Strength through cooperation: NRW Minister of Culture and Science visits MEET

The Minister for Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, visited the MEET Battery Research Center of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU) and the Helmholtz-Institute Münster (HI MS) of Forschungszentrum Jülich on Wednesday (January 9). In addition to the current research projects, she was particularly interested in the cooperation between the two battery research institutions within NRW and beyond.

Prof. Dr. Johannes Wessels, Rector of the WWU, also regarded strength through cooperation as an important success criterion: "Particularly in research topics that involve several scientific disciplines and are highly relevant for industry, the added value of inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation cannot be overestimated.

Battery materials and cell research in the MEET and HI MS is without doubt one of these disciplines. "Until an electric car can roll across the street or an electric vacuum cleaner can help in the household, the materials, components and associated processes must be optimized and coordinated. It is not enough to develop a cathode, anode or electrolyte. Rather, we have to optimize the cell system as a whole," says Prof. Dr. Martin Winter, scientific director of MEET and founding director of HI MS, "We are firmly convinced that we are on the right track with our holistic, systemic approach, which we also pursue in our collaborations, and this is continuously confirmed by the good results of our collaborative projects.”