European recognition for battery material innovation from PCC Thorion and its research partners
The SCIONb project team around PCC Thorion has been nominated for the EIT Awards 2026 in the Innovation Team Award category. This means that a project working on a key technology for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries is receiving European attention.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology has selected a total of 19 nominees for the EIT Awards 2026. It recognises innovators and teams whose work contributes to a more innovative and competitive Europe.
New batteries need new materials
SCIONb stands for “Silicon Carbon Composite Production for Lithium Ion Batteries”. Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the University of Freiburg and the University of Duisburg-Essen, PCC Thorion is developing a silicon-carbon composite as a high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The project is supported by EIT RawMaterials.
The technology is meeting a rapidly growing strategic need. Batteries are not only needed for electromobility, but increasingly also for stationary energy storage and other industrial applications. The European Commission therefore sees the battery industry as crucial for Europe’s competitiveness, energy security and industrial resilience.
At the same time, international competition is intensifying. Europe’s challenge is therefore not only to produce its own battery cells. Europe must also develop and industrially master the materials and technologies for future battery generations.
This is exactly where SCIONb comes in.
From research to industrial application
Silicon has a significantly higher theoretical storage capacity than conventional graphite. The combination of silicon and carbon should make this potential usable for more powerful lithium-ion batteries.
For PCC Thorion, this has been about more than material development from the very beginning. The goal is a scalable and competitive industrial solution with European added value. The company is pursuing an integrated approach from the raw material to the usable anode active material as well as a modular production concept for further scaling.
The nomination for the EIT Innovation Team Award 2026 thus also recognizes the interplay of excellent research, material and process development and industrial implementation.
For PCC Thorion and its partners, the nomination is a great recognition of what they have achieved together. At the same time, it is an incentive for the next step: to bring innovative battery materials from Europe into industrial application.
After all, the future of the European battery industry will not be decided in the cell factories alone. It starts with the materials.
