Our speakers in 2022

Gaurav ASSAT
Strategic Project Manager – EV, Saint-Gobain
Dr. Gaurav Assat is based in Saint-Gobain’s headquarters in Paris, where he is coordinating the EV

Hervé BEUFFE
President, TIAMAT
After 20 years in Industry Management, Hervé Beuffe was appointed CEO of Tiamat in 2020, where he s

Ian BLANCHFLOWER
Sales: Division Microélectronique, ACCELONIX SAS
I am sales manager for micro-assembly processes equipment for ACCELONIX in France with 16 years’ e

Douglas CAMPBELL
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Solid Power
Douglas Campbell is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Solid Power. The company has extensive

Lars CARLSTROM
CEO, ITALVOLT
Italvolt is building the largest and greenest Gigafactory in Europe.
With a capacity

Claude CHANSON
Corporate General Manager, RECHARGE
Claude Chanson is General Manager of the Recharge association. He has an engineering degree from Bor

Guillaume DE VERTHAMON
Market director, AIR LIQUIDE
Air Liquide is a world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health. Guillaume

Klaus EBERHARDT
PhD, Exyte AG
Klaus is a proven technology leader with international experience in the global Battery Industry. He

Yvonne FISCHER
Sales Manager BU Plasma & Heat Staking, bdtronic
Yvonne Fischer, holds a M.A. degree in business administration and linguistics, and is a VDE Sales M

