LG Energy Solution Headquarters, Yeoui-daero, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
LG Energy Solution announced on the 26th that it will hold the 'Battery Innovation Contest (BIC) 2025' to discover innovative technologies in the next-generation battery field.
The 'Battery Innovation Contest (BIC)' is a research competition program that LG Energy Solution has been conducting annually since 2017. It supports research expenses for selected universities and research institutions and actively participates in the technology development process to help achieve tangible results.
For the final selected research topics next year, research funding of up to $150,000 (approximately 218.88 million KRW) per year will be provided. Additional research funding may also be granted depending on the research outcomes. The application period for BIC 2025 is until January 31 of next year, and all domestic and international universities and research institutions can participate.
Starting this year, LG Energy Solution has also disclosed a total of 18 topics that major in-house business unit R&D organizations wish to collaborate on, including ▲ battery safety diagnosis solutions and algorithm technologies ▲ development of new materials for LFP batteries.
This is a decision to further strengthen the open innovation strategy related to 'technology leadership' in the next-generation battery field.
LG Energy Solution stated, "By presenting specific research topics, we aim to share the concerns of the next-generation battery-related industry and work together to find solutions to the challenges," adding, "We expect to maximize mutual benefits beyond simply supporting academic research." The existing method, where universities and research institutions select their own research topics and apply, will also continue.
LG Energy Solution has newly developed a communication system called BRIDGE (bridge.lgensol.com) to reduce unnecessary offline and email communications during the R&D process and enable more active communication. Additionally, to prevent concerns about researchers' ideas being exposed during the contest process, the application procedure has been subdivided into two stages.
Kim Jeyoung, Executive Vice President and CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of LG Energy Solution, said, "BIC will be an opportunity to achieve technological innovation by gathering wisdom from industry and academia," and added, "Through this, LG Energy Solution will provide differentiated customer value with strengthened technology leadership."
So far, a total of 26 research projects have been supported through the BIC program. Among these, research projects recognized for high performance have been expanded into large-scale projects with additional funding and personnel. A representative example is the research on room-temperature operated long-life all-solid-state batteries conducted by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), selected in the 2019 BIC. Their research results were also featured in the world-renowned academic journal 'Science.'
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