Press Release

The first general assembly of the European Technology and Innovation Platform “Batteries Europe” took place on Tuesday, 21 June, in a hybrid gathering held in Brussels and online. Over 160 stakeholders attended the event, including approximately 70 in-person participants and more than 90 online attendees. 

Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission, stressed in his keynote speech the importance to “reduce our dependence on imports of critical raw materials, we need to focus on developing locally produced batteries using non-critical raw materials”. Therefore, Batteries Europe aims to be the single-entry point to all battery-related research projects to pursue excellence and reduce time to market of the technologies that could pave the way for a greener and more sustainable Europe.

Following a fruitful first mandate, the second has been launched on a high note by meeting face-to face to jointly discuss various topics, such as: 

• Outline the strategy, priorities and impacts for the coming 3 years;
• To interact with other international batteries research and innovation strategies;
• To integrate workforces within the European battery R&I ecosystem.

The General Assembly opened with an introduction of Batteries Europe and its vision to secure a better engagement with stakeholders and collaboration with other EU batteries initiatives. Michael Lippert (SAFT), Ilka von Dalwigk (EBA250), Robert Scipioni (SINTEF), Alessandro Romanello (InnoEnergy) and Ivan Matejak (EERA) illustrated the key objectives of Batteries Europe and the expected beneficial impacts for the EU batteries community.

A first international panel moderated by Monika Curto Fuentes & Stefan Wolf (VDI-VDE-IT) and attended in the role of panellists by Johan Blondelle (DG RTD, European Commission), Ilka von Dalwigk (EBA250), Kazuyuki Imazato (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation Japan), Mathy Stanislaus (Drexel University) and Noël M. Bakhtian (Berkeley Lab Energy Storage Center) covered the Japanese, American and European prospective for collaboration opportunities within the competitive context of the international batteries research and innovation strategies. 

The second panel focused on how to address the ‘safe and sustainable by design’ concept. It combined scientific and industry perspective in a debate moderated by Roberto Scipioni (SINTEF) and Eliana Quartarone (University of Pavia) with a panel of experts including Emma Kendrick (University of Birmingham), Marcello Colledani (POLIMI), Jan Tygat (Umicore), Øydis Gadeholt (Norsk Hydro) and Daria Arbuzova (ElevenES). The experts discussed about the importance of reverse logistic, the treatment of hazardous substances, along with the urgent need to invest in recycling facilities. High numbers of batteries will be on the market in next years, therefore amplifying the impact of safety and recycling processes.

Batteries Europe aims to accelerate and support the establishment of a globally competitive European battery industry and to strengthen the synergies and complementarities among EU initiatives. This will be done through different levels of engagement at European, national and international level. 

The Batteries Europe is coordinated by BEST (Batteries Europe Secretariat) project, led by InnoEnergy with the participation of VDI-VDE-IT, EASE, EERA, CLERENS, SINTEF (Industry and Energy), INSTM, CIC energiGUNE, ENEA and Zabala. The project would last 3 years under the Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation. 

Batteries Europe Secretariat
e-mail: info@batterieseurope.eu

Press contact

Adeola Adeoti
CLERENS (WP6 Communication leader)
e-mail : a.adeoti@clerens.eu