International conference on the battery technology of the future
300 registered participants will be attending the conference, which will be held in the Ångström Laboratory on 9-10 May.
On 9-10 May, the EU flagship Battery 2030+ will be hosting its annual conference at Uppsala University. To promote new innovations in the field of battery research, 300 representatives from the research community, the European Commission, the Swedish Energy Agency, the various European battery initiatives and the industrial sector will be meeting to exchange ideas and experiences.
“One of the goals of Battery 2030+ is for our projects involving different content and parties to collaborate, in order to accelerate development for Europe when it comes to results that could benefit industry. Another expectation is that we will create stronger excellence, so that we can compete internationally to attract young, talented researchers, because exciting things are happening right here. This is why it’s important for us to meet,” says Kristina Edström, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and coordinator of Battery 2030+.
This is the third time the annual conference has been held, and this year it bears Sweden’s special logo within the framework of the Swedish Presidency of the EU. There has also been a very high level of interest in participation. The speakers include several very prominent researchers.
“We have world stars like Dame Clare Gray from the University of Cambridge, who’s an expert in characterising batteries. We have Jean-Marie Tarascon from the Collège de France, who has extensive, broad experience in battery research,” says Kristina Edström.
This year will also feature a special focus on the young researchers who have created a network within Battery 2030+. They set out a manifesto in which they formulated their views on the short-term and long-term challenges facing battery research. This will be highlighted during the conference.
Battery 2030+, which is being led from Uppsala University, is one of the flagships within Horizon Europe, the EU’s major research and innovation initiative. This is why there is a very high level of interest in studying the results, monitoring the projects and studying the plans for the future.
“A lot of issues will be raised during the conference. On the one hand, it is to some extent a conference about results, but it’s also just as much a look into the future of how we should progress from this phase to the next one within Horizon Europe. One question is: what kind of results do we have that are consistent with our long-term roadmap for European battery research, which we can now tick off as completed?” explains Kristina Edström.
Multi-stage rocket
Battery 2030+ is structured as a multi-stage rocket, and it has a number of projects attached to it. The first phase, which will end this August, includes six research projects. The next phase, which starts in September, will see Battery 2030+ gradually start to grow.
“We’ll have an updated roadmap and present new proposals for EU research projects for funding from 2025 onwards. We’ll also be launching a number of new projects now, and even more projects will be added as we go along. In 2025, we foresee Uppsala University coordinating around 24-25 projects with a budget equivalent to at least 124 million euros. It’s going to be a real challenge to get so many different actors to collaborate and feel involved,” says Kristina Edström.
Åsa Malmberg
About Battery 2030+
Battery 2030+ is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The purpose is to make Europe a world leader in the development and production of the batteries of the future. These need to have greater storage capacity and a longer life, and to be safer and more environmentally friendly than present-day batteries, in order to make the transition more easily to a more climate-neutral society. The project is being led from Uppsala University by Kristina Edström, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry.