2025 Conference Agenda

As battery manufacturers seek higher energy density, faster charging, and more sustainable supply chains, silicon has emerged as one of the most promising next-generation anode materials. However, challenges around expansion, cycle life, and scalable manufacturing have limited widespread adoption. Amplisi has developed a proprietary porous silicon technology designed to overcome these barriers and unlock the full potential of silicon-based anodes for commercial lithium-ion batteries.

This presentation will introduce Amplisi’s innovative porous silicon and demonstrate how its unique material architecture addresses the key challenges associated with conventional silicon anodes. By accommodating volume expansion during cycling while maintaining structural integrity and electrochemical performance, Amplisi’s technology enables significantly higher energy density without compromising manufacturability.

Attendees will gain insight into material design, process development, and integration into existing battery manufacturing workflows. The session will also explore the potential impact of porous silicon anodes on electric vehicles, mobility applications and consumer electronics, where increasing performance and reducing cost remain critical priorities.

The presentation will highlight how Amplisi is helping accelerate the next generation of battery technology and supporting the transition to a more electrified, sustainable future.

Securing access to critical minerals remains one of the biggest challenges facing battery and EV supply chains. This session looks at the role recycling can play in reducing supply risk, supporting domestic resilience and meeting growing demand — and where its limitations still lie.

Discussion points:

• The potential contribution of recycling to critical mineral supply
• Technical and economic challenges in scaling recycling capacity
• How recycling fits into long‑term supply chain strategies

As battery technologies evolve and scale, materials engineering is becoming a defining factor in performance, cost, and manufacturability. This session explores how advances in materials and electrode design are shaping the next generation of battery systems, with a particular focus on the role of electrode optimisation in delivering competitive advantage.

The presentation will examine how material selection, synthesis methods, and electrode architecture directly influence energy density, power capability, and cycle life. It will highlight the critical link between materials and manufacturing processes, demonstrating how thoughtful design at the material level can significantly reduce development timelines and enable more efficient scale-up.

Drawing on real-world industry examples and case studies from CPI’s AMBIC centre, the session will provide practical insight into strategies for improving electrode production. This includes understanding how factors such as particle morphology, packing density, and formulation impact performance, as well as how manufacturing processes can be adapted to maximise consistency and throughput.

Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how to align material innovation with production realities, ultimately enabling faster development cycles, reduced costs, and improved battery performance across a range of applications.

As electrification accelerates across transport, industry, and energy systems, no single battery chemistry will meet every requirement. Instead, a new generation of technologies is emerging to complement and extend the capabilities of lithium-ion, enabling more efficient, cost-effective, and application-specific solutions.

This session explores how LFP, LMFP, and sodium-ion technologies together form a complementary portfolio. LFP continues to lead mass-market electrification, particularly in electric vehicles, while LMFP offers the potential for enhanced energy density and performance within similar cost and safety frameworks. At the same time, sodium-ion is gaining traction as a lower-cost, resource-abundant solution for grid storage, industrial equipment, and low-speed mobility applications.

Rather than focusing on disruption, this discussion highlights how these chemistries can be strategically deployed across different use cases—reducing pressure on critical materials, improving supply chain resilience, and accelerating adoption across sectors.

• Where LFP, LMFP and sodium-ion each deliver the greatest value across different applications
• How complementary chemistries enable more efficient system design across mobility, grid, and industrial use cases
• The role of diversified battery technologies in strengthening supply chains and accelerating scalable electrification

This session focuses on the challenge of securing reliable access to critical minerals within the UK and Europe as battery and EV demand accelerates. With global competition intensifying, questions remain over how domestic supply chains can be strengthened — from extraction and processing through to downstream integration.

We’ll explore:

• The UK and Europe’s current exposure to critical mineral supply risk
• The role of domestic processing, refining and midstream capability
• What policy, investment and partnerships are needed to build resilience

Join leaders from Volklec, Ricardo, and Hyperbat for an inside look at the UK’s newly launched AMBERS (Advanced Modular Battery System) programme—a government‑backed initiative shaping the future of electrification across automotive and defence sectors.

Supported by the UK Battery Innovation Programme, AMBERS brings together leading capabilities in cell manufacturing, systems engineering, and pack integration to deliver a scalable, high‑performance modular battery platform designed for rapid deployment in demanding applications.

This session will introduce the programme’s vision, technology foundations, and industrial significance, while exploring how AMBerS lowers barriers to electrification by providing manufacturers with a production‑ready, UK‑built solution. The panel will discuss how the project enables faster access to advanced battery technology without the need to build full in‑house capabilities, and why domestic supply chains are critical for resilience, defence readiness, and next‑generation mobility innovation.

