Our commitment to partner with leading international science institutions and connect Australian innovation to global markets through strategic partnerships, is exemplified through our Master Research Collaboration Agreement (MRCA) with Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
As a flagship of the MRCA, the A*STAR-CSIRO Research-Industry (2+2) Partnership aims to solve challenges faced by Australia and Singapore in areas relevant to the green economy, through a unique blend of collaboration across borders, between research institutions and industry.
About the program
The 2+2 Program serves to strengthen efforts in research and innovation between Singapore and Australia and to create opportunities to build networks for mutual market access and sustainable economic alliance.
The 2+2 Program calls for the partnership of researchers from CSIRO and the Singaporean innovation ecosystem (two research teams), with an industry collaborator in both Singapore and Australia (two industry teams).
Successful research projects will address one or more of the following themes:
- Food (alternative proteins, plant genetics for urban food production)
- Digital environment (urban environment management)
- Future of materials in advanced manufacturing
- Circular economy and low emission technologies (renewable energy, biofuels, CCUS).
Benefits of the 2+2 program
Through the 2+2 Program participants:
- Access information, techniques and research capability not currently available within CSIRO.
- Secure grant funding to progress research
- Build relationships with industry, both domestically and internationally.
- Bring benefit to the Australian population by helping to establish industries in Australia and allow for acceleration at pace
- Tackle shared problems, working collaboratively to create more impact.
2+2 Program highlight: Towards a Circular Economy for Lithium Ion Batteries project
The opportunity
With a rise in green energy, Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) technology has seen tremendous growth via consumer electronics, electric vehicles and grid storage applications.
Unfortunately, many items using LIB technology are disposed of in landfill, which can have a detrimental effect on the environment. There is also a lost opportunity in reusing their constitute materials, as the precursors used to produce LIBs are increasing in price.
The solution
To address this challenge CSIRO, A*STAR and industry partners SK tes (a global leader in IT asset disposition, e-waste recycling and battery recycling with operations in Singapore, Australia and globally) have partnered to create the Towards a Circular Economy for Lithium Ion Batteries project, a collaboration supported by the CSIRO-A*STAR Research-Industry (2+2) Partnership.
The initiative looks at supply chain improvements in manufacturing and industrial processes with an objective to recover materials from End of Life (EoL) batteries to supply new LIBs or other fine chemical products.
The collaboration allows Singapore and Australia to utilize each other’s strengths. The combined expertise of both teams spans techno-economic analysis and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), battery diagnostics and battery recycling, and has provided a strong foundation for the project to combat shared challenges, addressing technical and commercial gaps to develop an economic model for the LIB supply chain.
The impact
This initiative addresses both countries' interest in circular economies, sustainability, reducing waste, energy consumption and emissions.
Technology landscaping reports developed through the project have helped SK tes to shortlist green technology for investment, development and adoption.
SK tes will use the LCA report of the pilot process housed at their battery recycling facility in Singapore when expanding production capacity globally, with Australia firmly in their future plans.
SK tes has been awarded a grant from the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to build a facility in Newcastle to test, repurpose and recycle LIBs from solar energy systems, EVs and portable devices.The new battery treatment facility in Newcastle is projected to generate upwards of 20 green jobs and to handle some 2,000 tons per year of end-of-life LIB units. This includes 800 tons per year from Australia's large and growing solar energy storage battery
The project has also opened the door for future experimental projects with regional battery recyclers for their process upgrading and product transformation.
Thoughts from our participants
"The 2+2 program takes the unique perspectives of all parties allowing for more innovative and creative solutions. Involving both an international science agency and industry partner allows us to capitalise on their experience and expertise to help accelerate our research to build markets and tackle global problems in the energy storage supply chain in Australia,"
—Gavin Collis, CSIRO Manufacturing - Towards a Circular Economy for Lithium Ion Batteries project
"As part of our partnership with A*STAR we have access to their synergistic state-of-the-art facilities to print and test our research. Participating in the program has helped our team advance our research in ways we were unable to without this 2+2 partnership,".
