As a first step toward a large-scale roll-out of a clean hydrogen economy, a group of nine partners has joined forces to promote clean hydrogen innovation, demonstration, and knowledge sharing in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.
The EMR H2 Booster consortium’s working area includes Dutch and Flemish Limburg, the Aachen region, and Liège. The project partners hope to accelerate the emergence of a hydrogen economy in the area through cross-border cooperation at this level. The Maastricht Provincial House hosted the consortium’s kick-off event today.
The consortium consists of regional development agencies, hydrogen cluster organizations, and a knowledge institute, bringing together extensive hydrogen industry experience with local SME knowledge (SMEs).
The partners in the EMR H2 Booster will work on four main work streams. To begin, they will conduct a mapping exercise of the region’s plans, roadmaps, visions, perspectives, R&D activities, industrial players, and competencies. After that, they’ll be incorporated into an online platform (the Digital Innovation Platform). Focused matchmaking sessions for SMEs in the region will be organized based on the information gathered (work stream two).
Several ‘cases’ will be defined and elaborated further in this second work stream. The ‘cases’ are groups of SMEs and other partners who want to collaborate on real-world hydrogen implementations. They will be given the support they require throughout the project to take the next steps toward realization. In the third work stream, four large events will be held, one in each region. These will include sessions of inspiration and demonstrations, as well as workshops focused on specific topics. On the one hand, these events will help the SMEs involved in the cases gain a better understanding of the issues.
On the other hand, they will serve as an inspiration for SMEs that are just getting started in the hydrogen industry. A fourth work stream will develop a long-term roadmap for the region and work on defining the EMR H2 Booster’s long-term governance structure and business model beyond the project’s lifespan.
The goal of this project is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching to hydrogen and boosting technological development, economic activity, and employment. A diverse group of SME’s will be enlisted and integrated into the EMR H2 Booster ecosystem.
The Interreg Euregio Meuse-Rhine program has provided funding for the EMR H2 Booster project. The European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) contributes to this program. Several of the partners, including the Dutch province of Limburg, the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, the Dutch ministry of Economic and Climate Policy, the Walloon Government, and the German state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, receive co-financing from local governments. The project will last for 18 months.
Stadt Aachen, LIOF, POM Limburg, Cluster TWEED, SPI, IHK Aachen, Universiteit Hasselt, Waterstof Coalitie Limburg, and WaterstofNet, which coordinates the project, are the project’s partners. Regio Parkstad, as an associated partner, is a supporter of the project.