Attendees will gain early insight into the flexible modular architecture, built around Volklec’s high‑power 21700 cells, and understand how the collaboration between the three partners creates a clear pathway from cell development to real-world deployment.

• Introduction to the AMBERS programme and its significance for UK battery innovation
• How modular battery systems enable faster, scalable electrification across sectors
• The importance of a sovereign UK battery supply chain for resilience and defence
• Collaboration between Volklec, Ricardo and Hyperbat to deliver integrated solutions
• Opportunities for manufacturers to access high-performance battery technology with reduced development risk

2026 has emerged as a pivotal year for battery supply chains, marked by unprecedented volatility across raw material markets. A combination of geopolitical tensions, export controls, production quotas, onshoring strategies, and speculative trading activity has disrupted pricing structures and created significant uncertainty for stakeholders across the battery value chain.

This session will provide a clear and data-driven analysis of the forces behind this turbulence, unpacking how these pressures are reshaping the availability, cost, and strategic importance of key battery materials. It will explore how market dynamics are evolving in response to policy shifts and industrial strategies, with a focus on the implications for manufacturers, investors, and policymakers.

A key theme of the presentation will be the growing role of recycling and secondary supply, particularly as primary markets face constraints. Attendees will gain insight into how recent developments have influenced recycling economics, black mass demand, and the structure of emerging circular value chains. Special attention will be given to the UK’s evolving position, highlighting both opportunities and challenges in building domestic recycling capability.

The session will conclude with an introduction to Benchmark’s new black mass payable forecast, offering a forward-looking perspective on how value will be distributed across recycling markets and what this means for future investment and strategy.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding the key drivers behind 2026’s volatility in battery raw material markets
• How shifting market dynamics are accelerating the importance of recycling and secondary supply chains
• Insights into the UK’s position and opportunities within the evolving battery recycling landscape
• What emerging trends mean for pricing, investment, and long-term supply security
• Introduction to black mass payables and their role in shaping future recycling economics

We look at how advanced battery technologies can move from development to commercial production faster — without compromising quality, safety or compliance. As demand accelerates, reducing time to market is becoming a competitive advantage, not a nice‑to‑have.

This session explores the tools, processes and lessons that can help manufacturers shorten development cycles, de‑risk scale‑up and get products market‑ready sooner.

Discussion Points: 

• How digital tools and AI can accelerate battery development and validation
• Where certification and compliance processes can be streamlined
• What the UK can learn from Asia about industrialisation speed and scale

The rapid adoption of electric vehicles is creating a growing volume of end-of-life batteries that must be processed safely, sustainably, and at scale. While current recycling methods recover raw materials efficiently, they often destroy functional cells and modules that could otherwise be reused, remanufactured, or repurposed. These higher-value circular economy pathways remain largely inaccessible because battery disassembly is still performed manually, making it hazardous, labour-intensive, costly, and difficult to scale.

This session presents a robotic disassembly technology being developed at the University of Birmingham to address this challenge. The platform combines a purpose-built robotic cell with a library of reusable disassembly skills that can be adapted across different battery designs and, ultimately, other products. By automating complex disassembly operations, the technology aims to improve safety, reduce costs, increase throughput, and unlock new value from end-of-life batteries.

The system is projected to deliver a 5.5× increase in throughput, over £15,000 in monthly operational savings, and a 1.33-year payback period. By removing operators from hazardous tasks and reducing reliance on energy-intensive refinement processes, it supports safer, more circular, and economically sustainable battery recycling.

Access to finance is a critical enabler for scaling innovative climate‑tech businesses. As companies move from early pilots to commercial deployment, their funding needs evolve, requiring a clearer understanding of how banks assess risk, structure finance, and support long‑term growth.

With specialist sector expertise in climate tech, HSBC will share perspectives on what could be available for innovators scaling up a business. The session will explore the types of funding solutions banks can offer at different stages of growth, alongside the key areas of consideration when providing financing. Attendees will gain practical insight into how to prepare for bank engagement, align growth plans with financing requirements, and approach funding discussions with greater confidence.

• Examples of funding options available from a bank for innovators scaling up a business
• How banking support and financing structures evolve as companies grow
• Key areas of consideration for a bank when providing financing
• How banks assess commercial viability, financial resilience, and execution risk
• What innovators should have in place to engage effectively with banks

This presentation provides an overview of how HTMS IMC can be integrated into multi-material composite layups for use across demanding sectors, including defence, motorsport, automotive, and aerospace. It explains where HTMS IMC material systems sit and how they can be combined with conventional polymer composites to create application-specific solutions.

