Hydro-Québec Researcher Karim Zaghib Wins the Lionel-Boulet Award

Oct 23, 2019

This year, the highest distinction awarded by the Québec government in the field of research and development in the industrial sector, the Lionel-Boulet Award, goes to researcher Karim Zaghib, General Director of Hydro-Québec’s Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage.

“The fact that Karim Zaghib has won this award is a source of tremendous pride for all of us here at Hydro-Québec. Not only has he made a remarkable contribution to battery materials research over the past 30 years, but his work has also enhanced the international reputation of both Hydro-Québec and Québec as a whole. Dr. Zaghib is a key player in a leading-edge field that affects us all on a day-to-day basis and that will represent a strategic component of the energy transition,” stated Éric Martel, President and CEO of Hydro-Québec.

Career path

After obtaining a doctorate in electrochemistry from the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble, France, and receiving accreditation to supervise research (the highest university qualification available in certain countries) from Université Pierre et Marie Curie – UPMC (Paris 6), Dr. Zaghib pursued his career as a researcher at Japan’s Osaka National Research Institute for the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Over three years, Dr. Zaghib developed unparalleled knowledge of the materials used in lithium-ion batteries. In 1995, he joined Hydro-Québec’s research institute (IREQ), founded by Lionel Boulet, and initiated work on lithium-ion batteries for Hydro-Québec.

Dr. Zaghib is associated with over 550 patents and 60 licenses and has participated in over 420 articles and 22 monographs, including Lithium Batteries: Science and Technology, published in 2016, High Performance of Li-Ion and Li-Polymer Batteries, published in 2004 and Lithium and Li-ion Batteries, published in 2003.

A true ambassador, Dr. Zaghib has been at the head of Hydro-Québec’s Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage (CETEES) since 2017. The Center brings together over 100 inventive minds who combine their strengths to make their leader’s dream—to never stop pushing the limits—a reality. In Dr. Zaghib’s own words, “we are pioneers.”

Dr. Zaghib also made the Clarivate Analytics list of The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds for three years in a row in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The distinction is awarded to scientists who have had an exceptional impact in their field of research, i.e., those who have been most frequently cited by fellow researchers. Dr. Zaghib has received over ten other awards and distinctions, including the IBA Technology Award in 2017 and the IBA Research Award in 2010 from the International Battery Materials Association, and being named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2017 and of the Electrochemical Society in 2011.

About the Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage

For 40 years, Hydro-Québec has been recognized around the world for its technological expertise and its portfolio of intellectual property in the area of battery materials. This work is carried out by the Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage, a world-class innovation hub that strives to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and to develop storage systems for the integration of renewable energy sources. The Center of Excellence commercializes Hydro-Québec’s technologies, which are protected by over 100 patent families. In fact, the Center’s scientists reinvented the energy of the future when Hydro-Québec became the first company in the world to use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) for grid-scale energy storage.

The Lionel-Boulet Award

Lionel Boulet (1919–1996) founded the Institut de recherche en électricité du Québec (IREQ), known today as Hydro-Québec’s research institute. The award that bears his name honors individuals for their research and development activities in the industrial sector.

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