The European Innovation Council (EIC) has announced the selection of 27 projects following the September 2023 cut-off of the EIC Transition program (Open and Challenges). Each of these successful proposals, chosen among 257 eligible submissions, will receive a grant of up to €2.5 million. The selected participants come from 16 EU member states and countries associated with Horizon Europe.
Only one of such projects has been granted in Spain: the OxyBatt project (High-temperature oxygen batteries for Industrial Internet of Things), led by Federico Baiutti from the Nanionics and Fuel Cells group at IREC. The project aims at developing a new portable battery technology for intermediate temperatures. The core of this new battery solution is a thin-film rechargeable system that utilizes oxygen storage, with no reliance on scarce elements such as Co an Li. During the course of the project, the product will be coupled to a thermoelectric energy source and will be integrated into a commercial industrial internet of things device, demonstrating the potential to enter the important market of predictive maintenance in harsh industrial environments as a safe and sustainable solution. Project partners are a combination of technology developers (IREC, Vienna University of Technology, Nano4energy), device manufacturers (AEInnova) and business developers (DayOne).
EIC Transition funding provides support for the further development of projects previously funded under the EIC Pathfinder, Future and Emerging Technologies (FET), and European Research Council Proof of Concept (PoC) schemes. While the open funding scheme awards projects without predefined thematic priorities, Transition Challenges support projects within predefined thematic areas aimed at achieving specific objectives for each challenge.
The selected projects will have access to the EIC’s business acceleration services, including coaching, mentoring, and networking events. Projects are also eligible for the fast-track scheme to access the EIC Accelerator to support commercialization and scaling phases.
References:
A. Schmid et al., “Rechargeable Oxide Ion Batteries Based on Mixed Conducting Oxide Electrodes”, Adv. Energy Mater. 2023, 13, 2203789 F. Baiutti et al., “Secondary Cells”, patent WO 2023/213905
