The Last Neighbourhood Meeting in 2023

HC-H2 Brainergy Park Connect series to continue next year

Brainergy Park continues to grow. This is clear to all visitors who regularly drive through the innovative industrial park to the north of Jülich. New buildings are being erected, while diggers are constantly at work on new areas of land. The HC-H2 Brainergy Park Connect neighbourhood meeting in the park also continues to develop. This was clear at the most recent event in which the HC-H2 Hydrogen Network NRW team reflected on the year that is about to come to an end.

“Our INW institute and our HC-H2 cluster continue to grow. We started off with two people at INW and now there are 60 of us. And this figure will increase significantly in the future,” said Fabian Patzak, head of the network team. “But this alone will not guarantee successful structural change. We need to maintain jobs in existing industries and create new jobs. This works best if everyone involved knows each other,” he explained. And this is the reason for the Brainergy Park Connect meetings. It allows all stakeholders to come together to help ensure that new, future-oriented jobs are created at Brainergy Park.

Brief overview:

Brainergy Park is an industrial estate currently being developed that will feature an innovative and sustainable supply system. The shareholders of the park are the town of Jülich, the municipalities of Niederzier and Titz, and the district of Düren.

INW is the Institute for a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy, which was founded two years ago at Forschungszentrum Jülich. It forms the core of the Helmholtz Cluster for a Sustainable and Infrastructure-Compatible Hydrogen Economy (HC-H2), which was developed as part of a collaboration between INW and other research institutions, companies, and administrations. They share the goal of creating new economic power in the Rhenish mining area.

The HC-H2 Hydrogen Network NRW is based at HC-H2 and aims to bring together all hydrogen stakeholders in the region. The network team therefore regularly hosts a neighbourhood meeting at Brainergy Park where those taking part can share ideas over a working lunch.

New showroom events

The neighbourhood meeting has now been held six times. The most recent one was the last neighbourhood meeting of the year. The network team used this as an opportunity to take a look back at 2023. “The installation of our first demonstration project began this year at Erkelenz hospital. We published our first hydrogen journal and launched two event formats: the HC-H2 Brainergy Park Connect meeting and HC-H2 Science Spotlight,” said network representative Vanessa Düster. The fourth edition of the newsletter will be published in the next few days, providing an overview of hydrogen activities in the Rhenish mining area, she added. You can subscribe to the newsletter free of charge on our homepage. Showroom events are also planned for next year to launch HC-H2’s major projects.

Free database

HC-H2 Science Spotlight is a scientific event where external guests come to talk about their hydrogen-related research. The exchange of views with INW researchers is a crucial aspect of this event. It is offered as a hybrid event, meaning that participants can actively take part online. If you are interested in the event, the network team would be happy to provide you with the necessary information.

The database is another important function of the network and was outlined by INW spokesperson Severin Foit. In the database, the network team collects the contacts of as many hydrogen stakeholders as possible from the Rhenish mining area. Inclusion in the database is free of charge and does not come with any obligations, instead offering advantages to all involved. “Through the database, we aim to see where cooperation is possible,” said Foit. The aim is to bring together stakeholders who might not have previously been aware of the benefits of working together.

Following the conclusion of the last HC-H2 Brainergy Park Connect event of the year, the HC-H2 team would like to wish all partners, neighbours, and hydrogen-related stakeholders a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!