The BIC will involve a 40,000 square foot multi-million dollar facility at the WestGate@Crane Technology Park, in Greene County. The site is adjacent to Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane (NSWC Crane), the Department of Defense center of excellence in battery development and power electronics.

The BIC will leverage Indiana’s public and private sector assets in advanced battery technologies, creating a center of excellence that will provide testing and validation services to industry, product development and technology support for Department of Defense (DoD) and other government agencies, and assist universities with research and development for prototyping. New battery innovations will be brought to market as participating companies and institutions collaborate to advance battery technologies from discovery to production.

While this facility will serve as the physical “hub” for the BIC’s activities, it will also leverage virtual connections to its many partners’ research facilities and resources across the State and beyond. While waiting for the WestGate facility to come on-line, BIC leadership will continue to raise funds, recruit partners, and use this virtual network to conduct some early project selection. BIC’s access to its partners’ research assets – including NSWC Crane – will greatly advance the work that will ultimately be undertaken by the new BIC facility.

“The high-tech nature of this facility makes it an intriguing project to be a part of, and we are excited to have been selected,” said Keystone Vice President of Business Development Paul Okeson. Construction is expected to begin this spring and the facility is expected to be completed by 2013.