SEOUL – – October 29, 2026 -- LG Energy Solution (KRX: 373220) has opened submissions for the Battery Innovation Contest 2026 (BIC 2026), inviting universities and research institutions worldwide to submit concept proposals between October 29 and December 6, 2026.
Proposals go through the company's online open innovation platform, BRIDGE. Priority goes to ideas that address key pain points in the battery industry and could accelerate technological advancement.
LG Energy Solution expands thematic research topics for the 2026 call
BIC 2026 keeps two tracks. Under the Thematic call, LG Energy Solution's product development departments define specific research topics. The company has significantly expanded the number of topics this year, covering materials, cells, battery management systems (BMS) and AI.
The Open-Topic call stays researcher-led and accepts original ideas across broad areas of battery technology.
Two-stage review limits the detail applicants must disclose up front
Applicants first submit a concise concept proposal. Only shortlisted applicants submit a full proposal. LG Energy Solution says the limited detail required in the first round protects ideas that are not selected.
BRIDGE will manage all proposals and later research projects. The company says the platform streamlines industry-academia communication and project record management, protects collaborative research technologies and minimizes offline administrative work.
About 50 projects supported since 2017, with one result published in Science
The contest is now in its 10th year. Approximately 50 research projects have received support since 2017. Topics with proven feasibility move into the Frontier Research Laboratory (FRL), the company's joint research center with universities and research institutions in Korea and abroad. The FRL provides additional research funding and in-depth support from company researchers.
A patent application is underway for a physics-based model, developed in a BIC project last year, that improves BMS computation speed. In 2019, FRL research on a long-life all-solid-state battery operating at room temperature was published in the journal Science.
"By joining forces, industry and academia can drive innovation across the battery industry," said Je-Young Kim, CTO of LG Energy Solution.