Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg is foundation partner
The new African center of excellence for advanced battery research between Export-Akademie and University of Lubumbashi is now launched officially. The signing ceremony was held on 22th April 2022 in Lubumbashi with participation of four minsters from DRC (minister of industry, minister of mining, minister of research & innovation, minister of higher education). As a new non-profit organization, the new institute is also the first official nominated national leading research institute of DRC. Further partners are University of Zambia, Copperbelt University Zambia, Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg and further universities and research centers from Japan. The center will be located in a special economic zone for battery production at the border between DRC and Zambia. In the center industry-related research and education is conducted and the framework for a new high-performance battery is under development. Also, new business models in line with a circular economy approach are investigated and implemented. For this, local and international partners from financial sector and industry are involved.