We are pleased to announce the upcoming conference Germany × Canada: Accelerating Materials Innovation Across Borders that will be held on March 4 & 5, 2026, in Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.

This conference will conclude five years of operation of the German Canadian Materials Acceleration Centre (GCMAC). Since its inception in 2021, GCMAC has been fostering the use of artificial intelligence, in particular machine learning methods, to accelerate the discovery, development, device integration, and demonstration of materials for sustainable energy technologies. Our activities have supported the creation of so-called material acceleration platforms (MAPs). They have helped coordinate research and development in both countries and promote common methods, standards, and cooperation in experimental research as well as in theory and computation. Further measures have been aiming at training young scientists and engineers, preparing them to lead future ventures at the interface of materials science, energy technology and information science.

As the five-year tenure of the GCMAC program draws to a close, this event will bring together representatives from funding agencies and GCMAC’s supporting institutions in Germany and Canada, researchers, PhD students, industry partners, and collaborators who have contributed to it. The conference will highlight progress and outcomes achieved over the past five years. It will survey efforts in accelerated energy materials research and development and look ahead to challenges and opportunities in the field.

 Conference topics:
-    experimental labs to accelerate the development of energy materials
-    methods and tools for AI-enabled data analytics and multi-lab orchestration
-    modelling and simulation from interface to device level
-    multimodal characterization methodology
-    AI-informed materials simulation

 Keynote presenters:
-    Katherine Ayers, Nel Hydrogen US
-    Christoph Brabec, HI-ERN and Forschungszentrum Jülich
-    Stefanie Dehnen, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology 
-    Padraic Foley, Acceleration Consortium, Canada
-    Jason Hattrick-Simpers, University of Toronto
-    Jason Hein, University of British Columbia
-    Jasna Jankovic, University of Connecticut, Coordinator REACH2 Network
-    Patrick Ruch, IBM Research Europe
-    Stefan Sandfeld, Forschungszentrum Jülich 

Young participants (PhD students and postdoctoral fellows) are invited to present a poster on their research (title and abstract should be submitted by Feb 10). A selected group of poster presenters will get an opportunity to present a brief poster pitch. To look up additional details and register for poster and pitch presentation, please visit the following page: poster & pitch

For more information on the conference consult the program. 

Registration for the event will be open until Feb 10. Please register here.