Katja FRÖLICH
Senior Research Engineer, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
Katja Froehlich received her PhD in 2018 in Technical Chemistry from the Technical University of Vie
Gaurav ASSAT
Strategic Project Manager – EV, Saint-Gobain
Dr. Gaurav Assat is based in Saint-Gobain’s headquarters in Paris, where he is coordinating the EV battery strategy for the different BUs of Saint-Gobain, aiming for continuously improving our offering of diverse materials technologies for the full batteries value-chain, ranging from solid-state electrolyte to pack-level components and beyond. Before joining Saint-Gobain, Gaurav did a PhD on high-energy cathode materials with Prof. Jean-Marie Tarascon at ‘Collège de France’ in Paris. For this work, he won the prestigious Prix Paul Caseau. His passion for battery technology initiated 9 years ago at the University of Texas at Austin, home of the Nobel prize in Li-ion batteries.
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Title of his talk:
Saint-Gobain High Performing Solutions for Battery Packs
Hervé BEUFFE
President, TIAMAT
After 20 years in Industry Management, Hervé Beuffe was appointed CEO of Tiamat in 2020, where he started as Industrial Director in 2019.
Mechanical Engineer from Arts et Métiers, his experience in the fields of industrialization and plant construction were identified as necessary skills to bring the technology from lab to market.
Having worked in major international and industrial organisations since 1999 (Crown Cork, Tarkett, Alcan packaging – Albéa), as Quality Manager, Continuous Improvement Manager, Technical Manager and Production Manager, he eventually led the project of raising a factory from greenfield for plastic extruxion/injection cosmetics packaging business.
Since 2019, he puts his industrial expertise to the development of Tiamat, to achieve the market entry of the technology.
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Title of his talk:
Sodium-ion batteries for high power applications
Ian BLANCHFLOWER
Sales: Division Microélectronique, ACCELONIX SAS
I am sales manager for micro-assembly processes equipment for ACCELONIX in France with 16 years’ experience. In this field our solutions cover component assembly from wafer back-end processes through die attach, wirebonding and encapsulation. Our clients are working in fine-assembly processes with scaled needs from detailed research to highly automated solutions for industrial production. Previously I was RF development engineer for 16 years - with posts Philips, Cellon in France, and Panasonic in UK and for mobile phones; and before then for GEC Marconi Research UK on optical communications systems. I have BA Honors degree in Physics from Oxford University in 1986, and PhD in Electronics from University College London 1993.
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Title of his talk:
Accelonix industrial manufacturing processes for battery packs
Douglas CAMPBELL
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Solid Power
Douglas Campbell is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Solid Power. The company has extensive partnerships with both BMW and Ford to jointly develop all-solid-state batteries. In October 2021, Solid Power announced a partnership with SK Innovation to produce Solid Power’s automotive-scale all-solid-state battery cells utilizing Solid Power’s sulfide-based solid electrolyte, proprietary cell designs and production processes. The company was initially funded by prominent investors including Hyundai, Volta Energy Technologies, Umicore, Sanoh, A123 Systems and Solvay. In parallel with establishing Solid Power, he founded i2C Solutions, LLC (“i2C”), a thermal management company, and co-founded Roccor, LLC (“Roccor”), a component supplier for the small satellite industry. i2C and Roccor merged in 2015, with Roccor being the surviving entity. Mr. Campbell served as the Chief Executive Officer of Roccor until the end of 2018 and remained on its board of directors until the company was acquired in late 2020. He began his career in advanced technology development at the Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, NM. Mr. Campbell holds a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering with a Structural Mechanics emphasis from the University of New Mexico.
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Title of his talk:
The Road to a Solid-State-Powered Future: Updates on Automotive Qualification
Lars CARLSTROM
CEO, ITALVOLT
Italvolt is building the largest and greenest Gigafactory in Europe.
With a capacity of 45 GWh by 2024, potentially rising up to 70 GWh, the factory will be built at former industrial site of the iconic Olivetti factory in the heart of Europe’s Motor Valley, Scarmagno in Italy.
The company plans to be a world leader in the circular economy, with a certified green supply chain about to set new standards for green manufacturing. https://www.italvolt.com/
Claude CHANSON
Corporate General Manager, RECHARGE
Claude Chanson is General Manager of the Recharge association. He has an engineering degree from Bordeaux Graduate School of Chemistry and Physics and a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Bordeaux 1.
