SET 11: Leadership of Sub Program 3 Stack Materials and Design of the EERA Joint Programme for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen

SINTEF has contributed to the EERA Joint Research Programme (JP) on Fuel Cells and Hydrogen, and in particular to the co-leadership of Sub Program 3 Stack Materials and Design over the past three years. The objective of this JP is to align medium to long term pre-competitive research activities at EERA institutes and associated institutions to create a technical-scientific basis for further improvement of fuel cells and hydrogen technologies and to guarantee enduring cutting-edge competence in Europe in the mid-long term. The added value of this JP is the possibility to become of strategic importance in defining the research agenda for the next phase of fundamental and break-through research in this field. The project has been supporting activities of SINTEF towards the activities of this JP, including participation to steering committee meetings and joint workshops organized by the JP, updating of the programme description and definition of Key performance indicators for research on fuel cells and hydrogen technologies, as well as providing feedback to strategic documents.

The project enabled SINTEF to contribute to the activities of the EERA Joint Research Programme (JP) on Fuel Cells and Hydrogen, spanning from taking part in workshops organized or jointly organized by the JP, being informed of EERA activities through the JP meetings, contributing to providing feedback to strategic documents, and networking with the JP partners. These activities have brought better understanding of the current status of research and development activities in the fields of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen technologies, as well as forthcoming roadmaps for their development. Furthermore, the project activities have been helpful to better understand the evolution of the new European funding programmes and taking part into providing feedback via various channels, e.g. contribution to preparation meetings, responding to online public questionnaires or documents through EERA network.

The project will strenghten Norwegian visibility and activities towards the Joint Programme for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (JP FCH) in the framework of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA). This will be achieved by leadership of the sub-program 3 (SP3) related to "Stack Materials and Design", by Dr. Marie-Laure Fontaine at SINTEF together with Dr.Nikolaos Margaritis of Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany. Furthermore, the project willl also promote Norwegian priorities and national research agenda in this forum as an element of the strategic work related to the SET-Plan. SINTEF will ensure that a continuous dialog is maintained between the JP FCH and national representatives and stakeholders, including the Norwegian Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Centre, Norsk Hydrogenforum, the Research Council of Norway, as well as companies, institutes and universities, about events and progress in EU related to fuel cell and electrolyser stack materials and design. The project plans for participation to the JP steering committee meetings, JP partners events, following of the implementation plan of SP3, organization of topical workshops with participation of Norwegian stakeholders, preparation of position papers, and interaction with other European fora, such as other joint projects, the FCH JU and Hydrogen Europe, in order to contribute to the SET-plan implementation.