Hydrogen, research and industry. FBK focuses on the green transition

The transition to renewable energy sources such as hydrogen is no longer just a topic of debate: it is a concrete industrial and regional challenge. Addressing it requires infrastructure, skills, and an ecosystem capable of bringing research and industry together.

With this goal, Trentino aims to turn the energy transition into a path of technological innovation and industrial development. At the core of this effort are investments by the Autonomous Province of Trento through, for example, organizations such as Trentino Sviluppo, and the work of Fondazione Bruno Kessler, which, through its Center for Sustainable Energy, is helping build an applied research platform dedicated to hydrogen and battery technologies.

The idea is simple: to accelerate the energy transition, research and industry must work on the same challenges and on timelines compatible with the market.

For companies, this means the ability to develop and validate technologies in an advanced research environment, reducing technological risk and shortening the path from the lab to the market.

This context includes the collaboration between FBK and UFI Hydrogen, which has launched its production site in Trentino (at Serravalle di Ala), creating new jobs—one of the most concrete examples of how this model can translate into industrial and technological projects.

UFI Hydrogen is not just an industrial partner. The company is part of the European hydrogen supply chain, participates in Hydrogen Europe, and is involved in several European strategic programs, as well as being part of the Hydrogen Tech Fund led by Aster Capital.

Luigi Crema, Director of theCenter for Sustainable Energy, said: “The energy transition is not driven by policy alone: we need places where research and industry can develop and test technologies together.  In Trentino, we are building exactly that—a European platform where new solutions for hydrogen and batteries can quickly move from the lab to industrial scale. ”

The collaboration between FBK and UFI is carried out within major European projects such as IPCEI Hy2Tech, dedicated to the development of hydrogen technologies, and Hy2Move, focused on mobility applications. In the coming months, joint work will continue and, based on the positive experience gained, participation in new IPCEIs will also be evaluated.

At the operational level, the partnership is supported by a strategic research and development agreement. FBK contributes its scientific expertise, testing infrastructure, and ability to validate technologies at an industrial scale. UFI Hydrogen brings its industrial experience, production capacity, and access to international supply chains.

“Hydrogen is entering a phase where the challenge is no longer to prove that it works, but to industrialize it at scale and at competitive costs. In this process, collaboration between research and industry is an essential enabling factor. UFI Hydrogen, the only Italian company focused on MEA technology for both electrolyzers and fuel cells, is working with a team of top-level talent to significantly reduce technology costs and accelerate industrial adoption. The collaboration with FBK is a concrete example of how an ecosystem of excellence can transform scientific innovation into real applications and value for the region,” said UFI Hydrogen CEO Marco Lazzaroni.

The joint work covers several areas, from studies on the hydrogen market and its industrial potential to the development of new technologies and their potential industrialization.

It is no coincidence that more and more companies are looking to Trentino as a place to develop energy innovation. FBK collaborates with Trentino Sviluppo specifically to strengthen this industrial ecosystem: each new player entering the supply chain helps make the entire value chain more robust.

At the same time, the Center for Sustainable Energy is increasingly active in international settings where hydrogen market policies and regulations are defined. Through Luigi Crema, FBK holds the presidency of Hydrogen Europe Research, the association representing the entire European supply chain in the sector.

In this context, Trentino, despite its relatively small size, is building an increasingly recognized role in the European hydrogen supply chain: a place where research, infrastructure, and companies work together to develop advanced energy technologies and bring them to industrial application.