A key focus is the high-performance thermal resistance these materials can deliver when introduced into components exposed to elevated temperatures and repeated thermal cycling.

In addition, it highlights the potential increase in mechanical performance, such as improved flexural performance compared with a standalone traditional CMC. By comparing baseline properties and in-service behaviours, the presentation highlights the advantages that HTMS IMC multi-material systems can bring.

The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), the country’s national battery manufacturing development facility, plays a key role in accelerating the development and commercialisation of battery technologies in the UK.

Positioned between early-stage research and full-scale manufacturing, UKBICprovide the bridge that enables innovators to move from laboratory breakthroughs through to the development of viable cells in small steps.

Many promising battery technologies fail to reach market not because of poor science, but due to the challenges associated with manufacturing at scale. We address this challenge by offering open-access, industrial-scale up facilities where companies can develop, test and refine their manufacturing processes before committing to significant capital investment. This capability allows organisations to validate performance, optimise production techniques, and identify potential issues early, significantly reducing time, cost and risk.

Scaling battery pack manufacturing from prototype to full-scale production requires far more than core battery expertise. It demands the integration of multiple advanced engineering disciplines to ensure precision, quality, and repeatability at every stage of the process.

In this talk, Clayton Sampson explores the complexities involved in transitioning from low-volume assembly to high-volume, automated production of battery modules and packs. The session highlights critical factors often overlooked, including part cleanliness, surface preparation for adhesives, precision component placement, de-oxidisation prior to laser welding, and the fine control of laser weld parameters such as power, positioning precision and critically important weld depth.

Drawing on real-world experience supporting automotive and aerospace manufacturers, the talk showcases how the combination of robotics, automated assembly, tooling, and vision systems alongside specialist processes such as plasma treatment, laser ablation, and laser welding, enables scalable, high-quality production solutions.

Additionally, the role of data acquisition and handling in maintaining rigorous process control will be explored, demonstrating how digital integration underpins consistent manufacturing outcomes.

Attendees will gain an understanding of the interdisciplinary approach required for successful battery pack scale-up, along with practical insights into building robust, turnkey production systems. The session also provides perspective on how Cyan Tec is positioning itself as a complete solution provider for organisations developing advanced battery manufacturing capabilities.

Solid‑state batteries are often positioned as a step‑change technology for electric vehicles, promising improvements in energy density, safety and performance. This session looks beyond the hype to assess progress towards commercialisation, the remaining technical barriers, and what solid‑state could mean for future vehicle and battery design.

• The current state of solid‑state battery development
• Key technical and manufacturing challenges
• Timelines and pathways to commercial deployment

As EV production scales, building a resilient and reliable supply chain is becoming a critical priority. This session examines the challenges facing EV manufacturers as they secure materials, components and capabilities, while managing risk, cost and complexity across global and regional supply networks.

Discussion Points:

• Key risks and constraints within today’s EV supply chains
• Strategies for strengthening resilience and reducing dependency
• How supply chain decisions impact scale, cost and competitiveness

The automotive industry is entering a new era. Success will no longer be determined solely by scale, but by the ability to move faster, innovate smarter and collaborate more effectively.

As electrification reshapes vehicle architectures and development cycles shorten, a new opportunity is emerging for the UK. With its unique concentration of advanced engineering companies, motorsport expertise, specialist manufacturers and technology innovators, Britain is uniquely positioned to deliver the next generation of vehicle programmes at a pace few regions can match.

This session explores how OEMs and Tier 1 through 3 specialist technology suppliers can work together to dramatically reduce development time, accelerate innovation and bring world-class products to market faster.

Drawing on the real-world experience of Longbow Motors, which progressed from concept to a driving Featherweight Electric Vehicle in under a year, the discussion will examine how a highly collaborative ecosystem can unlock agility, reduce complexity and challenge traditional assumptions about automotive development.

Joining Longbow will be battery technology partner Ionetic, who will share how they developed the bespoke battery system underpinning the Longbow programme and discuss how next-generation battery development can be accelerated through close collaboration between OEMs and specialist technology providers.

The session will explore:

How can OEMs dramatically accelerate vehicle development by leveraging specialist suppliers and technology partners?

Why is the UK uniquely positioned to lead high-value, high-technology vehicle programmes in the electric era?

How can Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers work together more effectively to increase speed, innovation and competitiveness?

