On January 29th 2026, the BASE consortium gathered in Brussels for its formal Review Meeting. On this day, partners presented progress from the first Reporting Period and discussed the strategic direction required to move into the final phase of the project.

The meeting became a critical reflection point for the project. BASE, which aims to develop a trusted and interoperable Digital Battery Passport framework, is now halfway through its implementation timeline. The ambition is clear: to validate its solutions at Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7), meaning demonstration in an operational environment across multiple battery applications and value chain actors.

A Constructive Review with Clear Strategic Signals

The Review Meeting objectives were straightforward. The consortium needed to demonstrate technical progress, explain deviations and risks, and outline the next steps across all Work Packages.

The session was constructive and solution-oriented. The Project Officer from the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, Martha Gialampouki, joined with External Advisor Enrico Maria Mosconi to engage deeply with both technical and strategic elements of the project. Their feedback went beyond evaluation, focusing on helping the consortium strengthen its trajectory toward Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7) validation.

By the end of the meeting, it was evident that much of the planned work had been delivered. In addition to that, the review also revealed where there are structural challenges - especially around data - and where cross-WP alignment needs special consideration.

The first phase of BASE successfully built the foundations. The second phase must consolidate and integrate them.

The Central Lesson from Reporting Period 1: Data Determines Maturity

The most significant insight from the Brussels discussions concerns data. Not software architecture. Not artificial intelligence models. Not simulation tools. Data availability and realism emerged as the defining factor for project success.

Multiple work packages, including:

• Battery Performance, Durability, and Safety Indicators
• Circularity Calculation Methodology Development
• Environment, Social, Governance, and Economic (ESGE) Indicators
• Battery Passport and Platform Development and Integration
• Industrial Applications and Validation

– require several tools that depend on high-quality, structured and battery-specific datasets. These include material composition data, Battery Management System dynamic performance streams, ageing and thermal event records, life cycle assessment inputs, and socio-economic risk indicators.

Several challenges were acknowledged:

• Sensitive industrial information, such as proprietary Battery Management System logic and manufacturing parameters, cannot always be shared
• Material composition data may differ between the cell level and the pack level
• Historic datasets are often incomplete or inconsistent
• Some chemistries, such as emerging solid-state batteries or stationary systems, fall outside the immediate scope of certain partners.

These realities affect the Digital Battery Passport framework directly. A passport can only be as reliable as the information it contains.

The BASE project consortium is committed to facilitating connections to other Horizon Europe initiatives and European data infrastructures that may help enrich the datasets related to ageing behaviour, raw material origins and extreme use conditions. The lesson from Reporting Period 1 is clear. Technology development is satisfying.

Strengthening the Digital Battery Passport Framework

During the first Period, the Digital Battery Passport framework made substantial progress:

• The battery performance data, including static and dynamic data, has been finalised, and the semantic model has been defined.
• The reference architecture has been established, and BASE dataspace has been implemented.
• The initial version of the Digital Battery Passport solution has been delivered.
• Tools such as the circularity tool and ESG toolkit have been developed.

The final period will focus on accelerating Digital Battery Passport readiness through validated evidence from the four Use Cases. As real-world datasets populate the platform, theoretical structures will evolve into operational demonstrations that align with European regulatory expectations.

Addressing Environmental, Social and Governance Complexity

Work Package 5, which has already developed the Environment, Social, Governance, and Economic (ESGE) Indicators toolkit, received detailed attention during the review.

The discussion focused on how the existing ESGE toolkit will be effectively exploited and operationalised within the BASE project.

Battery supply chains are complex. A single battery may contain cobalt from regions associated with higher social risk and nickel from a region with lower risk.

The importance of diversified data sourcing was also emphasised. Reliable ESG assessment depends on integrating multiple inputs, including partner-generated industrial data, public datasets, laboratory-generated results, and references from other EU-funded projects.

The Strategic Priorities for the final 18 Months

As BASE enters the final half of its lifecycle, three priorities define its direction.

Special focus on data across all the technical work packages

Unifying the Use Case demonstrations in order to collectively validate the KERs. This includes clearer mapping between DBP, BMS data streams, and KERs.

Moving Toward Integrated, Impact-Driven Validation

The first half of BASE has built the structural and technical foundations for a next-generation Digital Battery Passport framework. As BASE transitions into the final phase, the focus is sharper and more integrated. Inter-Work Package collaboration is being reinforced. Use Cases will generate clearer evidence. Technical outputs will be translated into operational and business value.

The ambition remains unchanged. BASE aims to deliver a trusted and interoperable Digital Battery Passport framework that supports circularity, sustainability, and regulatory compliance across diverse battery chemistries and applications.

At halfway to Technology Readiness Level 7, the project now moves forward with stronger clarity and a more unified path to impact.

The BASE project has received funding from the Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON) Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement No. 101157200.