HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management is part of the European research project SAFELOOP, which is driving the development of a new generation of safe, sustainable and powerful lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
According to the HHL press release, the project aims to significantly improve the safety, sustainability, service life and performance of LIBs on a European gigafactory scale. Specific targets include a 15 per cent increase in cycle stability by 2030, while the operating life is to be doubled compared to 2019. The project is also increasingly focussing on recycled materials from closed supply chains.
A total of 15 academic and industrial partners from eleven countries are working together on SAFELOOP to develop innovative technologies for a competitive and environmentally friendly battery industry in Europe. The HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management is not directly involved in the battery research but, according to its own statements, is taking on a “key role in the areas of intellectual property (IP) strategies and business model innovation.” The team of researchers and students is analysing the global value chain of the battery industry, evaluating the international patent landscape and developing viable business models for European innovators, according to HHL.
The university is represented in the project by its endowment fund ‘Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship’ under the direction of Professor Kelvin Willoughby. “Our work in the SAFELOOP project shows that HHL plays a central role in the development of future technologies. We are not only strengthening Europe’s competitiveness, but are also actively shaping the change towards sustainable innovations,” says Willoughby. “Particularly in the deep tech sector, which makes a significant contribution to economic growth, we are focusing on the close integration of economics and technology development in order to increase the success rate in the commercialisation of innovations.”
In addition to HHL, the Helmholtz Institute Münster is also involved in SAFELOOP. Other academic partners include the Imperial College London, the University of Oulu from Finland, the Lukasiewicz Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals from Poland, the Institute of Sorption and Problems of Endoecology from Ukraine, Commissariat À L’ Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives from France and Tübitak from Turkey. The industrial partners are American Energy Technologies, the Danish subsidiary of the Koppers Group, Cadoux from Australia, Yunasko from Ukraine, Enviva from Greece and Aspilsan Energie and Bozankaya Otomotiv from Turkey.
mynewsdesk.com (in German), safeloop.eu