What lessons can be learned from motorsport and low-volume vehicle development to accelerate mainstream automotive programmes?

How can battery, software and vehicle technology partners collaborate earlier to reduce risk and improve outcomes?

What does the future supply chain look like when speed, expertise and flexibility become more valuable than scale alone?

As the industry evolves, the winners will not necessarily be the largest organisations, but those capable of combining world-class technology with world-class execution. This session explores how the UK’s automotive ecosystem can do exactly that.

This presentation explores one of the most critical yet often overlooked phases of battery innovation: the transition from early research to scalable cell production. Focusing on the challenges of prototyping and industrialisation, it provides a detailed look at the technical, financial, and operational hurdles that shape the journey from concept to commercial battery cell.

Drawing on insights from advanced battery research and manufacturing environments, the session highlights how development and prototyping stages account for a significant share of overall costs and risk—particularly in a highly globalised and competitive market. It examines the realities faced by companies and research institutes attempting to establish or expand battery production capabilities, especially in regions striving for greater independence in cell manufacturing.

A key focus of the presentation is the role of alternative and flexible manufacturing technologies in reducing barriers to entry. By enabling more cost-effective development processes and adaptable small-batch production, these approaches offer a pathway to accelerate next-generation battery innovation while supporting a more resilient and accessible ecosystem.

Bringing together perspectives from industry and research, this session will underline the importance of collaboration and shared expertise in overcoming common challenges, ultimately supporting a faster and more sustainable energy transition.

Understanding the cost and complexity challenges of battery cell prototyping and scaling

How alternative manufacturing approaches can reduce development barriers and enable flexibility

The importance of collaboration between industry and research to strengthen battery production capabilities

As Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) become increasingly widespread across utilities, industrial sites, and EV infrastructure, ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory frameworks is emerging as a critical challenge. This presentation provides a clear, practical overview of product-level compliance requirements for ESS, helping stakeholders navigate the complexity of safety, certification, and system integration.

Focusing on real-world applications, the session will explore how regulatory expectations span multiple layers—from hardware safety and functional performance to cybersecurity and grid connection standards. It will highlight the growing need for a structured approach to compliance, especially as systems become more connected, distributed, and central to critical infrastructure.

Drawing on industry experience in testing and certification, the presentation will outline how to identify risks, implement mitigation strategies, and ensure conformity across the lifecycle of battery systems. Attendees will gain a better understanding of how to approach compliance proactively, supporting safer deployment and smoother project delivery in an increasingly regulated market.

Key Takeaways

Understanding key regulatory and compliance requirements for ESS across different applications

The importance of safety, cybersecurity, and risk mitigation in battery system design and operation

Practical approaches to achieving product-level compliance and certification in complex energy systems

Battery development teams face growing pressure to deliver higher‑performance, lower‑cost systems in ever‑shorter development cycles. Yet early‑stage battery pack design is often slowed by fragmented workflows, sequential testing, and decisions based on limited or idealised data. Cell selection, pack sizing, architecture trade‑offs, and thermal and aging validation can take months before a clear design direction is established.

This session presents how a modern, SaaS‑based engineering workflow can dramatically accelerate battery system development. Using Kurylabs as a practical example, it shows how engineers can move from application requirements to optimized battery pack concepts in minutes. By combining real laboratory‑measured cell data with integrated pack sizing, architecture comparison, and electro‑thermal and aging simulation, teams can make faster, more confident design decisions early in the development cycle.

Moving from application requirements to optimized battery pack concepts in minutes

Comparing candidate cells using real measured performance data, not datasheets alone

Rapid evaluation of pack architectures using integrated electro‑thermal simulation

Using accelerated aging simulation to reduce risk before physical prototyping

Enabling faster, more confident battery design decisions in cost‑ and time‑constrained programs

This session provides a clear view of how the EV market is evolving, examining consumer sentiment, adoption trends and the factors shaping demand across key markets. It cuts through headlines to focus on what the data is really telling us about the pace of electrification and the challenges still affecting uptake.

Discussion Points:

• Current trends in EV adoption and consumer demand
• The impact of cost, infrastructure and incentives on purchasing decisions
• What market dynamics mean for manufacturers and policymakers

This session brings together the strategic and operational challenges of building a globally competitive battery manufacturing ecosystem in the UK and Europe. While significant investment has been made in R&D and innovation, the real test lies in translating that progress into large-scale, reliable industrial production.

We explore whether the balance between innovation and manufacturing is right — and what it takes to move from pilot projects to full-scale gigafactory delivery at speed. Drawing on policy perspectives and real-world industrial experience, the discussion will examine how to build manufacturing capability that not only supports innovation, but enables it to scale and compete globally.

