Accelerate Alliance: Developing Canada’s Battery Innovation Roadmap

Lead Proponent

Accelerate: Canada's ZEV Supply Chain Alliance

Project Background

The goal of this project was to develop Canada’s first comprehensive Battery Innovation Roadmap. The roadmap intended to outline actionable strategies to enhance Canada’s ability to develop, commercialize, and scale domestic battery innovations across both mobile and stationary applications. This included addressing technological challenges, building supply chains, and creating new opportunities for collaboration among key stakeholders.

Results

The Battery Innovation Roadmap project achieved four key results that support Canada in becoming a leader in battery innovation and production by 2035. The project detailed a comprehensive strategy to enhance the development, commercialization, and scale-up of domestic battery innovations.

Key Achievements:

1. Development of a Comprehensive Roadmap
   The roadmap sets out actionable strategies in key areas, such as innovation infrastructure and industrial policy, focusing on building a sustainable battery ecosystem. This includes developing Canada’s capacity in battery research, scaling production, and creating skilled workforce programs.
2. Stakeholder Engagement and Mapping
   A notable achievement is the successful engagement of stakeholders across Canada's battery value chain, including industry leaders, researchers, and policymakers. The creation of an interactive digital map was a standout milestone, allowing for real-time tracking of the battery innovation ecosystem in Canada.
3. Establishment of Metrics and Targets
   The roadmap includes specific metrics, timelines, and targets to guide Canada in becoming a global hub for battery innovation by 2035. These targets cover critical areas such as energy density improvements, cost reductions, and workforce development goals, that could help align efforts across public and private sectors.
4. Global Benchmarking and Strategic Insights
   The project included a global scan and benchmarking exercise, comparing Canada's battery innovation capabilities with other leading jurisdictions. This allowed Canada to identify its strengths, such as access to critical raw materials and world-class research, while also recognizing the need for improvements in scaling innovations domestically.

These results demonstrate a critical domestic battery industry capacity both in size and competency to mobilize strategically and grow an innovative battery industry in Canada.

Benefits to Canada

The Battery Innovation Roadmap is an industry-led road-mapping exercise that proposes recommendations to support Canadian battery innovation. The vision captured by Accelerate states that by 2035, Canada will be a global leader in clean, innovative battery technology and a hub for sustainable battery production in North America. One of the ultimate outcomes of the project is the promotion of emissions reductions in the production and through the use of batteries, which directly supports Canada's climate targets and contributes to a healthier environment for all Canadians.

The Roadmap charts Canada's capacity to develop, commercialize and scale up a sustainable domestic battery innovation ecosystem for both mobile and stationary applications which would drive economic growth. The project also looked at opportunities and actions for innovation across the entire battery value chain, spanning early-stage research and development through commercialization and scale-up, and involving industry, government, universities, small, medium enterprises and other innovation stakeholders, which would generate intellectual property, support skills and workforce development, and could help attract international investment.

Next Steps

To move this project forward, the next critical action would require coordination of key stakeholders from industry, government, and academia to drive the implementation of the roadmap. Such an alliance would focus on aligning efforts across the battery value chain and fostering collaboration in research and development.

Additionally, the Battery Ecosystem Intelligence Dashboard is planned to provide real-time data and insights, tracking the progress of Canada’s battery innovation ecosystem. This tool will guide decision-making and help identify areas where further support is needed.