CIC energiGUNE, the Basque research center of reference in battery storage, thermal energy solutions and hydrogen technologies, and member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance-BRTA, is part of the new Technical Secretariat of Batteries Europe, the initiative promoted by the EU to shape the European ecosystem of batteries, and where it will coordinate the drafting and the publishing of the key technical documents, among other tasks. The task of the Basque center is part of the BEST project, which brings together 15 leading organizations under the leadership of Innoenergy.
“CIC energiGUNE will play a crucial role in strengthening the European battery ecosystem through this project”, assured Montse Casas-Cabanas, Scientific Coordinator of the Electrochemical Storage Area at CIC energiGUNE. “In fact, we believe that this Technical Secretariat represents a necessary and decisive step in EU’s bid to secure a cutting-edge position in the tough global competition for the battery of the future”, she said.
Moreover, BEST is also one of the projects approved by the European Commission within the Horizon Europe program in which CIC energiGUNE participates. In fact, the Basque center has obtained an unprecedented success rate in this call by obtaining the approval of the 9 projects in which it takes part, and that in all cases are linked to the development of high-performant batteries.
In this context, the BEST consortium will involve representatives from the entire value chain in its working groups, including fields such as emerging technologies and advanced materials, and will include agents from the entire battery ecosystem: industry, academya, strategic policy makers, researchers and, even, citizens. This way, BEST will contribute to obtaining synergies, consolidate the workflow between initiatives, facilitate free and inclusive access to information, and strengthen collaboration between industry and research in order to promote technological developments that will reduce the time to market of new solutions.
This work, which will be carried out in cooperation with BEPA (Batteries Europe Partnership Association), will also reinforce the attraction of European talent and will provide evidence- based guidelines to inform the decisions of energy policy makers. The Secretariat will also gather expertise to develop a strategic R&D agenda and design updated roadmaps to promote battery education.
The BEST (Batteries Europe Secretariat) project is led by Innoenergy with the participation CIC energiGUNE, VDI-VDE-IT, EASE, EERA, CLERENS, SINTEF (Industry and Energy), INSTM, ENEA and Zabala. Batteries Europe aims to accelerate and support the establishing of a globally competitive European battery industry and to strengthen synergies and complementarities between EU initiatives.