Key themes include the role of policy and investment in shaping industrial capability, the practical realities of designing operations for scale, and the lessons Europe can learn from established high-volume manufacturing regions.

Whether the UK needs to rebalance its focus towards manufacturing scale and delivery

How to industrialise battery technologies quickly, reliably, and at volume

Critical decisions in designing gigafactories and scalable manufacturing operations

The relationship between strong manufacturing capability and sustained innovation

What Europe can learn from, collaborate on, or do differently to compete globally

We kick off the conference with a clear-eyed view of where the UK battery and EV manufacturing sectors stand — and what must happen next. This opening plenary brings together senior industry leaders to set the strategic direction for the day, cutting through the noise to focus on competitiveness, delivery and growth.

Discussion Points:

• The real state of play for UK battery and EV manufacturing
• Where the UK can realistically compete and lead on the global stage
• What investment, policy and collaboration are needed to scale at pace

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming embedded across engineering tools, conference agendas, and industry narratives. “AI‑enabled” is increasingly positioned as a default indicator of progress and competitiveness. In many domains, that momentum carries limited risk. In safety‑critical design environments, it does not.

Structured engineering methods such as FMEA exist to enforce discipline, traceability, and accountable decision‑making where failure has operational, regulatory, or human consequences. This session examines how AI should be positioned within those environments—not as a replacement for structured practice, but as a supporting capability with clearly defined boundaries. Rather than focusing on automation or novelty, the discussion explores how AI can assist analysis, consistency, and knowledge management while preserving human judgement and methodological rigour.

Attendees will gain practical guidance on integrating AI responsibly into safety‑critical workflows, ensuring technological progress strengthens engineering integrity rather than diluting it.

Key talking points:

Why safety‑critical design demands different rules for AI adoption

Where AI can effectively support structured methods such as FMEA

Risks of ungoverned or trend‑driven AI use in safety‑critical workflows

Preserving human accountability and decision authority in AI‑assisted design

Practical principles for responsible AI integration in regulated environments

The Power Sources team at QinetiQ works with a wide variety of cell technologies, developing products across different technology readiness levels and verifying performance as an independent third-party test house, while also creating technologies for niche defence applications where high power and safety are critical.

This session covers three key areas: battery testing and development capabilities, real-world defence project examples, and internally developed high-power technologies such as QinetiQ High Power (QHP) cells. QHP cells offer excellent safety characteristics and high power capability, surviving hazardous scenarios—including nail penetration at 100% state of charge—without thermal events, and supporting high-rate charge and discharge.

With battery safety remaining a key concern, particularly for platforms with strict requirements such as naval vessels and fast jets, these developments provide a pathway towards safer lithium-ion adoption in military systems.

Testing and verification capabilities are critical to ensuring battery performance and safety in defence applications.

Real-world defence projects highlight the challenges and solutions in qualifying batteries for extreme environments.

High-power cell technologies such as QHP demonstrate that safety and performance can be achieved simultaneously.

Advanced testing shows cells can withstand severe abuse conditions without thermal events.

Safer lithium-ion technologies can support wider adoption of electrification across military platforms.

As high-voltage vehicle architectures continue to evolve, safe and reliable cable entry becomes a critical design factor for batteries, inverters, motors, power distribution units and other key EV systems. Orange high-voltage cables require more than just mechanical fixation: they need reliable sealing, robust strain relief and long-term EMC shielding performance under demanding operating conditions such as vibration, temperature changes, moisture and mechanical stress.

This session will explore the key challenges of EMC-compliant cable entry design in electric vehicles, electric buses, commercial vehicles and mobile machinery. We will explain how PFLITSCH EMC cable glands help engineers achieve secure, sealed and shielded cable entries while supporting process reliability and system safety.

A particular focus will be placed on PFLITSCH’s TRI-Spring technology, which enables reliable 360° shield contact and has made PFLITSCH a market leader in EMC cable gland solutions.

In addition, we will introduce a new PFLITSCH development for high-voltage applications, designed to further improve assembly reliability, shielding performance and ease of integration in modern EV architectures.

Key Takeaways:

Understand why EMC-safe cable entry is critical in high-voltage EV systems.

Learn how PFLITSCH TRI-Spring technology supports reliable 360° shield contact.

Gain insight into a new PFLITSCH development for future high-voltage e-mobility applications.

As demands on battery testing increase, thermal control is often overlooked, resulting in inaccurate and inconsistent data. This session highlights the critical role of integrated thermal management in improving data quality and test reliability.

