORE TEAMS:

TWG1 – Raw materials and Recycling:

Leader: Fabrice Stassin, UMICORE

Co-leader: Marcello Colledani, POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Technical Advisor: Marcel Weil, KIT

TWG2 – Advanced materials and manufacturing   

Leader: Kristina Edström, UPPSALA UNIVERSITY

Co-leader: Jeremie Auvergniot, UMICORE

Technical Advisor: Montse Casa Cabanas, CIC ENERGIGUNE

TWG3 – Battery end-uses and applications  

Leader: Christian Noce, ENEL

Co-leader: Stefan Wolf, VDI/VDE Innovation+Teknik

Technical Advisor: Volker Hennige, AVL List

TWG4 – Safety & Reliability  

Leader: Laurent Torcheux, EDF

Co-leader: Roberto Pacios, CIC ENERGIGUNE

Technical Advisor: Thilo Bein, Fraunhofer

TWG5 – Sustainability

Leader: Nicola Tagliafierro, ENEL

Co-leader: Stefani Passerini, KIT

Technical Advisor: Andrea Casa, CIC ENERGIGUNE

 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TWGs:

Please contact Wouter IJzermans for TWG2 and TWG3: w.ijzermans@bepassociation.eu

Please contact Capucine Vannoorenberghe for TWG1, TWG4, TWG5: c.vannoorenberghe@bepassociation.eu

PRESS & MEDIA CONTACT:

Please contact Elisabetta Frisaldi: e.frisaldi@bepassociation.eu

LUNCH WITH BEPA

With the Horizon Europe calls for 2021-2022 now out, BEPA organized on Friday 9 July, from 12:30 to 14:00,  an online match-making event to present the upcoming BATT4EU calls. The event was a great success, gathering more than 150 attendees.

During this public event, the BEPA Executive Board explained thoroughly the open calls linked to batteries in the 2021 Work-Programme.

After that, several BEPA members held a 5-minute speech to pitch their project ideas and/or introduce their innovative technologies.

The event was also an opportunity for members and participants to learn how they can register on BEPA’s matchmaking platform until August 10th to book 1-on-1 talks with other entities or post requests for projects and partners on the marketplace. In order to register to the platform, please follow this link: BEPA Horizon Europe Battery Calls Matchmaking.

You can download the event’s presentation at this this link: BEPA’s Match-making event

 

 

AGENDA AND CONNECTION DETAILS

The Horizon Europe calls for 2021-2022 are out: it is time to start the real work! On Friday 9 July, from 12:30 to 14:00, BEPA will organise an online match-making event to present the upcoming BATT4EU calls.

During this public event, the BEPA Executive Board will go through the open calls linked to batteries in the 2021 Work-Programme.

After that, several BEPA members will hold a 5-minute speech to pitch their idea for a project or to introduce their innovative technologies.
For more info, please find the agenda via this link: Lunch with BEPA and find your perfect match! – AGENDA

To participate to the event, no registration is required: on the day of the event, you simply need to follow this link: JOIN THE LUNCH EVENT.

FIND PARTNERS AND CREATE SYNERGIES ON OUR MATCH-MAKING PLATFORM!

After the event, you will be able to register in our matchmaking platform, where you will have over a month to further book 1-on-1 talks with other entities or post requests for projects and partners on the marketplace. In order to register to the platform, please follow this link: BEPA Horizon Europe Battery Calls Matchmaking.

Would you have any question on the match-making event or on any other topic, please contact the BEPA Office (c.vannoorenberghe@bepassociation.eu).

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