philosophy

From the very beginning, ENBAT’s philosophy has been not to serve as a meeting for the presentation of academic papers, but rather as a forum for the presentation of topics of interest to the “battery people” community, aimed at fostering their professional development. In this sense, participation in the event does not involve any payment, but rather belonging to this community through the work carried out in lead-acid battery production, consulting activities, product operation, etc. The responsibility for deciding on membership in this community lies with the participants themselves.

The fact that participation is free also ensures that companies can send all their technicians, without restricting numbers due to costs. ENBAT encourages the involvement not only of a few representatives, but of all technicians and technical managers, so that the meeting becomes a true centre for discussion on both the production and the product of the lead-acid battery industry.

At the same time, free participation together with the issuance of a certificate of attendance (based on fixed, traditional rules of minimum participation percentage) breaks the assumption that ENBAT is “just another conference.” It is not, for multiple reasons, among them the fact that its activities seek to integrate new knowledge, technologies, and innovations into the daily practice of technicians in the field. This is achieved primarily through a participatory mechanism for selecting the presentation topics.

The participants themselves, through this mechanism, first propose and then select the topics of interest. The organisers are then responsible for identifying those who will deliver the presentations, whether from within the community or internationally, taking into account the possibility of incorporating new technologies and innovations by involving the companies that proposed the relevant topics.

Another distinctive feature of the event is that presentations may be interrupted by participants, under the guidance of a Session Coordinator, to ensure that each talk is truly incorporated into the participants’ body of knowledge.

In this same spirit, and to prevent ENBAT from being co-opted by dominant economic interests, its organisation always includes professionals from universities and R&D centres active in the field, who are invited without restrictions and form a fundamental part of the organising group. Their contributions are always subject to the critical review of the “battery people” community. At each meeting, one session is dedicated to an open discussion with all participants, to evaluate the progress of ENBAT and to outline its future directions.