Battery workshop assesses current state of research

Another boost for German-Japanese cooperation: On Friday, 20 September, a bilateral meeting focusing on electrochemical energy storage devices concluded successfully at the MEET battery research center of Münster University. For three days, German and Japanese representatives from the area of science and research discussed and compared notes on current developments regarding new types of accumulators. The event was initiated by the Germany Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

“Japan is one of the pioneer nations for battery research and development, above all in the sector of lithium-ion batteries. We are proud to have been able to welcome some of the leading Japanese scientists in this area to this joint workshop,” the head of MEET, Prof. Martin Winter, said. As far back as 2010, the BMBF and the Japanese research institution NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) signed a so-called Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)  deepening scientific cooperation between Germany and Japan on energy storage technologies. “The meeting in Münster has now further intensified this exchange,” Dr. Herbert Zeisel, head of the BMBF department “New Materials, Nanotechnology”, said.

In Germany, research activities in both science and industry have surged in light of the country's policy shift towards renewable sources of energy. The German participants in the workshop included BMBF representatives, as well as scientists from the Braunschweig, Giessen and Münster universities, the Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW). Delegates to Münster from Japan included scientists from various universities and representatives of NEDO.