LG Energy Solution has widened the door for industry-academia cooperation to secure future battery technologies. LG Energy Solution said on Wednesday it will hold its research proposal program, Battery Innovation Contest (BIC) 2026, for universities and research institutes. The application period runs from Wednesday to Dec. 6. All universities and research institutes in and outside South Korea can take part.

BIC is a global research proposal program run by LG Energy Solution. It selects outstanding research projects from universities and research institutes and provides research funding. The company said its in-house researchers provide ongoing feedback and take part in joint research to help academic ideas lead to commercialization.

Applicants can apply through the BRIDGE website, an industry-academia communication system. LG Energy Solution selects recipients after reviewing the proposed research's technology readiness level and potential for commercialization. BRIDGE is a two-way system used jointly by academia and industry, handling project history management and communication support. The company explained it protected the technologies in collaborative projects and reduced offline work.

BIC, which began in 2017, is marking its 10th anniversary this year and expanded research topics to the largest scale ever. Designated topics include cell-condition diagnostic analysis technologies and identifying mechanisms to improve safety, spanning areas from materials to cells, BMS and AI. The company said major business division R&D organizations directly selected topics for joint research.

About 50 research projects have received support through BIC so far. Projects with proven feasibility are expanded into FRL (Frontier Research Laboratory), a joint research center established with universities and research institutes in and outside South Korea. LG Energy Solution provides additional research funding and also deploys research personnel to these projects. Last year, a patent application proceeded for a physical model to increase BMS computing speed, and in 2019 FRL's research on a long-life all-solid-state battery operating at room temperature was published in the journal Science.

Jeyoung Kim (김제영), CTO and executive vice president at LG Energy Solution, said, "If industry and academia join forces, we expect they can lead innovation in the battery industry." He said, "LG Energy Solution will accelerate growth based on differentiated technological competitiveness in the battery market."