He joined the Saft Group in 1986 initially as an engineer in research and development and as project manager in the telecommunications and e-mobility sectors, before taking the posts of Division Technical Manager and Director for Li-ion technology. He has been with Recharge for ten years, representing the rechargeable battery industry’s interests at European bodies and international transport organisations, such as UNECE and ICAO.
He has been involved in several EU funded projects, either as a consortium member (such as ELIBAMA project- FP7 or Prosum- H2020), or as scientific adviser (such as SCRREEN, or SABATAIR – H2020).
He his expert in multiple Lithium and other batteries technologies, including R&D, manufacturing and recycling, as well as safety and in depth knowledge of batteries LCA.
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Title of his talk:
Can “sustainability” really becomes the batteries industry competitiveness driver?
Jeff DAHN
Professor in the Department of Physics & Atmospheric Science and the Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University
Jeff Dahn obtained his B.Sc. from Dalhousie University (1978) and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1982. Dahn then worked at NRC (Canada) (82-85) and at Moli Energy (85-90) before taking up a faculty position at Simon Fraser University in 1990. He returned to Dalhousie in 1996. At Moli, he did pioneering work on lithium-ion batteries.
Dahn was appointed as the NSERC/3M Canada Industrial Research Chair in Materials for Advanced Batteries at Dalhousie University in 1996, a position that he held until 2016. In 2016, Dahn began a research partnership with Tesla as the NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair.
Dahn’s research has been recognized by numerous awards including a Governor General’s Innovation Award (2016) and the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal in Science and Engineering (2017), Canada’s top science prize. He is the only person to have been awarded both awards this far. Dahn is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Guillaume DE VERTHAMON
Market director, AIR LIQUIDE
Air Liquide is a world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health. Guillaume is in charge of the strategy and the marketing for the automotive market. He coordinates actions between battery ecosystem, R&D and operations to bring innovative added value solutions to customers. In an open innovation mode, Air Liquide aims at better understanding industrial gas impact on battery quality and sustainability. He graduated from EDHEC business school. He has experience in sales, marketing and strategy in both automotive and industrial gases business.
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Title of his talk:
Industrial gases, A critical role, how to make it more sustainable?
Klaus EBERHARDT
PhD, Exyte AG
Klaus is a proven technology leader with international experience in the global Battery Industry. He has an in depth knowledge of the worldwide battery market, the equipment supplier landscape as well as of the key requirements on how to design and construct cost effective factories. As the Technology Manager for the global Battery Factory business, Klaus supports the various Battery projects from Exyte with the focus of driving down costs for new Factories with innovative solutions and making sure that the most stringent Safety requirements are fulfilled. The scope of services encompasses Consulting such as Site evaluation, Building concept development, Cost estimates, Site Master Planning, Value Engineering, Benchmarking, Safety Concepts and Energy saving concepts followed by the Design and subsequent Construction of the Factories.
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Title of his talk:
Smart Project Approach for the Design and Construction of GigaFactories in Europe
Yvonne FISCHER
Sales Manager BU Plasma & Heat Staking, bdtronic
Yvonne Fischer, holds a M.A. degree in business administration and linguistics, and is a VDE Sales Manager. She has more than 15 years of experience in sales for technical products. Yvonne joined bdtronic in 2012 and is responsible for sales of plasma and heat staking technologies worldwide.
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Title of his talk:
Process solutions for heat staking applications in mass production for battery cells
Katja FRÖLICH
Senior Research Engineer, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
Katja Froehlich received her PhD in 2018 in Technical Chemistry from the Technical University of Vienna for combined studies on Ni-rich NMC cathode materials. Since 2021 she is Senior Research Engineer at the Austrian Institute of Technology and Thematic Coordinator since 2022 within the new Competence Unit named “Battery Technologies”. Her actual research field covers sustainable and efficient production methods for battery manufacturing with special focus on the Li-ion technology, as well as their increased lifetime and safety via Smart Cells development.
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Title of his talk:
Sustainable and Smart Battery Manufacturing at the Austrian Institute of Technology

