The 2026 International Energy Storage Battery Conference opened grandly in Yichang, Hubei Province, on May 26th 2026. Centered on the theme “New Opportunities, New Scenarios, New Value”, the event was hosted by the China Energy Research Society and co-organized by the People's Government of Yichang, Yichang Association for Science and Technology and other institutions. It brought together academicians, experts, leading entrepreneurs from across the industrial chain, and representatives of international industrial organizations from China and abroad, who held in-depth discussions on technological innovation and the industrial development of energy storage.

European professors from the China-EU Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy (ICARE)—Prof. Christian BEAUGER from Mines Paris-PSL and Senior Researcher Jolanta SWIATOWSKA from Chimie ParisTech-PSL—attended the opening ceremony. Together with top scholars and industry leaders from around the world, they witnessed the launch of the conference.

On the afternoon of the same day, the 2026 International Symposium on Cutting-edge Technologies and Applications of Energy Storage Batteries, a key session of the event, was held. With the theme “Dual Innovation Drives Energy Storage Transformation”, the symposium consisted of two sub-forums: “International Cutting-edge Energy Storage Battery Technologies” and “Entrepreneurs' Strategies & Case Studies”, focusing respectively on fundamental research advances and industrial practices. Prof. Christian BEAUGER and Prof. Jolanta SWIATOWSKA delivered academic presentations at the forum on cutting-edge technologies.

 Focusing on green hydrogen production technologies, Prof. Christian BEAUGER delivered a presentation titled Aerogel-based Electrode Materials to Lower the Iridum Content in PEM Water Electrolysis for Green Hydrogen Production. He presented the latest research findings on the use of aerogel-based electrode materials to reduce iridium consumption and improve the efficiency of hydrogen production through PEM water electrolysis.

He noted that metal oxide aerogels such as TiO₂ and SnO₂ can be developed as catalyst supports with high specific surface areas, effectively replacing conventional pure iridium oxide catalysts. Under practical operating conditions, these materials can greatly reduce iridium loading while maintaining excellent oxygen evolution reaction performance, offering a critical technical solution for low-cost and sustainable green hydrogen production.

In the field of interfacial research for energy storage batteries, Jolanta SWIATOWSKA gave a speech entitled Probing Electrode-Electrolyte Interfaces in Batteries Using Surface Analytical Techniques. She systematically explained how advanced surface-sensitive techniques can be used to conduct precise chemical and structural characterization of buried interfaces in liquid and solid-state battery systems. She pointed out that an in-depth understanding of electrochemical processes at electrode-electrolyte interfaces is essential for developing next-generation liquid and solid-state batteries with high energy density.

The conference also attracted scholars from Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Tianjin University and other universities, as well as representatives from leading energy storage enterprises including HiNa Battery, Gotion High-Tech, NIO Power and CORNEX New Energy. Participants held in-depth discussions on industry-university-research collaboration, technological industrialization pathways, and market changes in the energy storage sector.

 This participation fully demonstrates ICARE’s academic influence in the global cutting-edge field of energy storage and further strengthens its ties with academic and industrial communities in China and abroad. Adhering to the development philosophy of integrating industry with education and combining science with education, ICARE will continue to align international research cooperation with local industrial demands. The institute will actively support China’s dual carbon goals and the high-quality development of the energy storage industry, contributing its expertise and efforts to the construction of a global zero-carbon ecosystem.