The HIDDEN Consortium

VTT´s technological focus areas are applied materials, bio and chemistry processes, energy, information and communication technologies, industrial systems management, microtechnologies and electronics, and technology in the community. The turnover of VTT in the year 2018 was 268 Million €. VTT is part of the PrintoCent industry cluster. VTT has over 15 years of experience in solution based R2R-manufacturing of organic and large area electronic components and devices. Recently, VTT’s special interest has been in methods and technologies enabling the integration of organic and large area and hybrid electronics with End-User products and building demonstrators and product mock-ups in a form that facilitates industry to up-take the benefits of new technologies.

In direct line with the proposal HIDDEN, CNRS runs since 2011 (with the support of MESRI) the RS2E (Réseau sur le stockage électrochimique de l’énergie or “research network on electrochemical energy storage”), a (French) national research and technology transfer public/private network aimed at discovering and transferring to the industry new battery & supercapacitor technologies and other alternative techniques intended for multiple applications & products (electric vehicles, portable electronics, electricity storage etc.).

Its support to industry ranges from feasibility studies through custom product-development to small-series production. CSEM also facilitates new entrepreneurs’ access to its technology platforms, encouraging them in the creation of start-ups. The annual turnover for 2017 was 96.3 Mio SFr (~ 83 Mio €). CSEM staff comprises some 450 people, working in eight divisions, operated as business units with matrix organization for the projects performed jointly. Since 2013 CSEM is home to the Swiss national competence center for photovoltaics, PV-Center. Within this center, research on optimum use of battery technologies has grown to an important activity over the last years. In 2014 CSEM has set up the Energy Storage Research Center: a shared research infrastructure for testing and characterization of electrochemical storage systems. In this framework CSEM has developed battery models that allow to accurately track the energy exchange under various cycling conditions (C-rates, DoD, etc.). In the recently started national project SPET, CSEM has characterized high energy density battery technologies (NCA, NMC and Li-Silicon, all candidate technologies for aeronautic applications), where also operating temperature has been included. In 2018 CSEM started developing novel separator materials for enhancing safety and reliability of Li-ion batteries. The activity aims at producing high-performance composite separators previa organic/inorganic coatings on polyolefin separators. This project benefits from the long experience in deposition methods attained from the photovoltaic research and techniques such as ALD of ceramic oxides has shown to have a tremendous impact on mechanical and thermal reliability of the composite separators while at the same time improving the cell’s performance. The program is now testing organic coatings based self-assembly and cross-linking mechanisms to yield core-shell composites where the film thickness stay below 10nm.

Research at universities of applied sciences is characterised by strong links between practice and teaching, collaboration with partners from business, society and culture, a broad spectrum of topics in projects that are often interdisciplinary, use of scientific methods, application of several types of research, including collaboration with universities. The BFH Energy Storage Research Centre researches and develops solutions for the storage of electricity for energy supply and mobility. These approaches enable the integration of renewable energies from decentralized electricity production into the Swiss utility network and the substitution of fossil fuels in transport. The aim is to exploit the potential of sustainable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind. The Centre is participating in the Swiss Competence Centres for Energy Research (SCCER), which the Confederation has set up in course of energy transition. Within this programme BFH build up a considerable amount of expertise in the domain of battery cell manufacturing by implementing its self-designed pilot line for assembly of stacked battery pouch cells. In parallel BFH executed an R&D project to optimize a battery production line through simulation together with an industry partner.

Based on this, Belenos has high flexibility and independence to implement new system and new technology in his process flow.

Innovative products developed by SP are used for a very wide range of applications such as functional surface coatings (glass, metal, metal oxides, nanoparticles, plastics), construction industry, aeronautic, automotive (paint, tyres, sealant, gaskets), pharmaceutical industry, cosmetics, optoelectronic, optic, water treatment, metal extraction, energy (fuel cells, solar cells or lithium batteries).

One of its strong assets is to organize and convey well-structured dissemination activities which help the partners to fully benefit from the project results. The quality guarantee of all projects that are undertaken is a fundamental concern of the company and to this aim, TALOS has applied a set of measures and processes in order to ensure that project implementation always represents the highest possible quality. TALOS is currently managing numerous EU-funded Research and Innovation projects which have received funding through Horizon 2020 programme. TALOS has developed a strong network with SMEs and R&D performers as well as with stakeholders involved in the exploitation of research results on a European scale.