Raf GOOSSENS
Founder & CEO, PEC CORP
Raf is the founder/CEO of PEC and has been working in the battery industry for over 30 Years. Raf ha

Romain GOUTTEFANGEAS
Business Development Manager, BASF
Romain Gouttefangeas graduated in industrial and power engineering from both National Polytechnic In

Matthew JAMES
President & CEO, Euro Manganese
Matt James is a highly experienced corporate executive in both established global industrials and sm

Tom Einar JENSEN
CEO, FREYR
Tom Einar Jensen (born 1970) is Co-founder and CEO of FREYR Battery, a producer of clean battery sol

Kurt KELTY
VP of Commercialization, Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
Kurt Kelty is the VP of Commercialization at Sila where he leads Business Development, Sales, and Ma

Christina LAMPE-ONNERUD
Founder & CEO, Cadenza Innovation
Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud is renowned for developing and commercializing lithium-ion batteries for

Benoît LEMAIGNAN
Co-founder & CEO, Verkor
Benoit Lemaignan is the co-founder and CEO of Verkor, a new venture launched to accelerate the produ

Dominik LEMBKE
Director Product Development, SVOLT
Dr. Dominik Lembke is Director Product Development at SVOLT Energy Technology Europe GmbH. Before jo
Raf GOOSSENS
Founder & CEO, PEC CORP
Raf is the founder/CEO of PEC and has been working in the battery industry for over 30 Years. Raf has an impressive reference track from the very first battery testing and automation projects with Duracell and Panasonic in the early nineties to being a leading, global supplier in Cell manufacturing with leading players in the energy storage business. Raf was in involved in the design of the very first Lithium Ion factory at Samsung SDD (now SDI) in Cheonan Korea (1998) and has since then been working on basically all existing lithium-based chemistries and celle form factors with most leading battery makers and OEM’s. Raf holds a MSc, in Engineering, is married and has two sons.
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Title of his talk:
Improved cell performance, maximum cell consistency and massive cost reduction in Giga factories.
Romain GOUTTEFANGEAS
Business Development Manager, BASF
Romain Gouttefangeas graduated in industrial and power engineering from both National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine and Mines Paristech in 2011. Until 2019 he worked for Saft in Asia where he held various positions in engineering and business development for railway, ESS and off-road applications of battery systems. 2019, he joined the battery materials business unit of BASF in a business development role at the headquarter in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The course of these assignments brought him in contact with a manifold of technical, applications and strategic related topics e.g., in the Battery, Renewables and Chemical industry. Since 2021, Romain Gouttefangeas is the Global Key Account Manager of the French battery cell makers and OEMs.
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Title of his talk:
European cathode active material to power a net-zero future for E-mobility
Matthew JAMES
President & CEO, Euro Manganese
Matt James is a highly experienced corporate executive in both established global industrials and small growth companies, with extensive experience in the natural resources, chemicals, and environmental services sectors. Matt has extensive experience in developing companies within the global natural resources industry. Previous executive roles include: Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Communications at Lynas Corporation, a specialty metals company; founding Managing Director of Rutila Resources; and Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Harsco Corporation. Matt received a B. Eng. (Hons) degree in Ceramic Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia and a Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering from Queens’ College at the University of Cambridge. He is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Directors.
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Title of his talk:
Developing a New, Green and European Source of Battery-grade Manganese Products: The Chvaletice Manganese Project
Tom Einar JENSEN
CEO, FREYR
Tom Einar Jensen (born 1970) is Co-founder and CEO of FREYR Battery, a producer of clean battery solutions, since 2019. Mr. Jensen is also a Co- Founder and Partner at EDGE a global advisory, investment, and project development firm aiming to catalyse responsible solutions in the sustainability space. Prior to this, Mr. Jensen has served different senior management roles at Norsk Hydro, SYSTEMIQ and Joule Unlimited as well as the CEO role at Agrinos. Mr. Jensen has a master’s degree in business economics from Norwegian School of Economics and Administration in Bergen, Norway. Mr. Jensen is a Norwegian citizen.
Kurt KELTY
VP of Commercialization, Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
Kurt Kelty is the VP of Commercialization at Sila where he leads Business Development, Sales, and Marketing for the Automotive market. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the battery industry, including 11 years at Tesla, where he most recently served as Senior Director of Battery Technology. There he was responsible for leading numerous key initiatives, including setting the company’s battery cell usage strategy, delivering the batteries implemented in the Roadster, Model S/X and Model 3, and leading partnerships and material sourcing efforts at the Gigafactory, among many others. Prior to Tesla, Kelty was Director of Business Development at Panasonic, where he founded the U.S. battery R&D lab. Kelty holds a BA in Biology from Swarthmore College and a Master of Science from Stanford. He is the author of 16 patents.
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Title of his talk:
Sila’s Drop-In Technology Paving the Way for a Sustainable Future
Christina LAMPE-ONNERUD
Founder & CEO, Cadenza Innovation
Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud is renowned for developing and commercializing lithium-ion batteries for the portable electronics, transportation, utilities and industrial markets. She currently serves as Founder and CEO of Cadenza Innovation, a growth-stage company whose novel, patented technology architecture – the ‘superCell’ – is enabling a new generation of safer, higher energy density, lower-cost batteries.
Previously, Dr. Lampe-Onnerud was Founder, CEO and International Chairman of Boston-Power. She grew the battery startup into a global organization with $360+ million in funding, Beijing and Boston technology centers, and multiple Asia-based manufacturing locations. Earlier, Dr. Lampe-Onnerud held executive positions with Bridgewater Associates and Arthur D. Little, where she led the world’s largest non-captive battery lab.
A two-time World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Dr. Lampe-Onnerud previously chaired WEF’s Global Future Council on Energy Technologies. She is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Uppsala University, Sweden and conducted post- doctoral work at MIT.
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Title of his talk:
Building A (Li-)Bridge: Revolutionizing the U.S. Battery Supply Chain
Benoît LEMAIGNAN
Co-founder & CEO, Verkor
Benoit Lemaignan is the co-founder and CEO of Verkor, a new venture launched to accelerate the production capacity of low-carbon batteries in southern Europe, in collaboration with EIT InnoEnergy, Schneider Electric, Capgemini and the Groupe IDEC. Prior to the launch, EIT InnoEnergy brought Benoit on board to build synergies with the European Battery Alliance. An aerospace engineer by training, Benoit is a serial entrepreneur. He previously founded and financed Waga Energy in 2015 and Aniah in 2019. He was also Managing Director of OSER ENR from 2015 to 2019 - a public-private partnership supporting the development of renewable projects. Earlier in his career, Benoit was a strategic advisor at Carbone 4 where his passion for energy and climate-related initiatives took root. From his time at Airbus, Benoit retains a strong drive for innovation and teamwork.
Dominik LEMBKE
Director Product Development, SVOLT
Dr. Dominik Lembke is Director Product Development at SVOLT Energy Technology Europe GmbH. Before joining SVOLT Europe in August 2021, he was the Head of BEV Battery Systems and Technical Project Manager HV Battery BEV at Porsche AG in Weissach. In this role, he was responsible, among other things, for the system integration of battery components as HV battery systems into the vehicle. Dominik Lembke holds a doctorate in science (Dr. sc. ETH) from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He also holds degrees in physics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and an MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs, Paris, Munich & Turin.
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Title of his talk:
The crucial role of battery system integration

