The Australian
Battery Society –
leading the push for
local, world-leading
battery tech
Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick (POF) was proud to host the
Australian Battery Society’s (ABS) national online meeting
this year on 28 and 29 October. The meeting featured a
number of presentations from highly recognised members
of the wider battery tech community. POF is delighted to
be a foundational sponsor of ABS, and to be supporting
the growth of the battery industry in Australia.

Inspire December 2021
We asked the ABS about how the organisation was formed,
its long-term goals for battery technology in Australia, and
the significance of the upcoming International Meeting on
Lithium Batteries (IMLB) being held in Sydney in June 2022…
6



The first awards will be announced
in late January 2022. It’s just the
start for ABS and our grand vision
of supporting the creation of a
globally competitive battery
industry in Australia.

Registration and
abstract submission
are now open for the
IMLB2022 and we
invite you to join the
IMLB in celebrating its
21st birthday with us.

As noted earlier, we are hosting the
21st IMLB from 26 June to 1 July
2022, at the International Convention
Centre in Sydney. As the premier
research meeting on lithium ion
and next generation batteries,
we are looking forward to hosting
five Plenary speakers, including
the co-winner of the 2019 Nobel
Prize in Chemistry, Prof. M. Stanley
Whittingham, who is credited with
key discoveries that have enabled
lithium-ion batteries as we know
them today. Our other plenary
speakers include Prof. Clare Grey
(Cambridge University, UK), Prof.

Jeff Dahn (Dalhousie University,
Canada), Prof. Atsuo Yamada (Tokyo
University, Japan) and Australia’s Prof.

Maria Forsyth (Deakin University).

A further 76 speakers, headlined
by Prof. Alan Finkel, Special Advisor
to the Australian Government on
Low Emissions Technology, will
cover topics including policy in
various countries, mining of battery
metals, cathode and anode materials
development, cell fabrication,
next generation batteries including
all-solid-state systems, recycling,
and more, to give attendees a world
leading view of the field.

One of the key features of the IMLB
is the vibrant poster sessions that
occur on three days of the meeting.

These sessions, covering the same
topic areas described above, are an
important part of the dissemination
of scientific information, but also
a great opportunity for attendees
to network and rekindle old
relationships and develop new
ones. As part of this meeting,
it is our intention to have invited
posters to highlight key researchers
and their research activities.

The meeting is also known for its
exhibition program, highlighting
battery, materials and scientific
equipment suppliers. Here is an
opportunity for delegates to meet
with those companies, find out about
the latest innovations in battery
characterisation tools and more.

Registration and abstract submission
are now open for the IMLB2022 and
we invite you to join the IMLB in
celebrating its 21st birthday with us.

As the world’s battery community
gathers in Australia, now is a great
time to come and hear about the
latest innovations in electrochemical
energy storage that will power
a cleaner, greener and renewable
future for the world. A successful
IMLB will leave a legacy, as any
profit from the meeting will be
used to support ABS to continue
to promote battery storage of all
types in Australia.

We look forward to welcoming you.

POF is a Foundational Sponsor of the
ABS, Graphite Level IMLB Sponsor
and the official IP attorneys for the
IMLB2022. Inspire December 2021
ABS: In 2018, Assoc. Prof. Neeraj
Sharma (UNSW), Dr. Rosalind
Gummow (James Cook University),
Prof. Shirley Meng (University of
California, San Diego) and
Dr. Adam Best (CSIRO) pitched
to the Board of the IMLB in Kyoto,
Japan, to host the meeting in Sydney,
2022. It was our third attempt,
and this time we were successful.

From this decision, ABS was born.

Dr. Adam Best, Assoc. Prof.

Neeraj Sharma and Dr. Rosalind
Gummow founded ABS due to
a key condition of the contract
to host the IMLB meeting.

One third of any profit from the
meeting is required to be donated
to an entity that is committed to
the promotion of electrochemical
energy storage technologies.

After reviewing the available
societies and interest groups in
Australia that are associated with
electrochemical energy storage, the
team felt that there was no existing
group that was ideally placed to
support this outcome. Consequently,
the ABS was born with the vision to:
… build a strong, vibrant battery
community, interconnected across
the full battery value chain, and
encompassing industry, academia,
policy makers and members of
the public, to support a globally
competitive battery industry sector.

Since the founding of ABS, we have
developed a constitution, website,
and have held two events including
a recent online conference
generously supported by POF.

The meeting featured speakers from
across the country, speaking on
topics across the value chain with
approximately 150 people registering
to be part of it. We have also
announced the creation of the
ABS Energy Renaissance Innovator
Award, which offers 10 x $2500
awards to support the ABS vision
to build greater capacity in batteries
across the battery value chain.

7