{"id":21766,"date":"2022-05-24T10:18:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T09:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=21766"},"modified":"2022-07-31T18:16:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T17:16:29","slug":"building-skills-boost-europes-battery-value-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/building-skills-boost-europes-battery-value-chain\/21766\/","title":{"rendered":"Building skills to boost Europe\u2019s battery value chain"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 2021, global electric vehicle (EV) sales were up 109% on the previous year, with 2.3 million sold in Europe<\/a> as the continent increases its share of the market. Europe\u2019s growing appetite for e-mobility is great news for its ambitions as a sustainability leader and its ability to implement a European battery value chain.<\/p>\n However, the same cannot be said for its lithium-ion battery production capacity. In 2020, Europe accounted for just 6% of global capacity<\/a>, behind Asia on 85%, and the US on 9%. It is worth remembering that EVs are only part of the demand-side picture. Our dependence on dictators in control of oil and gas flows increases the urgency of energy independence and the renewable energy transition, of which battery storage is a key enabler. On top of that, there are growing markets for the likes of electromobility, residential storage, and grid-scale storage which will also add significant demand to In other words, despite significant successes, Europe\u2019s demand for batteries has outpaced its ability to produce them and support the surrounding supply chain infrastructure at the scale required. Without a sharp increase in manufacturing capacity, European companies are destined to become nearly entirely reliant on imports, and countries in Europe will miss out on a large segment of the battery value chain. For an international community that boasts such a wealth of technical talent and holds sincere aspirations to lead the world in shifting to a more sustainable economy, Europe needs to take advantage of the current opportunity.<\/p>\n At a high level, we can identify two avenues for action: building a European raw materials supply chain, and massively expanding, accelerating, and diversifying the pool of talent with the necessary skills to build and operate a supercharged European battery sector. However, while the former problem has attracted a lot of attention, activity in the latter avenue has been relatively understated.<\/p>\n That is, until recently. Now, initiatives are afoot to rectify the deficiency and switch the European store of battery skills from slow- to rapid-charging.<\/p>\n In 2017, the European Commission launched the European Battery Alliance (EBA), which is tasked with establishing an innovative, sustainable, and globally competitive European battery value chain.<\/p>\n To date, the EBA has helped launch more than 111 major battery-related projects, including more than 20 gigafactories either planned or already under construction, such as Sweden\u2019s famous Northvolt<\/a> \u2013 one of EIT InnoEnergy\u2019s three unicorns it has successfully supported as part of its sustainable innovation portfolio.<\/p>\n These projects are expected to create between three to four million direct and indirect jobs by 2025, 800,000 of which will require re- and up-skilled workers equipped with battery-specific expertise they do not have today.<\/p>\n Needless to say, re- and up-skilling 800,000 people in three years is a gargantuan undertaking. Traditional pedagogic methods such as postgraduate degrees and in-person, small-group training courses are unlikely to be sufficiently scaleable to achieve what is required on their own. A diversification of approach is required, including one-to-many, mass educational materials that will be critical to achieving the breadth of upskilling. However, simply uploading videos or written materials will not be engaging enough to ensure the depth of upskilling that Europe needs.<\/p>\n As the knowledge and innovation community responsible for the industrial side of the EBA, EIT InnoEnergy launched the EBA Academy in 2021, as the flagship programme designed to reskill the European battery value chain.<\/p>\n The Academy aims to create a true education and training ecosystem for interested businesses, leveraging the knowledge and experience of EIT InnoEnergy\u2019s researchers, entrepreneurs, businesses, and thought leaders, plus key players from 18 different countries across Europe. There are already more than 30 digital courses and learning activities, which have served 40,000 learners so far.<\/p>\n The design of the ecosystem draws on decades of accumulated experience delivering sustainability-focused, digital-first materials, and effective online educational methods for precision learning. We work closely (and not in competition) with the EBA250<\/a> and its 750 partners to understand future plans, and thus, human capital and skills needs across the value chain. We can then aggregate these findings to develop skills intelligence \u2013 whereby we learn the common factors across the sector so that individual countries and companies can focus on the needs and solutions specific to them.<\/p>\n
\nthe equation.<\/p>\nWhat can be done to deliver that sharp increase in manufacturing capacity?<\/h3>\n
The European Battery Alliance and job creation<\/h3>\n
Creating a well-informed, well-resourced skills strategy<\/h3>\n