“It is very exciting, and it is also completely in line with our co-creation strategy aiming towards knowledge collaboration with external partners. For our students, it is also a great advantage to have access to an innovation environment like this on campus,” says Sunniva Whittaker, rector at UiA.
Morrow Research Centre (MRC) will be a resource and development centre for the battery plant they are building in Arendal. According to Morrow, they have Norway's largest battery centre. The building contains 2,000 square metres of laboratory facilities and offices over three floors. UiA's battery researchers will have their own office and three laboratories at the centre.
“Morrow's facility on campus gives UiA access to state-of-the-art equipment for the production of batteries on a large scale. In addition, students and staff at UiA will be able to exchange knowledge and experience side by side with Morrow's researchers,” Whittaker says.
Battery initiative at UiA
The research centre will play an important role in the development of new battery technology. Work at the centre will promote cooperation between academia and the battery industry. Here, the University of Agder (UiA) has an important role.
UiA has 13 office spaces at the new research centre. 18 UiA employees are directly linked to the centre. The positions are divided between three full-time professors, five professors in 20 per cent positions, seven doctoral fellows and three other research positions.
In January 2022, the German researcher, Associate Professor Johannes Landesfeind, was appointed to lead UiA's Battery Coast initiative. Landesfeind says that UiA and Morrow have already started a joint project, and that they look forward to continuing to develop the collaboration.
“This collaboration will help us focus on relevant challenges linked to the batteries of the future. The facilities and the collaboration make it possible to work on real problems and go beyond laboratory testing,” Landesfeind says.
Relevant education
The Battery Coast initiative is in close collaboration with Morrow and the business community in the region. The aim is to build research and expertise in the area of battery technology. This autumn, students will be able to choose battery technology as their specialisation both for the bachelor's and master's degrees in renewable energy.
Teaching at master's level starts this autumn, but the bachelor's programme in renewable energy started last year.
For UiA's students, this provides a unique chance for an education relevant to the world of work.
“The region will need many people with battery expertise in the coming years. That is why we focus our education of future battery engineers on the skills required by the battery industry,” says Landesfeind.