The Vasco da Gama Collaborative Laboratory, incubated at Uptec – Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto, is part of the European battery consortium IPCEI EuBatIn, which aims to develop a “competitive, innovative and sustainable” value chain.
In a statement, Uptec said this Tuesday that Vasco da Gama CoLAB, which focuses on energy storage, will join the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) EuBatIn, financed in 2, 9 billion euros from the European Commission.
With the aim of developing a “competitive, innovative and sustainable” battery value chain, IPCEI EuBatIn brings together key European players based in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden, and the various players representing the entire value chain, from material, cells, battery system and recycling.
By joining this consortium, the Portuguese collaborative laboratory aims to “accelerate internationalization, leverage technological innovation and the development of Portugal’s exports” in the energy storage media necessary to the energy transition.
Founded in 2019 in Porto, Vasco da Gama CoLab will focus on innovation activities and development of mobilizing agendas, as well as on the battery value chain in Portugal, where it has already developed energy conversion technologies modular and agnostic batteries, as well as a pilot production line for sodium-ion batteries in Portugal.
The laboratory “starts to assume a prominent role in the European energy storage ecosystem by being an associated member of this transactional project, with an important contribution to the growth, employment and competitiveness of the European Union’s industry and economy” .
Quoted in the statement, the president of the Board of Directors of Vasco da Gama CoLab, Cipriano Lomba, highlights that it is now time to “accelerate the development of the collaborative ecosystem” desired for the laboratory and “contribute to the challenges and opportunities that IPCEI EuBatIn represents”.
“VG CoLab members and scientific, technological and innovation partners have a very interesting opportunity here to contribute to the European affirmation in the area of batteries”, he adds.
The Portuguese collaborative laboratory brings together public and private partners from academia and industry such as Efacec, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, the Instituto Superior Técnico, A400 – Projetistas e Consultores de Engenharia, Visblue Portugal, EDP Inovaç ion, INESC TEC, C2C-New Cap, the Ibérico International Nanotechnology Laboratory, Simoldes Plásticos and BEPA – Batteries European Partnership Association.
Focused on developing technologies, prototypes and providing services, Vasco da Gama CoLab develops technological solutions applied to energy storage, techniques that facilitate the use of equipment after the first service life and custom conversion technologies.
