A strategic approach to evaluating battery innovation investments

Driven predominantly by public and private innovation, rechargeable batteries have, over a few decades, graduated from powering luxury consumer electronics to becoming one of the linchpins of the energy transition. Rapid adoption trends of batteries must accelerate to meet global net-zero targets for mobility and stationary storage, and will require making sound investments in battery innovation that deliver the most value. Because battery innovation is increasingly complex, multi-disciplinary, and subject to the coordination of stakeholders across academia, industry, government, and the broader public, building common and intuitive frameworks for understanding becomes critical to making progress. In this Perspective, we present and employ five conceptual, descriptive, technical, and social frameworks that, taken together, provide a holistic assessment of innovation opportunities in the battery sector. Finally, we illustrate their implementation as the foundation of the Strategic Approach to Battery Innovation pursued by the Government of Canada's Office of Energy Research and Development.