Industrial Technology Research Institute

Back in 1999 I was in Russia working on new polymer electrolytes for Li-ion battery when people from ITRI’s Moscow Office invited me to join a similar project in ITRI in Taiwan. At first I was uncertain about whether I would want go to Taiwan, but after visiting the ITRI campus here in Hsinchu I was able to make my decision. There was some equipment found here that wasn’t available to me in Russia, the project here was at a semi-production stage, and it gave me the opportunity to have an out of country experience. When my first contract was over I found that I liked Taiwan and I took a job in the Hsinchu Science Park. In the Science Park I have got a lot of experience on battery production and industry needs. After a while I found that I missed doing research and reapplied to ITRI. ITRI gave me the balance of working with the products as well as conducting my own research.

Right now at ITRI I am working on two projects related to improving the safety of Lithium-ion batteries. I am working on the material design for the Li-ion batteries. These batteries are used in cell phones and laptops but the more important safety problems are for their use in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV). The electrolytes used in the battery can be explosive, so part of my project is to improve the separator thermal stability between the electrodes, and another goal is to create nonflammable electrolytes. The great thing about my projects is that they are based on my own ideas. With support from my boss and colleagues, I proposed these projects and have received substantial funding from within ITRI and also from the Bureau of Energy.

My experience here at ITRI has shown me the changes ITRI has made to improve the working environment for foreign employees. When I first arrived almost 10 years ago, ITRI was just starting to hire foreign employees so that it wasn’t the English friendly environment you see now. Of course sometimes there are still language difficulties but in general when interacting with my colleagues I find myself having no trouble. ITRI is trying to help foreign employees by offering weekly Chinese classes which I regularly attend. One advice to anyone from Russia considering working here at ITRI is to know your English well; that is sufficient. For me the only other thing than the language barrier that made it difficult to adjust to at the first few weeks was the use of chopsticks and the food. Aside from that the people here are friendly and polite and I find myself wanting to stay longer and longer.



Note: Dr. Belov left ITRI in April 2010 and is now CTO at Prologium Technology Corporation in Taipei.