We examine the limitations of traditional test setups that rely on separate cyclers and environmental chambers, which introduce complexity and poor synchronization. In contrast, integrated solutions—such as multi-zone chambers and cell-level active cooling—enable precise, repeatable, and efficient testing.

Experimental results demonstrate that, without active thermal control, cell temperatures can rise significantly under high current loads. By comparison, integrated cooling systems maintain stable conditions throughout testing.

As battery testing evolves toward higher power densities and faster charging protocols, integrated thermal strategies are becoming essential for accurate, scalable validation.

Key Takeaways:

The importance of thermal control in battery testing

Limitations of conventional chamber-based setups

Benefits of integrated and cell-level cooling solutions

Improved accuracy and repeatability in test results

Bridging the gap between a promising battery prototype and scalable production remains one of the industry’s greatest challenges. At CIDETEC Energy Storage, the dedicated R&D partner of CIDEcell, this transition has become a core strength—supporting a portfolio of four distinct cell technologies, from ultra high energy density cells exceeding 500 Wh/kg for aerospace and eVTOL applications to robust high power cells for demanding industrial use.

This session presents a practical blueprint for accelerating time to market for customised battery cells. Through real world examples, it explores key engineering hurdles and hard won lessons in scaling bespoke chemistries, with a focus on rapid material validation, pilot line optimisation, and robust quality assurance. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of how to de risk custom cell development while moving efficiently from lab to production.

It often takes years for deep-tech innovations in climate technology to move from the research lab into the real world. Venture capital can help accelerate that journey, but only if a startup meets expectations around growth, scale, and timing. In this talk, I’ll share lessons from my work at Prosemino, where we build high-impact companies in electrochemical energy and materials science from the ground up. Drawing on ventures like Sention Technologies and Redoxion, I’ll explore what it really takes to turn cutting-edge research into a scalable, fundable business.

Rather than focusing on a single breakthrough, I’ll discuss the patterns we’ve seen in building multiple ventures: how we form teams, develop first products, access labs, and find early traction. I’ll also share the tools, mindsets, and support structures that can help more researchers make the leap into entrepreneurship.

Soluboard® is an advanced PCB laminate developed to reduce the environmental impact of electronics manufacturing. Designed as a competitively priced alternative to conventional glass-fibre materials, it remains compatible with existing PCB fabrication processes and workflows.

Our mission is to support the transition to lower-carbon, glass-free electronics for consumer products and other applications. Traditional PCB laminates rely on woven glass fibre and epoxy resin systems that have changed little in decades. These materials typically require energy-intensive manufacturing, including high-temperature curing and multiple wet processing stages.

Soluboard® replaces conventional glass-fibre reinforcement with lyocell, a naturally derived fibre, combined with Solvanta™, a proprietary biodegradable thermoplastic polymer system. It is manufactured using a dry, continuous lamination process without high-temperature curing, helping to reduce energy consumption while supporting scalable production.

Compared with FR-4, Soluboard® delivers a 68% lower carbon footprint and is 37% lighter in weight. It also contains a non-brominated, phosphorus-based flame retardant, and its raw materials have been certified as non-hazardous at end of life. Soluboard® has achieved UL94 V-0 certification, providing fire safety performance equivalent to FR-4 while offering a more sustainable route for electronics manufacturing.

Wearable and implantable medical devices are advancing at an extraordinary pace, unlocking new possibilities in modern healthcare, but their batteries are falling significantly behind this innovation. Relying on traditional architectures that have been in use for the last 30+ years, current storage solutions remain highly rigid, bulky, and often have underlying safety concerns due to the chemistry that has been utilised. Which, in turn, is limiting further advancements of next-generation healthcare technologies.

To address these limitations, this session will explore the rapidly emerging field of biocompatible and biodegradable batteries and how innovative materials such as hydrogels and polyhydroxyalkanoates, together with alternative designs such as thin-film technology and safer chemistries, could redefine how energy is stored within the human body.

Drawing on current research, the talk will demonstrate how these approaches can deliver flexible, safer, and more biocompatible power solutions without compromising performance. The talk will also examine the key challenges that remain to be addressed in this field, including material stability, durability, and long-term reliability.

Noise is one of the most overlooked environmental challenges of modern society. From cities and transport systems to homes, workplaces, and industrial environments, harmful low-frequency noise increasingly impacts health, wellbeing, efficiency, and quality of life.

