From a project to a sustainable network: LiPLANET Network announces the foundation of its legal association

The LiPLANET Network for Lithium battery cell research pilot lines has achieved an important milestone this Friday May 7^th with the foundation of its legal association.

The aim of the LiPLANET Network is to create a European innovation and production ecosystem and reinforce the position of the European Union (EU) in the Lithium battery cell manufacturing market. For that, as part of the Horizon 2020 programme, the European Commission funded the LiPLANET project to lay the foundation for establishing the network during the two-year project runtime. Now, one year and a half later, the structures for a sustainable network have been established. The LiPLANET Network is now up and running as an Association in founding.

The Founding Event that took place this Friday May 7^th is an important milestone as it officially marks the start up of the Network. This allows exploiting synergies between pilot line operators, identifying knowledge and equipment gaps, organising joint trainings, as well collaborating with industry and academia, and facilitating the access to market for its stakeholders with the long-term goal of establishing Europe as an internationally competitive production site for batteries.

In anticipation of the creation of the Network, the following key activities have already been carried out within the project during the past months:

• Mapping of the European Lithium based battery cell research pilot lines
• Implementation of the network in a sustainable, non-profit business model
• Creation of a legal framework and development of an exchange platform for knowledge and data as a basis for cooperation between industry, science and research pilot lines
• Development of standards for the qualification of research pilot lines
• Development of a roadmap to define a strategy for the network focusing on upscaling and sustainability and to support the competitiveness of large-scale industrial production of battery cells in Europe
• Creation of Expert Groups dedicated on interdisciplinary exchange and the sharing of best practices within different sectors of the battery landscape

Currently, the LiPLANET Network is composed of the following 8 founding organisations:

• ABEE – Avesta Battery & Energy Engineering
• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
• Battery LabFactory Braunschweig
• CEA Liten
• CIC EnergiGUNE
• CIDETEC Energy Storage
• Fraunhofer ISIT
• ZSW

Up-to-date information is published continuously on the website liplanet.eu.