— Shiqin Yan, CSIRO Manufacturing – Impact powder blending to form meal ceramic particles for metal matrix composites (MCC) component fabrication
If you would like to know more about the 2+2 Program contact 2plus2@csiro.au
Our commitment to partner with leading international science institutions and connect Australian innovation to global markets through strategic partnerships, is exemplified through our Master Research Collaboration Agreement (MRCA) with Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
As a flagship of the MRCA, the A*STAR-CSIRO Research-Industry (2+2) Partnership aims to solve challenges faced by Australia and Singapore in areas relevant to the green economy, through a unique blend of collaboration across borders, between research institutions and industry.
About the program
The 2+2 Program serves to strengthen efforts in research and innovation between Singapore and Australia and to create opportunities to build networks for mutual market access and sustainable economic alliance.
The 2+2 Program calls for the partnership of researchers from CSIRO and the Singaporean innovation ecosystem (two research teams), with an industry collaborator in both Singapore and Australia (two industry teams).
Successful research projects will address one or more of the following themes:
- Food (alternative proteins, plant genetics for urban food production)
- Digital environment (urban environment management)
- Future of materials in advanced manufacturing
- Circular economy and low emission technologies (renewable energy, biofuels, CCUS).
Benefits of the 2+2 program
Through the 2+2 Program participants:
- Access information, techniques and research capability not currently available within CSIRO.
- Secure grant funding to progress research
- Build relationships with industry, both domestically and internationally.
- Bring benefit to the Australian population by helping to establish industries in Australia and allow for acceleration at pace
- Tackle shared problems, working collaboratively to create more impact.
2+2 Program highlight: Towards a Circular Economy for Lithium Ion Batteries project
The opportunity
With a rise in green energy, Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) technology has seen tremendous growth via consumer electronics, electric vehicles and grid storage applications.
Unfortunately, many items using LIB technology are disposed of in landfill, which can have a detrimental effect on the environment. There is also a lost opportunity in reusing their constitute materials, as the precursors used to produce LIBs are increasing in price.
The solution
To address this challenge CSIRO, A*STAR and industry partners SK tes (a global leader in IT asset disposition, e-waste recycling and battery recycling with operations in Singapore, Australia and globally) have partnered to create the Towards a Circular Economy for Lithium Ion Batteries project, a collaboration supported by the CSIRO-A*STAR Research-Industry (2+2) Partnership.
The initiative looks at supply chain improvements in manufacturing and industrial processes with an objective to recover materials from End of Life (EoL) batteries to supply new LIBs or other fine chemical products.
The collaboration allows Singapore and Australia to utilize each other’s strengths. The combined expertise of both teams spans techno-economic analysis and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), battery diagnostics and battery recycling, and has provided a strong foundation for the project to combat shared challenges, addressing technical and commercial gaps to develop an economic model for the LIB supply chain.
The impact
This initiative addresses both countries' interest in circular economies, sustainability, reducing waste, energy consumption and emissions.
Technology landscaping reports developed through the project have helped SK tes to shortlist green technology for investment, development and adoption.
SK tes will use the LCA report of the pilot process housed at their battery recycling facility in Singapore when expanding production capacity globally, with Australia firmly in their future plans.
SK tes has been awarded a grant from the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to build a facility in Newcastle to test, repurpose and recycle LIBs from solar energy systems, EVs and portable devices.The new battery treatment facility in Newcastle is projected to generate upwards of 20 green jobs and to handle some 2,000 tons per year of end-of-life LIB units. This includes 800 tons per year from Australia's large and growing solar energy storage battery
The project has also opened the door for future experimental projects with regional battery recyclers for their process upgrading and product transformation.
Thoughts from our participants
"The 2+2 program takes the unique perspectives of all parties allowing for more innovative and creative solutions. Involving both an international science agency and industry partner allows us to capitalise on their experience and expertise to help accelerate our research to build markets and tackle global problems in the energy storage supply chain in Australia,"
—Gavin Collis, CSIRO Manufacturing - Towards a Circular Economy for Lithium Ion Batteries project
"As part of our partnership with A*STAR we have access to their synergistic state-of-the-art facilities to print and test our research. Participating in the program has helped our team advance our research in ways we were unable to without this 2+2 partnership,".
— Shiqin Yan, CSIRO Manufacturing – Impact powder blending to form meal ceramic particles for metal matrix composites (MCC) component fabrication
If you would like to know more about the 2+2 Program contact 2plus2@csiro.au