RWTH Frontier Workshop

The Frontier

Europe’s energy transition is gaining speed – calling for holistic action spanning all actors and disciplines. RWTH Aachen University is uniquely placed to push this forward, as we bring excellence across the entire raw material lifecycle. From upstream mining to downstream recycling. From system design to deep tech innovation. Together with you, we can support Europe’s growing momentum. By connecting to identify and tackle critical challenges. By defining the key tasks for corporate and systemic resilience – starting with batteries.

The Workshop

	ALIGN
	Develop a common position across science and insustry, directly feeding into EU and national policymaking through our established contacts.
	FUND
	Explore how public funding and private capital can be combinded to accelerate progress and scale promising solutions.
	SUSTAIN
	Identify shared interests, combine capabilities, and lay the foundation for joint initiatives and future funding consortia. Move from dialogue to delivery.

Our Two-Day Journey

Over two days — from lunch to lunch — you will be able to actively engage in strategic impulses, cross-sector dialogue, and collaborative working sessions. Together, we will explore how to translate insights into action and strengthen systemic resilience.

DAY 1

• Exploring the collaboration space
  Setting the stage and exploring attendants’ positioning within the material lifecycle.
• Frontier Impulses
  Expert input on raw material systems, battery value chains, and future resilience.
• Working Session: Action Fields
  Identifying key challenges and mapping opportunity spaces.
• Networking Dinner

DAY 2

• Working Session: Barriers & Enablers
  Surfacing obstacles, missing links, and system-level levers for change
• Working Session: Platform Development
  Co-creating future collaboration formats, surfacing policy input, and exploring pathways for joint initiatives and funding
• Taking results from the boardroom to the road
  Synthesising insights, outlining next steps, and identifying potential roles for future engagement

Scientific Leads

• PRIMARY RAW MATERIAL EXTRACTION, MINING PROCESSES
  Prof. Elisabeth Clausen | Advanced Mining Technologies
• CHEMICAL PROCESSES IN RAW MATERIAL REFINING AND BATTERY CHEMISTRY
  Prof. Matthias Wessling | Chemical Process Engineering & Prof. Andreas Jupke | Fluid Process Engineering
• BATTERY RESEARCH, CELL CHEMISTRY, AGEING, AND DEGRADATION PROCESSES
  Prof. Dirk Uwe Sauer | Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage Systems & Prof. Egbert Figgemeier | Ageing Processes and Lifetime Prediction of Batteries
• THERMODYNAMICS AND INTEGRATION OF BATTERY SYSTEMS IN VEHICLE APPLICATIONS
  Prof. Stefan Pischinger | Thermodynamics of Mobile Energy Conversion Systems
• BATTERY PRODUCTION, CELL AND MODULE MANUFACTURING, AND SECOND-LIFE STRATEGIES
  Prof. Achim Kampker & Prof. Heiner Heimes | Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components
• METALLURGY AND RECYCLING PROCESSES FOR THE RECOVERY OF CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS
  Prof. Bernd Friedrich | Process Metallurgy and Metal Recycling
• SYSTEM ANALYSES, CIRCULAR ECONOMY, AND SUSTAINABLE & RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAINS
  Prof. Grit Walther | Operations Management
• SCALING EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FROM LAB TO MARKET
  Prof. Michael Riesener | Deep Tech Innovation