Fostering collaboration among hydrogen stakeholders in the Central European (CE) region stems from a confluence of factors that highlight the strategic importance of hydrogen in the energy transition and the unique challenges and opportunities in this specific geographical area. These important factors are (among others) the strategic importance of hydrogen, regional potential in Central Europe for hydrogen utilization, the need for collaborative solutions and the potential of the H2CE project to catalyze change.
H2CE Collaboration Platform (currently under development) will support the overall project objective to empower public authorities and administration in Central Europe to integrate hydrogen proactively and sustainably into regional planning and development. It will be an online tool enabling various stakeholders and key players to exchange knowledge, share best practices and provide another wide scope of joint initiatives.
To better identify the specific needs and future platform features, the H2CE partnership, under the guidance of the Economic and Social Council in Ústí Region (Czech Republic), carried out a transnational questionnaire survey to gather information from stakeholders, which were divided into two distinct sectors: private and public. The total number of respondents reached 84, with 40 of them responding to questions related to the private sector and 44 respondents providing answers regarding the public sector.
Based on the results, there is an existing demand for the Collaboration Platform. The highest demand is predominantly for practical analytical and reporting tools to be provided by the platform, as well as its training and education capabilities supporting the importance of skill development and knowledge enhancement.
The insight from the survey serves as valuable input for the H2CE Collaboration Platform development. All of the feedback has been included in the Platform Concept Note, which provides an initial framework for its future development. The expected platform prototype should be launched at the beginning of 2025. We would like to thank all of the partners and stakeholders, who supported this important initial step and will keep you updated on the H2CE Collaboration Platform development progress in the future.