KOTRA, Korea-Europe H2 Open Innovation Day... Supporting Collaboration for Hydrogen Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] KOTRA held the 'Korea-Europe H2 Open Innovation Day' webinar (hereinafter referred to as the webinar) on the 28th to broaden understanding of the European hydrogen market.

This event was organized as a session to examine the key status of the European hydrogen market and the technological cooperation demands of global companies by inviting representatives from major companies leading the European hydrogen industry ecosystem, such as BMW, Linde, and Siemens Energy, as speakers. Pre-registration was conducted through the professional business social network LinkedIn, targeting about 1,000 hydrogen industry workers in Korea and Europe, drawing high interest from hydrogen industry stakeholders.

Europe is promoting numerous hydrogen projects along with national government strategies to expand the hydrogen industry. In this webinar, each representative presented on the current status of the European hydrogen industry, hydrogen projects by global companies, and collaboration plans for Korean companies. Additionally, collaboration strategies were proposed by detailed topics, further increasing the possibility of Korean companies participating in European hydrogen projects.

On the day, the global engineering consulting company FEV gave a presentation titled 'European Hydrogen Industry Ecosystem and Strategic Collaboration Plans for Our Companies.' FEV emphasized the continuous growth potential of hydrogen based on inter-company cooperation and research and development (R&D), forecasting that the global fuel cell passenger car market will grow to a scale of 10 million units by 2040.

Dr. Gouldner, who oversees BMW’s hydrogen car project, identified reducing the manufacturing cost of pure cells, establishing a large-scale hydrogen industry supply chain, and building charging infrastructure as key challenges for the commercialization of hydrogen vehicles. He stated, "Hydrogen, which can be transported and stored over long periods, will become a global trend for achieving climate neutrality," adding, "It can complement battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which have disadvantages in long-distance driving."

Furthermore, the investment promotion (IR) session of Ulsan Metropolitan City, which recently attracted Asia’s largest-scale liquefied hydrogen plant investment from Linde, and an explanation of Siemens Energy’s renewable energy-based carbon-neutral alternative fuel production project (project name: Haruoni), jointly promoted with Porsche, followed.

Following the webinar, from the 29th of this month to the 15th of next month, an online consultation meeting between European hydrogen companies and Korean companies will be held. Considering that the hydrogen market is in its early stages, this consultation will actively explore the possibility of bidirectional technology R&D utilizing Korea’s mobility technology and European infrastructure.

Lee Gil-beom, head of KOTRA’s Europe Regional Headquarters, emphasized, "The European Union (EU) is fostering the hydrogen industry as a next-generation industry to achieve climate neutrality by 2050," adding, "There are many opportunities for cooperation with European companies, especially in the mobility sector where our companies have strengths." He continued, "KOTRA plans to make this project an annual event to actively support our companies in securing new market opportunities."