Barcelona – 27 November 2024

On 26-27 November, around 1500 people met in Barcelona and online to discuss Europe’s battery research & innovation landscape on the occasion of the Battery Innovation Days.

How can we ensure the establishment of a globally competitive and sustainable European battery industry? The debate centred around this pivotal question, addressing different aspects of it, from financing to circularity, from artificial intelligence to advancement in chemistries and manufacturing.

These are difficult times for the European battery sector, past days shown how challenging it is to scale up battery production in Europe. But this means that there is also a solid opportunity.

“Going fast together is the motto of the European battery value chain. Industry, research and associations all around Europe and Member States should join forces and align strategies, to focus on bold innovation. The documents that can guide us are the SRIA and Roadmap by BEPA and Batteries Europe … they orient us to find the opportunities.” Johan Blondelle, Policy Officer, Clean Energy Transitions at European Commission, DG RTD

The future of Europe’s battery value chain depends as well on the future generation. This is why BID honours academic excellence and scientific advancements in battery research through the Battery Young Researcher Award. This year the winner is Pietro Iurilli, who did a doctorate thesis from CSEM in collaboration with ETH Zürich on "EIS applied to Li-Ion Batteries: Modelling Cell Aging for Comprehensive SoH Estimation."

This event is a collaborative effort of prominent initiatives—BEPA, the two IPCEI represented by VDI-VDE IT and ACC, Battery 2030+ and Batteries Europe. Together, they advance battery research, support industry growth, and aim to build a competitive, sustainable battery value chain across Europe. Thanks to the Government of Catalonia which through ACCIÓ – Agency for Business Competitiveness and its OPTIMA Office hosted this year’s event.

The debate on a competitive and sustainable European battery value chain is not over. The fifth edition of the Battery Innovation Days is set to take place in November 2025 in Gratz.