Alexander MEISTER
Senior Consultant, P3
Before joining P3 Alexander Meister worked at BatterieIngenieure GmbH for 4 years in the field of ba

Rudy PASTUZAK
Battery Solution Experience Director, 3DS
- 20+ years experience in High-Tech Industry in technical, sales, sales management and strategy fiel

Christophe PILLOT
Director, Avicenne Energy
Christophe has built up considerable expertise in the area of battery market. He joined AVICENNE 25

Bertrand RUPIN
Head of Business Development Energy Storage, Ahlstrom-Munksjo France
2018 – Present: Head of Business Development Energy Storage Ahlstrom-Munksjo, France 2009
Alexander MEISTER
Senior Consultant, P3
Before joining P3 Alexander Meister worked at BatterieIngenieure GmbH for 4 years in the field of battery testing and diagnostics for major OEMs. At P3, he is now an expert in low and high voltage battery systems for automotive and aviation applications (eVTOL). His projects encompass technical benchmarks, battery cell & system testing and battery pack development. Alexander Meister received his academic degree M. Sc. in Industrial Engineering - Electrical Power Engineering from RWTH Aachen University.
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Title of his talk:
Cell behavior at low temperatures and the importance of preconditioning

Rudy PASTUZAK
Battery Solution Experience Director, 3DS
- 20+ years experience in High-Tech Industry in technical, sales, sales management and strategy fields.
- Covered Semiconductors, Telecom, Broadcasting, EDA, MCAD, PLM, Batteries disciplines.
- Focusing on the battery business since last 6 years about strategy, product definition, go-to-market, sales support at Dassault Systèmes. Mostly around Battery Cell Design, Engineering, Manufacturing, Digital Twin of Factories and LCA.
- Worked at companies such as Dassault Systèmes (10Y), Thomson Video Networks/Grass Valley (2Y), Cadence Design Systems (6Y), NXP/VLSI (5Y)...
- Graduated from ESEO EEE major in 1995
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Title of his talk:
Connect the Product/Process/Factory : the story of the Virtual Twin Experience of a Battery

Christophe PILLOT
Director, Avicenne Energy
Christophe has built up considerable expertise in the area of battery market. He joined AVICENNE 25 years ago and spent 3 years in Japan making analysis on the Electronic, Mobile & Japanese battery market. Christophe gained large experience in marketing, strategy analysis, technology and financial studies for the battery and power management fields. He developed the battery market analysis for AVICENNE which counts more than 250 customers worldwide. Christophe published several annual surveys like "The rechargeable battery market 2019-2030". He is also the founder & chairman of Batteries congress in France since 1999. He is now Director of AVICENNE ENERGY.
Bertrand RUPIN
Head of Business Development Energy Storage, Ahlstrom-Munksjo France
2018 – Present: Head of Business Development Energy Storage Ahlstrom-Munksjo, France 2009 – 2017: Business/Product/Key Account Manager, Building NonWovens/Glass Ahlstrom-Munksjo, France 2004 – 2008: Sales and Marketing Manager Ahlstrom-Munksjo, USA 2000 – 2003: Product/Business Development Parchment Ahlstrom-Munksjo, France - Master Management of Technology and Innovation, Grenoble Ecole de Management, 2018 - Master of Science in paper making, Pagora, Grenoble, 1997 - Master of Science in analyze, control and manufacturing of materials, Aix-Marseille University III
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Title of his talk:
Ahlstrom-Munksjo FortiCell® : Performance of a thermally stable fiber based Li-ion battery separator

Jonathan SALLE
Engineer, Head of Batteries Expertise Center, CREPIM
Graduated as materials sciences engineer in 2019 from Polytech Lille (France). I joined CREPIM’s d

