Hydrogen might be the simplest element in the periodic table, but building a European hydrogen research and innovation agenda is anything but, requiring close cooperation and collaboration for a start.

That’s the thinking behind the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 27 October between us and Hydrogen Europe Research (HER). The agreement marks a key juncture that both parties are trying to capitalise upon and sets out how we will work more closely together as Europe gets ready for its next Framework Programme for research and innovation.

The MoU also builds on a change within EERA. Our hydrogen Joint Programme has been restructured and renamed from “Fuel Cells and Hydrogen” to “Clean Hydrogen”. It’s also designed to line up with the work of HER and the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, as well as the SET Plan’s new Implementation Working Group (IWG) on hydrogen.

Stronger together

We have agreed to cooperate in the following areas:

• The next MFF and the SET Plan: identifying where the Clean Hydrogen Partnership’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, HER’s Low TRL Working Group and the SET Plan activities align, and where gaps remain, drawing on the work of our Joint Programmes.
• Research and innovation priorities: exchanging information and collaborating on joint publications, while building on existing hydrogen collaborations. Our Joint Programme on Clean Hydrogen should also help map research priorities more directly to industrial needs and deployment bottlenecks.
• Research and technology infrastructures: following up on work to facilitate transnational access, in support of HER’s RTI Working Group.
• Skills and capacity building: discussing the skills the hydrogen sector needs, taking stock of existing training materials and identifying what’s missing, including materials on standardisation and data interoperability.
• Evaluation and benchmarking: contributing to key performance indicators and the methods behind them, including common benchmarks, harmonised testing protocols and sustainability and economic assessment, in collaboration with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC).
• Workshops and foresight reports: organising thematic scientific workshops with members of both associations to help identify shared priorities for the next Framework Programme and contributing to the technical review of each other’s reports.

Looking ahead

The MoU is a starting point rather than a finish line. Hydrogen research, like research across low-carbon technologies, needs continuity, collaboration and a clear sense of direction, and this agreement gives all three a bit more momentum.