The BCI Innovation Award in honor of Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz recognizes innovations within the battery industry that align with the guidelines of sustainability, safety, cost, performance, uniqueness and value.
Congratulations to the 2025 Innovation Award Winner, Pacific Northwest National Lab!
The 2025 Innovation Award recognizes PNNL’s Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL). This is a new, national capability for energy storage research located on the PNNL-Richland campus in Washington State.
The GSL brings all phases of the battery development and deployment cycle under one roof, ranging from fundamental materials and device prototyping to 100 kW-scale testing and validation.
This fully integrated facility encourages collaboration among researchers across disciplines.
Collaboration enabled by GSL will also support industry partners who wish to demonstrate and deploy energy storage technologies and educate grid energy storage professionals. Fast prototyping and comprehensive testing of the entire energy storage development cycle are features not found anywhere else within the national laboratory system.
The GSL is a critical step toward greater integration of renewable energy, transitioning cars from oil to electric, and unlocking economic and societal benefits for all U.S. citizens.
Recognizing Battery Industry Innovation
Every year, hundreds of innovations occur within the battery industry – from packaging and technology to equipment, chemistry and beyond. The goal of the BCI Innovation Award is to collect all of these innovations and showcase them to both the industry and the public. The award was established to honor industry thought leader, Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz, former CEO of East Penn Manufacturing Co.
The annual application process closes in February, and the Innovation Award is announced each year as part of the BCI Convention + Power Mart Expo.
Submission Guidelines
The following guidelines should be considered when submitting an innovation. Entries do not need to align with all judging criteria below. Providing multiple supporting documents that align with these guidelines will give judges additional insight and clarity on your submission.
BCI also asks that all entrants submit a high-resolution video that is no longer than 75 seconds. All entrants will see their video screened as part of the BCI Convetnion + Power Mart Expo on the main stage, before the Innovation Award winner is announced to all attendees.
Judging criteria for the award includes:
- Sustainability – How does your submission show environmental stewardship? Provide tangible aspirations, goals and objectives in helping to create a greener tomorrow.
- Safety – Does your submission show product and/or process stability? Can it be safely commercialized? Demonstrate a clear commitment to the safety of the general public and industry.
- Cost – Can the submission be easily commercialized and/or provide cost-optimized advantages? Is it an affordable alternative to existing technologies and processes?
- Performance – Show how your innovation meets its intended key objectives, goals and benefits.
- Uniqueness – How does it differ from existing products? Information should clearly define what makes this product, process and/or discovery unique.
- Value – How does the submission directly benefit the battery industry? Can the product be utilized outside of the company that created it?
That close knit community of BCI and this industry, it allows us to work to make a better world and makes us better business leaders.