£80m battery centre looks to power up with first wave of recruits
The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has begin the recruitment process for 25 technical positions at the £80m facility, ahead of it opening in 2020.
UKBIC will employ around 100 people when it is fully operational. It is looking to recruit staff from a diverse talent pool, many of which will be from other industries outside battery experts.
The centre will deliver on the UK’s industrial strategy to develop necessary processes to transition the UK in becoming a global leader in the design, development and manufacture of batteries through collaborative R&D between industry and academia.
Jeff Pratt, the managing director of UKBIC said: “This is a great opportunity to be involved and play a significant role, from the start of our journey, working with industry to develop our future battery technology. We are keen to attract a diverse range of talent and believe that the technology and processes in UKBIC are similar to other manufacturing and process industries.
“Therefore we are keen to talk not only to battery experts who have experience in related process and production technologies across other sectors, who would like to transfer their skills into battery process technology.”
As part of the government’s Faraday Battery Challenge, UKBIC – a £246m commitment over the next four years on battery development – will work on developing the next generation of battery systems across battery chemistry, electrodes, cell design, module and pack process technologies.
The Centre is the outcome of a joint bid by WMG (Warwick University), Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Coventry City Council.
Tony Harper, Industrial Strategy Challenge Director for the Faraday Battery Challenge at UK Research and Innovation added: “The UKBIC will be instrumental in helping the UK realise its ambition to create a world class battery industry at the cutting edge of technology. For anyone with relevant skills and ambition it represents an outstanding opportunity to develop their careers in a vital field for the future.”
