Skolkovo is teaming up with two of its biggest industrial partners in Panasonic and truck-maker KAMAZ in a search for the next big breakthrough in battery technology.
Panasonic's Gavrilov, third from right, with Skolkovo colleagues. Photo: sk.ru
The three powerhouses of innovation this week launched a competition among Skolkovo residents –also open to startups and organizations outside the ecosystem – named Electrochemistry 2015. It runs through December. A corresponding conference will be held at the Skolkovo Innovation Center in October.
“We strongly support this competition and present special prizes within the contract between Skolkovo and us,” said Panasonic Russia and CIS marketing chief German Gavrilov.
It is expected that nearly 70 teams will compete for prizes, though only 10 will qualify for the finals, where three winners will be selected.
Nikolai Grachev, Skolkovo vice president and chief executive of the Energy-Efficiency Cluster, said the competition would “lay the groundwork for the creating new energy storage systems and hydrogen fuel cell technology in Russia.”
“There are 15-17 companies which successfully work in this sphere only in Skolkovo,” Grachev said. “We are glad to see that KAMAZ is interested in these technologies and wants to become a partner of our competition and formulate the developments it needs.”
All residents of the Skolkovo Foundation are invited to participate in the competition to show their new technologies in the sphere of electrochemical unit storage. Academic and scientific organizations, R&D centers are also welcome to take part. Several venture capital funds like Bright Capital, I2BF, Phystech Ventures and others have also confirmed their participation.
Energy cluster officials will be judging projects in three categories: traction batteries for transport, hybrid solutions in storage, portable lithium-ion batteries, stationary storages for houses and plants and control devices of batteries; hydrogen-based innovations such as fuel cells, including stationary and portable supply sources; and the utilization of stage systems.
“The Skolkovo Foundation needs a long-term program whose goal is a creating innovative products that the Russian and world markets need,” added Grachev. “The partnership between Russian energy startups and such companies like KAMAZ and Panasonic is economically beneficially for all contractual parties. And it is important to note that the R&D centers of both companies work at the Skolkovo Innovative Center.”
KAMAZ is the biggest Russian truck manufacturer and is entering the new market of electric buses – a growing trend in Europe. As part of the competition, KAMAZ will present a special prize in the traction battery category in December.
Skolkovo PR and Communications Department assistant Kyuder Tsedenov contributed to this article.