New-Tech Europe Magazine | February 2018

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Department of Mechanical Engineering While the project’s work will be of benefit to many areas and applications the team are primarily focussing on improving battery packs for electric vehicles. Designing the needed high performance, cheap and safe battery systems requires an in-depth knowledge of materials science and engineering applications. This is why the collaborative team spans seven universities from a wide range of disciplines. “The project will develop the modelling tools that industry need to bridge the gap between the fundamental science and the engineering of battery systems,” says Dr Greg Offer, the Principal Investigator from Imperial’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, “Our focus on battery packs for electric vehicles is because we want to support the growing UK battery industry, which should enable the UK to benefit economically from and promote electric vehicle uptake.”

Key to the project’s work is the group’s “multi-scale” approach. This means the team will produce models from atoms to applications across both length and time scales. They will apply their methodologies to both current and future battery chemistries. The modelling tools will make it easier to design battery systems tailored to the specific product and its proposed use. Electric vehicles and batteries are a very important strand of the Government’s Industrial Strategy. To ensure that the team is supporting that vision they will work with multiple industrial partners to ensure the outputs of the research are useful, useable and valuable. “We are always looking for practical applications, that the fundamental science can be built on to provide insight into larger problems” says Dr Offer, “I expect big things from the team over the next three years with real world impact and solutions being used in academia and industry.”

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi launches a venture capital fund to invest up to $1 billion over five years

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, the world’s leading automotive alliance, announced the launch of Alliance Ventures, a new corporate venture capital fund that plans to invest up to $1 billion to support open innovation over the next five years. In its first year, the fund expects to invest up to $200 million in

benefit from the global scale of the Alliance. This new fund reflects the collaborative spirit and entrepreneurial mind-set at the heart of the Alliance.” The new fund is unique because it offers potential partners access to the global scale and scope of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, which sold more than 10

start-ups and open innovation partnerships with technology entrepreneurs focused on new mobility, including vehicle electrification, autonomous systems, connectivity and artificial intelligence. With further annual investments, Alliance Ventures is set to become the largest corporate venture capital fund in the automotive industry over the period of Alliance 2022, the strategic midterm plan launched last year by Renault- Nissan-Mitsubishi. Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, said: “Our open innovation approach will allow us to invest and collaborate with start- up companies and technology entrepreneurs, who will

million vehicles in 2017 through 10 separate brands with a presence in all major automotive markets. Alliance Ventures will invest in start-ups to bring new technologies and businesses to the Alliance while ensuring a fair financial return. The fund will make strategic investments at all start-up stages and will incubate both new automotive entrepreneurs and forge new partnerships. The first deal by Alliance Ventures will be a strategic investment in Ionic Materials, a promising US-based company which is developing solid-state cobalt-free battery materials. The equity acquisition coincides with the execution of a joint-development agreement with the Alliance for the purpose of R&D cooperation.

18 l New-Tech Magazine Europe