The Future of Batteries: Young Researchers Driving Innovation
Storing energy in increasingly efficient, intelligent and, above all, sustainable ways. The aim is to develop batteries that outperform today’s standards, while also being fully recyclable and made with sustainable materials and processes. It is a challenge with strong implications for public policymakers and industry alike, and tackling it requires coordination between research centres and agreement on the new specialisations needed to move forward. That’s the driving idea behind the European project Battery 2030+, which brings together top research institutions and universities across Europe. One of its key priorities: empowering young scientists in the field.
Battery 2030+ is a coordination initiative supporting research and development of next-generation sustainable batteries, aiming to improve the performance, sustainability, and safety in the battery sector. Within the project, Politecnico di Torino plays a central role, especially coordinating the training activities, led by Professor Silvia Bodoardo from the Department of Applied Science and Technology-DISAT.
“As part of Battery 2030+, we organised the second edition of the Young Scientist Event (YSE), bringing together early-career researchers across Europe – explains Professor Bodoardo – Training a new generation of technically skilled experts is one of the key challenges in the energy sector. Through multidisciplinary working groups, participants explored key battery challenges and shared their visions for the future”.
The YSE took place simultaneously in six European cities, all connected online. Alongside Politecnico di Torino, the event involved: Uppsala University (Sweden), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Université de Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens (France), and Fraunhofer ISC in Würzburg (Germany). Around 160 young researchers took part – 45 of them in Turin.
The YSE participants co-authored a Manifesto on the future of batteries, whose foundations were laid right in Turin during the June event session. The Manifesto "Batteries of the future: a perspective from young scientists in Europe" is now complete and available to policymakers and companies.
The document is built around three major areas defined by the Battery 2050+ youth community, formed during the Battery 2030+ annual conference: innovations in battery technology – including next-generation batteries like solid-state batteries, silicon-anode batteries, advanced lithium-ion models, and intelligent functionalities; sustainable systems – focusing on recyclability and second-life use; industry and European regulation – dealing with commercialisation rules and the implementation of sustainable manufacturing processes. The official presentation of the Manifesto took place in Rome on 18 September, during the NanoInnovation conference.
“This document is the result of real collaboration between young researchers from universities, research centres, and industry. It shows not only that these young minds fully grasp the challenges, but also that they bring an entrepreneurial vision for the future of energy and batteries – says Bodoardo – These are researchers who already learned to work together across disciplines, they know the field, and they know each other. That’s why this Manifesto is such a powerful and valuable tool”.