Seven UK universities have been named as members of a consortium to spearhead national research and development of the battery industry under the government-backed Faraday Challenge investment programme.
The GBP246 million ($323.3m) first phase of investment in the Faraday Challenge was announced earlier this year to boost innovation and the “scale-up of battery technology” as part of the government’s wider industrial strategy in the run-up to Brexit.
The universities that will form the Faraday Battery Institute— a new GBP65m ($85.4m) research institute tasked with “building the UK’s status as a global leader in battery research and technology”— are Imperial College London, Newcastle University, University College London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Southampton and University of Warwick.
The Institute’s administrative centre will be based at the Harwell Science and Innovation campus in Oxfordshire— adjacent to the UK’s former centre for atomic energy research and development.
UK business secretary Greg Clarke (pictured) said the move will “cement our position as the ‘go-to’ destination for battery technology so we can exploit the global transition to a low carbon economy”.
Clarke said the Institute “will have a critical role in fostering innovative research collaboration between our world-leading universities and world-beating businesses to make this technology more accessible and more affordable”.