European Battery Academy: 10 million euros for the retraining of industry specialists

The founding of a European Battery Academy was announced early in 2022 at a high-level meeting of the European Battery Alliance (EBA). Based on a declaration of intent from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and of "EIT InnoEnergy", which developed out of an EIT "Knowledge and Innovation Community", the European Union (EU) Commission will support the academy with a grant of 10 million euros as part of the REACT-EU recovery fund set up to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

The availability of qualified workers is regarded as a prerequisite for the successful development, establishment and operation of industry projects throughout the entire battery value chain.

By adopting a coordinated European approach to developing and providing training content tailored to the sector's training requirements, the aim is to enable an average of 160,000 workers per year to be trained across Europe by 2025.

EIT InnoEnergy was commissioned by the EU Commission to create the EBA Academy together with member states. The Academy will reduce the costs of providing initial training, retraining and further training for workers and will significantly increase the efficiency and quality of continuing education and training measures.

The Academy programmes address the shortage of skilled workers and include online learning modules, in-person training and training manuals.

Priorities and key qualifications are the mining and processing of raw materials, modern materials, cell production, packaging, manufacturing modules, electronic vehicles, storage of stock, balancing electricity supply, and recycling. There is still a high demand for qualified skilled workers in the areas of battery design, battery development, battery tests, certification of mass production, logistics, and production in a highly sterile environment.

The European Battery Alliance was formed by the European Commission in October 2017. Its aim is to make Europe a global market leader for sustainable battery technology. Since it was established, the alliance has grown to include 700 members from industry and has carried out more than 100 major projects in the area of battery technology in the EU.