Presentation Title: Overview on the European Research and Innovation in
the Hydrogen sector: best practices and priorities
Abstract
The European Commission is strongly supporting the hydrogen sector with several instruments to promote industrialization and market creation (e.g., Net Zero Industrial Act, European Hydrogen Bank, Renewable Energy Directives II and III, Hydrogen and Decarbonized Gas Package, Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation). Indeed, the growth of the hydrogen sector in Europe is originated from the long-lasting support to a strong research and innovation programme supported through the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking 1 and 2 and from the Clean Hydrogen Partnership inside Horizon Europe. R&I priorities entered the several multi annual work programmes and the ongoing Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, promoting the research inside priority areas, the increase of EU competitiveness and scaling up of technologies along the hydrogen value chain. As of today, the hydrogen sector is developing supported by international policies and by an increasing interest of private actors as well as of investment funds. Indeed, a relevant part of the game will be played by research and innovation policies and by the support to future technologies that can reduce manufacturing costs and increase performance as well as reducing critical raw materials that could become a bottleneck for the scaling up of the sector. Hydrogen Europe Research has identified several priorities of research that deserves an additional support and motivate the continuation of the research programmes in Europe supporting the growth of the hydrogen sector and the maturation of the technologies.
Biographical Sketch
Luigi Crema is the director of the Center for Sustainable Energy at Fondazione Bruno Kessler, in Trento. A physicist, he deals with issues connected with energy transition and the development of technology solutions for hydrogen and batteries, the two main pillars of the Center with about 60 between researchers, innovators, and technicians. He is involved in 2 IPCEI projects, on batteries in EuBatIn and on hydrogen technologies in Hy2Tech, with the ongoing realization of a technology infrastructure of industrial relevance in Rovereto, close by Trento, in the Hydrogen Pole of the Province of Trento.
He is President of Hydrogen Europe Research giving support to the realization and implementation of the programme of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership as a member of the Governing Board together with European Commission and Hydrogen Europe industry.
He is the vice president of the Italian Hydrogen Association, supporting the role of hydrogen at the national scale and through the engagement of national institutions.
Among other roles, he is a founder and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and Technology and involved in the BEPA, the European Battery Partnership.
For over twenty years, he has been involved in innovation between research and the industrial sector, with experience on how to transform development areas into viable solutions and economic value. He supported the creation and growth of Start-up such as Green Energy Storage, where he is a member of the scientific committee, and Unitec. He was involved in more than 50 project initiatives on the energy sector and in more than 100 scientific papers.