Volker SCHUMAN
General Manager for Battery Sales, Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH
Volker joined Toshiba in 1999. Before moving to the battery division in 2021, he was responsible for

Philipp SCHURIG
Leak Detection Business Development Manager, Pfeiffer Vacuum
Dr. Philipp Schurig is helping his customers to successfully solve their demanding leak detection ch

Salil SOMAN
Vice President, Business Development BrightVolt
Salil Soman is Vice President of Business Development at BrightVolt, a Seattle area based company wo

Jean-Marie TARASCON
Professor, Chair of Solid-State Chemistry and Energy, Collège de France
Jean-Marie Tarascon is a specialist of Solid-State Chemistry. He started his carrier in the U.S., fi

Pierre TRAN VAN
Battery research team leader, Renault Group
Pierre Tran-Van is a chemistry engineer (Chimie Paristech school, 1996) and PhD in materials science

Yann VINCENT
Chief Executive Officer, Automotive Cells Company
Yann Vincent has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of ACC on Sept 03rd, 2020. Graduate of the P

Stephan WALTER
Director Emerging Business, Innovation & Business Lead, Stora Enso, Biomaterials Innovation
Stephan has a solid research technology background and engineering studies in mechanical, industrial

Kevin WHEELER
Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Kevin Wheeler is a partner in the Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley offices of Latham & Watkins an

Jean-Baptiste ZALMANSKI
CATL, General Manager France
After working for 10 years in the chemistry industry mainly in production positions, he has been wor
Jonathan SALLE
Engineer, Head of Batteries Expertise Center, CREPIM
Graduated as materials sciences engineer in 2019 from Polytech Lille (France). I joined CREPIM’s development department as project manager and practitioner engineer in 2020. I have worked on the study of the reaction to internal and external fire hazard of lithium-ion battery. According to the different international standard, I have contributed to the implementation of batteries fire reaction tests within CREPIM. I’m currently working on the development of battery material test method and on the development of the new test Hall of CREPIM dedicated to lithium-ion abuse tests. I’m also a member of CREPIM’s test development in which I’m in relation with our customers, with the mission of advising and providing them offers to perform fire tests according to international standards, allowing them to obtain certification on their products.
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Title of his talk:
Fire Safety: E-Mobility and qualification of battery safety performance
Volker SCHUMAN
General Manager for Battery Sales, Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH
Volker joined Toshiba in 1999. Before moving to the battery division in 2021, he was responsible for the automotive systems marketing group and headed the automotive and industrial sales teams for semiconductors.
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Title of his talk:
The benefits of LTO batteries for heavy duty applications

