PRAGUE – On Monday, October 21st, the Czech Battery Cluster (CBC) organized a public conference focused on the opportunities in the battery industry, specifically in Central Bohemian Region and the Capital City of Prague. The conference took place in cooperation with the Central Bohemian Innovation Center (SIC), the Czech Invest technology agency and under the auspices of Mr. Zdeněk Hřib, the First Deputy Mayor of Prague.
Issues of mining raw materials for batteries, refining the materials obtained in this way, the production of batteries themselves, their subsequent assembly into battery modules and battery systems, output testing, the first life of batteries, continuous safety measurement, but also the second life and subsequent recycling of batteries. All these aspects of the battery chain, as perceived by the CBC, represent opportunities for research, applied research, production, but also trade and related services.
Ten experts representing the members of the Czech Battery Cluster and affiliated organizations residing in Central Bohemian Region and the Capital City of Prague presented and discussed these topics in the beautiful premises of the Clam-Gallas Palace. An introduction to the issue of batteries was presented in the form of a cross-sectional lecture on the development of battery technologies, but also economic and geostrategic issues, by Assoc. Prof. Tomas Kazda, the Czech scientist in this field working at BUT Brno and at the same time the Chairman of the Czech Battery Cluster. A total of three discussion panels then enabled the active participation of the audience – a number of questions were received regarding the offer of public support to Czech innovation entities presented by Jana Kolomaznikova from Central Bohemian Innovation Center and Filip Kruta from CzechInvest.
The hot topic of the legislation currently still under development on charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, which the audience was able to discuss in detail with an expert in this field Mr. Lukáš Folbrecht, the Secretary of Electric Vehicle Platform, caused a great reaction at the end of the event. The event was overall evaluated as very beneficial by the participants both in terms of the breadth of the topics discussed and their establishment in the local context. The Czech Battery Cluster is already working on the next public event in the spring 2025 in one of the other regions of the Czech Republic.