IREC has been awarded funding for seven Knowledge Generation Projects in the 2025 call of Spain’s State Programme for Knowledge Generation. The programme supports excellent research that contributes to addressing key societal challenges while reinforcing the scientific leadership of Spanish research institutions.

The funded projects span strategic areas including next-generation photovoltaics, advanced energy storage, hydrogen technologies, IoT nodes, energy communities and novel materials for clean energy systems.

The awarded projects are:

• InnoPV-2 (Innovative inorganic thin film indoor PV technologies for sustainable IoT systems) is coordinated by Alejandro Pérez-Rodríguez (Solar Energy Materials and Systems Dept.). The project will develop efficient, stable and optimized inorganic technologies for indoor PV, using low-cost techniques, low environmental impact materials and scalable deposition processes. The project will bring to the indoor market PV technologies novel device concepts not yet considered and compatible with low power electronics and IoT sensors.

• A-WIDE (Automated research of Wide-bandgap materials for Integrated Development of green Energy systems) is coordinated by Maxim Guc (Solar Energy Materials and Systems Dept.). As part of coordinated WIDE project, IREC subproject will develop an AI-driven automated synthesis and characterization platform for screening wide-bandgap chalcogenide materials for semi-transparent photovoltaics devices suitable for integrated applications.

• MONOLITH (Monolithic Solid-State Ceramic Batteries for Safe Internet of Things Powering) is coordinated by Alex Morata and Federico Baiutti (Nanoionics and Fuel Cells Dept.). The project will create next-generation solid-state ceramic batteries using advanced materials and additive manufacturing for safe, miniaturized energy storage.

• SUCCESS (Development of SUstainable and high efficient Solid Oxide Cells Technology for Fuel CEll and ElectrolySiS application) is coordinated by Marc Torrell (Nanoionics and Fuel Cells Dept.). The project aims to develop more sustainable and efficient solid oxide cell technologies for fuel cells and hydrogen production through electrolysis.

• SELDON (Smart Edge and Low-power Neuromorphic Computing Devices for IoT Nodes) is coordinated by Albert Tarancón (Nanoionics and Fuel Cells Dept.). As part of the coordinated ASIMOV project, SELDON will develop ultra-low-power neuromorphic computing devices to enable autonomous intelligent IoT nodes for critical infrastructure monitoring.

• HARD (High-Throughput AI-Aided Platform for Rapid Discovery of High-Entropy Electrocatalysts) is coordinated by Andreu Cabot (Functional Nanomaterials Dept.). The project will combine artificial intelligence and high-throughput experimentation to accelerate the discovery of advanced electrocatalysts for batteries, electrolysers and fuel cells.

• SYNERGEC (Synergistic Planning, Optimization and Impact Assessment of Energy Communities) is coordinated by Gabriela Benveniste and Josh Eichmann (Energy Systems Analytics Dept.). The project will develop AI-assisted decision-support tools to improve the planning, operation and impact assessment of energy communities under real-world conditions.

Together, these seven projects reinforce IREC’s research portfolio in strategic technologies that will contribute to a more sustainable, resilient and decarbonised energy system, while fostering the transfer of scientific knowledge into innovative solutions with societal and industrial impact.

Acknowledgements (in Spanish): Los proyectos InnoPV-2 (PID2025-168745OB-C42), A-WIDE (PID2025-171824OB-C42), MONOLITH (PID2025-176255OB-I00), SUCCESS (PID2025-169426OB-C33), SELDON (PID2025-169739OB-C31), HARD (PID2025-176202OB-I00) y SYNERGEC (PID2025-175876OB-I00) están financiados por MCIU/AEI/10.1339/501100011033.