Startups in Europe get funding for hydrogen innovations

The Slovenian startup ReCatalyst and the German startup ionysis have been selected for funding under the prestigious EIC Transition call and invited to sign the grant agreement with a funding volume of 2.5 million euros.

Even before ionysis and ReCatalyst were founded, the founding teams worked closely together scientifically. Since 2020, they have laid the groundworks for EIC Transition through joint publications and mutual research visits at their respective research institutions – the University of Freiburg and Hahn-Schickard for ionysis, and the Slovenian National Institute of Chemistry for ReCatalyst.

With a project volume of approximately 2.5 million euros, the “Enabler” project combines the innovative technologies of the two start-ups with the aim of making fuel cells for heavy-duty applications more cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and improve performance. ReCatalyst has developed its own technology to produce novel electrocatalysts based on platinum alloys, which enable higher performance and durability of catalysts. ionysis uses ReCatalyst’s catalysts for its membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), which are based on new, fluorine-free materials. The goal of the project is to develop and validate fluorine-free MEAs that exceed current state-of-the-art performance and durability targets. In order to evaluate the MEAs in real-world applications, the established fuel cell stack developer EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies GmbH could be won as an associated project partner.

To shorten the time to market for innovations, EIC Transition also includes activities to prepare for their commercialization. This two-pronged set-up of EIC Transition gives us a tremendous push as early-stage startups. It recognizes the fact that not only do we need to bring our technological innovations to market readiness, but we also need to be ready to successfully commercialize them.