Philipp SCHURIG
Leak Detection Business Development Manager, Pfeiffer Vacuum
Dr. Philipp Schurig is helping his customers to successfully solve their demanding leak detection challenges to reach the desired level of quality and security of their products or production processes. His deep scientific (Dr. Rer. Nat. in Nature Science) enables him to find the right approach and solution for a given complex problem. In addition, his M.B.A. helps to identify the optimum solution with the right balance between economic and ecological consequences. This was, and is, well appreciated by his customers and colleagues within the automotive industry.
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Title of his talk:
Safety and lifetime of batteries: tackling the tightness challenge
Salil SOMAN
Vice President, Business Development BrightVolt
Salil Soman is Vice President of Business Development at BrightVolt, a Seattle area based company working on a disruptive new solid-state lithium ion battery technology.
Prior to joining BrightVolt, Soman was Vice President of Business Development at Natron Energy, where he led corporate business development activities for their Sodium-Ion battery technology in datacenter and telecom UPS, electric forklift, and stationary grid storage markets. Previously at ZincFive (formerly, PowerGenix), he was in charge of strategic marketing and commercialization of Nickel-Zinc battery products as their Vice President of Product Marketing. Soman carries more than 20 years of experience across multiple battery technologies, and at ZincFive, was also responsible in the past for the design, development and integration of battery systems in power tool, military, transportation, and UPS applications. Prior to ZincFive, Soman spent several years in key engineering management positions at BASF Corporation (formerly, Ovonic Battery Company) and at Robert Bosch Battery Systems, the largest tier-1 supplier to major automotive manufacturers worldwide.
He holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Colorado. A private pilot, Mr. Soman enjoys his weekends exploring California’s deserts, mountains and coastline with family and friends, when it’s time to recharge his own batteries.
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Title of his talk:
Platform Polymer Matrix Electrolyte (PME®) Technology for Solid-State Lithium Ion Batteries
Jean-Marie TARASCON
Professor, Chair of Solid-State Chemistry and Energy, Collège de France
Jean-Marie Tarascon is a specialist of Solid-State Chemistry. He started his carrier in the U.S., first at Cornell University (1980), and subsequently at Bell Labs and Bellcore until 1994. He then became professor at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne and director of the Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides (LRCS UMR CNRS 7314) in Amiens.
In 2011, he founded the French Research Network on Electrochemical Energy Storage (RS2E), a CNRS research federation grouping together industrial and academic actors in the battery and supercapacitor fields.
Among his first research topics were the electronic properties of Chevrel phases as well as their ability to insert alkali cations. At the end of the 1980’s, Jean-Marie Tarascon headed the chemistry group at Bellcore and worked at high Tc cuprates supraconductors and the role of oxygen non-stoichiometry, cationic substitutions, magnetism or structure modulation. He thereafter came back to electrochemistry and became a globally recognized specialist on energy storage.
Jean-Marie Tarascon’s credits as a battery researcher include the development of a plastic and flexible Li-ion battery. Since he moved back to France, he has been working on advanced technologies for tomorrow’s batteries, enlisting the development of new “chimie douce” synthesis routes for battery materials, Li-rich layered materials, metal-air batteries and electrocatalytic reactions as well as redox flow systems and other technologies beyond Li-ion batteries (for instance Na-ion batteries).
He accepted the Chair of Solid-State Chemistry and Energy (Chimie du Solide et Energie) at the Collège de France in 2014, where he has been a professor since.
Pierre TRAN VAN
Battery research team leader, Renault Group
Pierre Tran-Van is a chemistry engineer (Chimie Paristech school, 1996) and PhD in materials science (Versailles University, 2000, funded by Corning).
He was assistant professor at Versailles university and witnessed the new spark in electric vehicle interest whilst creating and coordinating a Master course on photovoltaics, fuel cells and batteries.
He joined Renault in 2011 in the research division and became battery research team leader in 2016. Since 2021 he is electrochemistry expert.
Yann VINCENT
Chief Executive Officer, Automotive Cells Company
Yann Vincent has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of ACC on Sept 03rd, 2020. Graduate of the Paris Ecole Centrale (1980) and holder of an MBA from INSEAD (1989), Yann Vincent joined Renault in 1982 where he held various functions. He became Director of Quality in 2005 and Chief Operating Officer of AvtoVAZ in March 2008 and joined Alstom Transport in 2009 where he was appointed Chief operating Performance and Member of the Executive Committee. From June 2014 to August 2020 he was lndustrial Director of Groupe PSA.
Stephan WALTER
Director Emerging Business, Innovation & Business Lead, Stora Enso, Biomaterials Innovation
Stephan has a solid research technology background and engineering studies in mechanical, industrial and fiber engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He is a Dr.-Ing. in polymer fiber technology on smart sensor fibers. Today Stephan leads the Innovation and product development at Stora Enso Innovation center for biomaterials, carbon fiber technology and lignin-based products. He is also leading the emerging business unit of bio-based carbon for energy storage platform.
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Title of his talk:
Sustainably and locally sourced active carbon anode material for lithium-ion batteries
Kevin WHEELER
Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Kevin Wheeler is a partner in the Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley offices of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice.
Mr. Wheeler serves as lead counsel for technology, medical device, and chemical companies of all sizes in their most important, high stakes intellectual property disputes, most of which encompass numerous jurisdictions and causes of action. He has successfully resolved dozens of competitor disputes, including numerous trials and more than 20 cross-border investigations at the International Trade Commission (ITC).
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Title of his talk:
Strategic IP Considerations of Batteries
Jean-Baptiste ZALMANSKI
CATL, General Manager France
After working for 10 years in the chemistry industry mainly in production positions, he has been working since 2001 in the automotive industry acting for major Tier 1 supliers in project, sales and marketing departments.
He joined CATL mid 2018 as French Office General Manager.
