Energy Day @ IIT

On 18 April 2018, the Graphene Flagship sponsored a Graphene Connect event organised jointly by the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) Graphene Lab and the Ticass Consortium (Genova, Italy). The Energy Day workshop brought together representatives of the research, industry and academic communities as well as policy makers and end-users at large in order to share information and discuss overlapping roadmaps and fringe innovation in the energy storage domain.

"Industry, inside and outside the perimeter of the Graphene Flagship, is very interested in the future applications of 'our' 2D material in the Energy world," says Fabrizio Tubertini, Graphene Flagship business developer for energy applications. "Within Core 2, over the next 24 months, we are focusing on at least two main targets: scaling up to industrial production of both coin cells (graphene-based anode technology) and graphene supercaps. Exciting times are due to come for all!"

A more rational use of renewable energy requires more efficient, sustainable, affordable storage systems capable of ensuring supply continuity as needed: in particular batteries. The workshop was designed to produce a picture of the state of the art in research and development in the related domains, and to determine prospective activities and market needs in the short to medium term. 

Over 50 people, from various European countries and with diverse backgrounds attended this inaugural Energy workshop. The event kicked off with an interactive presentation focusing on the state of the art research and technology available and soon to be available to market as well as the needs of big industrial energy players. This session was chaired by Energy Storage Work Package Leader Vittorio Pellegrini of IIT, who welcomed the audience with Gustavo Capannelli (TICASS). Various key speakers contributed to the discussion, including: Christoph Stangl (Varta Micro Innovation), Teofilo Rojo (CIC Energigune), Maarten Mees (IMEC), Paolo Bondavalli (Thales), Julia Amici (Politecnico di Torino), Paolo Barabucci (ERG Spa) and Roberto Pezzoli (Piaggio Aerospace Spa). 

This was followed by a design thinking style session that actively involved all the speakers and participants. After the group discussion, Kari Hjelt, head of the Graphene Flagship's Innovation work package, gave a presentation about the state of innovation and graphene-based products at the end of Core 1, the project's second phase. This was the first of a series of events to be promoted over the next few years by the Graphene Flagship's business developers, who are part of the flagship's Innovation team.