Yet despite this growing challenge, the acoustic materials used across modern industry have changed little in decades, relying on bulky, petrochemical-based solutions that conflict directly with today’s sustainability and performance goals.

SoundBounce is our breakthrough advanced acoustic material designed to meet this challenge. Delivering more performance material than traditional solutions – using technology never before seen in the acoustics and vibration field.

SoundBounce offers a thin, lightweight, and high-performance alternative that excels at low frequencies. Designed for a circular economy, SoundBounce is non-toxic and supports companies in meeting regulations while offering a fully recyclable, end-of-life solution.

SoundBounce is a composite material, an advanced material core is contained within an adaptable housing. This novel approach outperforms existing acoustic technology while being 40% lighter, 4x thinner, and 4x more effective. For sectors where space, weight, and emissions are critical such as construction, aerospace, automotive, marine, and home appliances, this is a material that delivers superior performance.

Building a high-performing team is one of the most critical challenges for startups in manufacturing and beyond. This session explores how founders can make smarter hiring decisions as they scale – aligning talent with business milestones, identifying candidates who can thrive in fast-paced environments, and avoiding common hiring missteps. From choosing between specialists and versatile generalists to creating a compelling employer story, the discussion offers practical frameworks and real-world insights. Attendees will gain the tools needed to build resilient, agile teams capable of driving growth, navigating complexity, and sustaining long-term success in competitive, rapidly evolving industries.

Hire in line with business stage and growth priorities

Balance deep expertise with adaptability

Focus on mindset and cultural contribution, not just experience

Craft a strong narrative to attract and retain talent

Avoid over-hiring and ensure roles evolve with the business

This session will explore how Innovate UK and the wider UK government are supporting battery startups to move from early-stage innovation through to commercial scale-up. With a focus on bridging the gap between research and industrial deployment, the talk will highlight funding programmes, collaborative initiatives, and infrastructure designed to accelerate growth across the battery ecosystem.

Attendees will gain insight into the practical support available to startups, including access to capital, facilities, partnerships, and technical expertise. The session will also outline how founders can best engage with these programmes to unlock opportunities and successfully scale within the UK’s rapidly evolving battery landscape.

Elite Battery Systems offers a practical alternative to both fully bespoke battery development and standard off‑the‑shelf battery packs. While off‑the‑shelf solutions prioritise speed and standardisation—often forcing compromises on form factor, performance, integration, or lifetime cost—fully bespoke designs can introduce long lead times, higher engineering effort, and increased cost.

Our approach sits firmly between these extremes. By configuring and integrating proven, validated components, Elite delivers genuinely customised battery packs that customers own, tailored precisely to their application without the complexity and expense of a ground‑up design. This method combines application‑fit performance with high quality, repeatability, and cost efficiency.

Safety remains central throughout the process. Using established components alongside rigorous design controls and verification methods enables reliable protection and dependable performance across the full lifecycle. This session demonstrates how Elite Battery Systems delivers a “not off‑the‑shelf” solution—custom by configuration and integration—designed to meet exact operational needs.

Discussion Points:

• The limitations of off‑the‑shelf and fully bespoke battery pack approaches
• How configurable, validated components enable true customisation without added complexity
• How application‑specific design improves performance, cost efficiency, and repeatability
• How safety and lifecycle reliability are maintained through proven components and rigorous design controls

Oversupply of LFP cathode and cells, especially in China, has exerted significant downward pressure on global cell and system production costs and pricing.

As production costs fall, global cathode and cell producers are under significant pressure to continuously improve their products or face consolidation or even extinction in an increasing competitive midstream market.

During this talk I will discuss the implications of how these market dynamics are driving further innovations for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery energy storage systems (BESS) and how these could affect procurers.

These will be discussed in terms of performance improvements, and this will include a high-level outlook for BESS technology innovations including:

Increasing cell capacities

Higher compaction density active material

New cathode additives/ alternative chemistries

Batteries are usually treated as payload: heavy, passive systems that must be carried, protected and integrated into a platform. Structural batteries challenge that assumption by turning the energy system into part of the load-bearing architecture.

In this session, John Moffat, Founder and CEO of The Structural Battery Company, will introduce structural battery technology and explain how structural energy systems can reduce mass, save volume and simplify integration in applications where every kilogram and every cubic centimetre matter. Drawing on The Structural Battery Company’s work in heavy-lift UAVs, aerospace and defence, the talk will explore how batteries can evolve from a component into a platform architecture — and why this matters for the next generation of electrified vehicles, aircraft and autonomous systems.

