CIC energiGUNE, a leading research centre in electrochemical and thermal energy storage and conversion, is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year after a trajectory in which it has combined the generation of scientific excellence with its transformation into new capabilities and opportunities for industry.
Since beginning its activity in 2011, CIC energiGUNE has developed internationally recognised scientific capabilities and research infrastructures in the Basque Country in strategic areas for the energy transition, with an early commitment to sodium and solid-state batteries. Fifteen years later, that commitment has enabled the centre to build a track record of more than 1,500 scientific publications, a portfolio of 39 patent families, a growing presence in the main European research programmes and two companies created directly from the knowledge generated in its laboratories: BCARE and Basquevolt.
“Since 2011, under the scientific leadership of Michel Armand and with the sustained support of the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Álava, we committed to sodium and solid-state technologies long before they became European industrial priorities. Fifteen years later, that decision has made us a European reference centre, backed by the knowledge we have generated, our ability to lead major projects and, above all, by having transformed that science into patents, diversification of services and products in Basque companies and the creation of new companies. For me, that is the best measure of CIC energiGUNE´s success,” said Nuria Gisbert, CEO of CIC energiGUNE.
Fifteen years of scientific excellence from the Basque Country
Scientific output is one of the main indicators of CIC energiGUNE´s evolution. Since 2011, the centre´s teams have generated more than 1,500 scientific publications, with a strong presence in the most prestigious international journals in their respective fields.
Across these fifteen years, more than 10% of CIC energiGUNE´s scientific output corresponds to C1 publications, a category identifying papers published in the most excellent and selective scientific journals within their respective disciplines. This figure reflects not only the volume of knowledge generated, but especially the quality and international relevance of the research carried out from the Basque Country.
This scientific standing is also reflected in the presence of the centre´s researchers in the main international indicators. In the latest public edition of Stanford University and Elsevier´s Ranking of the World Scientists, 10 CIC energiGUNE researchers are among the world´s most influential scientists, twice as many as in the previous edition.
Among them is Michel Armand, Honorary Scientific Director of CIC energiGUNE and one of the world´s leading figures in electrochemistry and batteries. He joined the centre in 2011 and led the creation of the polymer electrolytes group, now at the forefront of European solid-state research. Regarded, for his contributions in this field, as the father of solid-state batteries, Armand has been recognised for five consecutive years as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate. His career is also closely linked to two of the winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: he shares patents with John Goodenough and a publication with Stanley Whittingham, while Goodenough publicly acknowledged his pioneering role in polymer electrolytes and in improving LFP technology. His career is therefore part of the same scientific evolution of lithium batteries recognised by the Nobel Prize in 2019. The commitment to sodium was equally early: as far back as 2012, a CIC energiGUNE paper on Na-ion batteries ranked among the ten most-read articles in Energy & Environmental Science since its publication.
The ability to attract and consolidate top-level scientific talent is another of the assets built over these fifteen years. Currently, 10 CIC energiGUNE researchers hold Ikerbasque recognition, the Basque Foundation for Science promoted by the Basque Government, including six in the Ikerbasque Research Professor category.
They include Montserrat Casas-Cabanas, Scientific Director of the electrochemical energy storage and conversion area and a leading expert in crystallography and battery materials design, who in 2026 also received the Sagrario Martínez Carrera–Anton Paar Award for her scientific career; Elena Palomo del Barrio, Scientific Director of the thermal area and an international specialist in thermal energy storage and conversion, who has led multiple research projects and held international responsibilities in some of the main thermal storage networks, as well as consistently ranking among the leading researchers in Mechanical Engineering in Stanford–Elsevier; Daniel Carriazo, specialised in materials and electrolytes for new generations of batteries, who has held positions of scientific responsibility in European initiatives such as Graphene Flagship; Javier Carrasco, responsible for modelling and computational simulation applied to energy materials, who has received international recognition for his work on atomic-scale modelling; Paramaconi Rodríguez, responsible for the development of electrochemical hydrogen technologies, who has built an extensive international career in electrocatalysis and, since joining in 2022, has driven the centre´s new strategic line in electrochemical hydrogen; and Max García-Melchor, who leads research in atomistic modelling, artificial intelligence and accelerated catalyst discovery, joined in 2024 after eight years at Trinity College Dublin and applies advanced computational methods and artificial intelligence to the discovery of new catalysts for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals.
Excellence is also measured by the ability to compete in the most demanding research programmes. CIC energiGUNE participates actively in Horizon Europe and in initiatives of the European Research Council and the European Innovation Council, combining fundamental research with highly disruptive scientific developments.
These include NODRY, a project funded through an ERC Proof of Concept and coordinated by Sapienza University of Rome, in which CIC energiGUNE contributes its experimental capabilities to develop a new generation of more sustainable liquid chromatography. These are complemented by projects coordinated by the centre itself and funded by the EIC Pathfinder, such as HIPERZAB, focused on the development of electrically rechargeable zinc-air batteries, and WASTE2H2, which is investigating a disruptive technology to transform plastic waste into clean hydrogen and high-value carbon materials.
European activity is further strengthened by the leadership of major initiatives directly linked to those early commitments: MUSIC, focused on sodium-based technologies; and HELENA and SOLIDBAT, aimed at developing different generations of solid-state batteries. The three projects, all coordinated by CIC energiGUNE, together account for more than €22 million in European funding. They are joined by projects related to new thermal energy storage technologies, hydrogen, advanced materials and industrial decarbonisation.
This positioning has also been recognised by the European Commission itself. Its Joint Research Centre (JRC) has highlighted CIC energiGUNE as an “outstanding example” in battery research and development and as one of Europe´s reference centres in this field.
Alongside knowledge generation, training new generations of scientists is another of the centre´s contributions to the Basque ecosystem. Between 2022 and 2025 alone, 30 doctoral theses were completed at CIC energiGUNE, in addition to the training of master´s students, postdoctoral researchers and young scientists, as well as participation in international advanced training programmes such as Erasmus Mundus in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion. Part of this knowledge returns directly to the productive fabric: during the same period, 20 researchers trained or professionally developed at CIC energiGUNE joined Basque companies.
Building on this scientific base, the centre has progressively broadened its research areas. In electrochemical storage, it currently works on technologies such as solid-state, sodium-ion, lithium-sulfur, zinc-air and redox-flow batteries, as well as supercapacitors, from the discovery and understanding of new materials through to their processing, prototyping and validation.
In thermal energy storage and conversion, CIC energiGUNE has developed solutions including phase-change materials for thermal storage and management, new flexible materials with potential for textiles and electronics, technologies based on intrusion-extrusion phenomena for mechanical storage and damping systems with a significant reduction in oil use, as well as solutions for the recovery and storage of industrial waste heat.
Since 2022, the centre has also strengthened its activity in electrochemical hydrogen, adding capabilities in electrolysers and new electrocatalysts while advancing in parallel in emerging areas such as e-fuels, CO₂ capture and conversion, and waste valorisation.
