H2 Startup Accelerator: The new initiative on hydrogen
Developing a global hydrogen sector is gaining importance worldwide. Green hydrogen energy is crucial to converting energy to renewable energies and to decarbonising industry. Thus, it comes as no surprise that more and more companies are investing in hydrogen technologies. Co-operation is the keyword for exploiting the potential of the hydrogen turnaround as building and scaling the value chain requires co-ordination between political decision-makers, companies and investors.
This is the backdrop to the latest H2 Startup Accelerator initiative launched by. Plug and Play. The global innovation platform brings together start-ups from around the world with partner companies and other stakeholders to explore and deploy new technologies through the H2 Startup Accelerator. This makes the project one of the world’s first hydrogen-centric start-up accelerators. The platform is backed by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Solar Energy Systems ISE and Open Communication Systems FOKUS in the field of hydrogen technologies and energy transition, digital transformation, and innovation management. Other partners are the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the City of Hamburg as well as Shell and Phillips 66/JET. Their main task is to examine the submitted business ideas, and to identify and close technology gaps in the pilot projects.
Plug and Play links up start-ups, companies, venture capital firms, universities and government agencies and supports its partners at every stage of innovation. The platform acts as an interface between research, industry and other institutions and is the homeport for the creation and further development of start-ups and their technologies. The scheme should create an open ecosystem for start-ups and innovation, connecting northern Germany and Europe with the global hydrogen sector.
Crucially, experienced industry partners will collaborate with these start-ups in different areas and according to their own hydrogen strategies. These companies will also provide access to the infrastructure needed for testing, piloting and scaling new technologies in transport, compression, H2-fuelled combustion and other fields. The City of Hamburg is particularly well suited for a green hydrogen sector, according to a recent OECD study. Thus the choice of location comes as no surprise. Hamburg has its own hydrogen import strategy and offers solutions along the green hydrogen value chain.