Why treating batteries as passive payloads limits performance in weight‑ and volume‑constrained systems

How structural batteries combine energy storage and load‑bearing function into a single architecture

The mass, volume and integration benefits achievable through structural energy systems

Lessons learned from deploying structural batteries in heavy‑lift UAV, aerospace and defence applications

What structural battery architectures enable for next‑generation electric vehicles, aircraft and autonomous platforms

Scaling lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode production from laboratory processes to gigafactory manufacturing presents significant technical and operational challenges. As global demand for LFP batteries accelerates, manufacturers must increase solid content, maintain consistent particle quality, manage temperature effectively, and control contamination—all while reducing energy use and production costs.

This session explores how advanced wet milling technologies can bridge the gap between lab scale innovation and reliable industrial production. Using industrial case studies and performance data, it demonstrates how optimised milling processes enable ultra fine particle sizes, improved surface structures and enhanced material reactivity, directly impacting energy density, charging performance and battery lifespan. Attendees will gain practical insight into achieving scalable, efficient and cost effective high solid LFP production at gigafactory scale.

Key Takeaways

Key process requirements for high‑solid LFP production and their impact on battery performance

How particle size distribution and surface structure influence energy density, charging behaviour and lifespan

Critical scale‑up challenges, including temperature control, contamination prevention and process stability

Strategies to improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption in large‑scale material processing

How advanced milling technologies enable consistent quality and cost‑effective gigafactory production

As gigafactories scale at unprecedented speed, cooling systems are often treated as an afterthought—leading to higher costs, inefficiencies, and long-term operational risks. This session challenges that mindset by presenting a smarter, more sustainable approach to factory cooling that prioritises water and energy efficiency without compromising budgets or delivery timelines.

Drawing on a modern interpretation of traditional industrial heat rejection, the session explores how cooling system design can be optimised from the outset to deliver substantial capital and operational savings. Attendees will learn how early design decisions, efficiency-driven choices, and flexible operational modes can significantly reduce water usage, improve energy performance, and lower the overall cost of production for years to come.

With European and UK gigafactories racing to reduce battery manufacturing costs to remain competitive globally, sustainable cooling strategies are no longer optional. As water scarcity intensifies year after year, designing cooling infrastructure that lasts the lifetime of the factory—without wasting water or energy—has never been more critical.
This session will focus on practical, long-term cooling plans that support sustainable growth while meeting the economic pressures facing modern manufacturing.

Key Takeaways:

• Why cooling design is a critical but underestimated factor in factory efficiency
• How early design choices can reduce long-term operational and production costs
• Practical strategies for large-scale water and energy savings
• How flexible cooling operation supports long-term factory performance

Powdertech Surface Science has a firm understanding of how to specify, plan and execute dielectric coating projects. Dr Nick Welton has led coating development trials, and the coating of pre-production volumes for JLR’s new suite of electric vehicles. In this session he will highlight the key points to consider when planning dielectric coating for EV battery components, including:

• Specifications and powder selection
• Fit tolerance
• Edge coverage
• Coating defects
• Testing and quality control

The development of advanced batteries requires a deep understanding of failure mechanisms—both to effectively manage them and to accurately inform users when a critical state is reached.
At SERMA, we are developing predictive models using a methodology that combines physical analysis with data-driven approaches. In the first part of this work, we will present an overview of the degradation mechanisms affecting Li-ion batteries, supported by results obtained from aged cells using state-of-the-art characterization techniques. In the second part, we will describe our data-driven approach and explain how it is integrated with physical insights to enhance the accuracy of predictive models for estimating the State of Health (SOH) of Li-ion batteries.

Session Objectives:

• Failure mechanisms of Li-ion batteries
• The way to probe failure mechanisms in a complex system (such as a Li-ion cell)
• A methodology to provide a predictive model for SOH estimation

Dry electrode technology is redefining battery manufacturing by eliminating solvent-based processes and reducing energy consumption, costs, and environmental impact. Yet, achieving consistent quality and scalability requires innovative equipment capable of handling multiple steps in electrode preparation efficiently. This session will explore how integrated mixing solutions—such as the MIXACO Infinity Mixer—enable the dry electrode process by combining powder homogenization, binder distribution, and structural conditioning in a single machine. We will discuss the technical principles, performance benefits, and real-world applications that make this approach a game-changer for gigafactory-scale production and next-generation battery chemistries.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn how dry electrode technology simplifies and accelerates battery manufacturing.
• Understand the critical role of advanced mixing systems in achieving process stability.
• Discover how the MIXACO Infinity Mixer consolidates multiple preparation stages into one efficient solution.