Impact
NABLA is designed to deliver impact on the National and International levels. On the National level NABLA facilitates research and development activities in a rapidly growing field of high societal importance.
The infrastructure also facilitates a transition for battery manufacturing from Asian countries to Nordic European countries and from fossil energy economies to renewable energy economies.
Battery ecosystem: being a joined effort, NABLA brings together the top Norwegian actors in battery research. Such joined effort creates an intellectual ecosystem necessary for generation of new ideas, projects and intellectual property.
International scientific recognition
High-quality publications, patents and conferences will improve visibility of Norwegian research delivering the international recognition it deserves. The presence of state-of-the-art research capabilities proposed by NABLA and supported by relevant competence will make Norway an attractive destination for international collaboration and for scientists from abroad. The installation of NABLA infrastructure will also make Norwegian actors more attractive for funding opportunities outside Norway – such as Horizon Europe and others.
High quality battery research
The infrastructure is designed to substantially enhance the scientific capabilities delivering the methods of analysis not available previously. Operando capabilities (as a part of Chemistry) will enable characterization opportunities which are essential for further materials development. Dedicated facilities for alternative chemistries will allow Norwegian researchers to follow the trends in the field. All of these will substantially boost the quality of research conducted by Norwegian actors which will ultimately results in higher impact journal publications and a boost in intellectual property. Through the proposed research infrastructure, the Norwegian battery R&D community will be allowed to develop further the existing excellence on battery material development and advanced characterization, battery cell design and fabrication, battery cell production technology, safety testing and lifetime predictions.
Education
A rapid growth of the battery-related industry resulted in extremely high demand of relevant specialists. Unfortunately, their number is quite limited and, therefore, training programs are required to deliver high-quality specialists at MS and PhD levels. NABLA plans to facilitate training of students and young researchers by exposing them to the state-of-the-art equipment and battery technologies. High quality of research conducted by NABLA partners will also attract motivated and talented students further improving the battery ecosystem. The involved educational partners (NTNU, UiA and UiO) are expected to increase their activities in the battery area, partly as a direct effect of these investments, becoming more attractive to prospective students.
