What is IPCEI?

IPCEI is the abbreviation of „Important Project of Common European Interest“. It’s a transnational project with an important contribution to the growth, employment and competitiveness of the European Union industry and economy funded by state aid.

According to the EU Commission, IPCEIs make it possible to bring together knowledge, expertise, financial resources and economic actors throughout the Union, so as to overcome important market or systemic failures and societal challenges which could not otherwise be addressed. They are designed to bring together public and private sectors to undertake large-scale projects that provide significant benefits to the Union and its citizens.

What is IPCEI Batteries?

This Integrated Project takes place in the context of challenges to be tackled by the EU to develop a competitive, innovative and sustainable battery value chain in the EU. It contributes to several objectives of the EU.

This Integrated Project indeed brings together key European players headquartered in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden, operating in different Member States of the EU, and at various level of the battery value chain, from mining to repurposing, recycling and refining, through development of advanced materials and manufacturing of cells, modules and systems as well as dedicated software and testing systems and solutions. In line with the IPCEI Communication, the Integrated Project gathers research, development and innovation (“RDI”) and first industrial deployment (“FID”) of battery components in a coordinated way.

The overall objectives of this Integrated Project are the following:

Innovation objective: developing advanced and disruptive technologies in the sector of lithium-ion (“Li-ion”) batteries (liquid electrolyte and solid-state) meeting cost, performance and safety targets that are not currently available, through research in advanced materials, battery chemistries, advanced cell and module design, advanced production/manufacturing processes, power electronics and battery repurposing, recycling and refining;

Sustainability objective: supporting the environmental sustainability of the Li-ion battery (liquid electrolyte and solid-state) value chain with a significant reduced CO2 footprint, a reduction in the waste generated along the battery production process, a design for reparability, dismantling and net positive value recycling and refining, as well as an enhanced tracking system of the corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) performance of the supply chain, therefore participating to the clean energy transition;

Societal objective: supporting new jobs and growth through the development and strengthening of a highly skilled staff, with the objective to mitigate the social impact of the clean energy transition and to attract in the EU world class experts in batteries development;

Dissemination and cooperation objective: contributing to the development of an entire ecosystem on batteries at EU level by collaborating with research technology organizations (“RTOs”) and within clusters across the EU;

Upscaling objective: bringing key industry players and national authorities together to create a full-competitive value chain in the EU which will produce raw and advanced materials, cells, modules and battery systems on a large scale, i.e. designed for mass production, and allowing for repurposing, recycling and refining at-scale.