Just before COP28, 240 world leaders in the hydrogen sector from over 31 countries gathered at the Monaco Forum to exchange ideas and innovative solutions for the transition to green hydrogen.

Organised by the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance, the forum held on 27 and 28 November was kind of an early COP. 31 countries were represented at the event. More than 240 senior officials and CEOs from across the European Union, the Nordic countries, Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, among others took part in the event. Participants could hear speakers such as Roland Kaeppner from ENOWA talk about the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia.

Discussions focused on how innovation, investment and infrastructure should be driven to ensure the sustainable deployment of green hydrogen, with a view to accelerating the decarbonisation of maritime, air and land mobility. “The hydrogen revolution is happening, and it’s happening now,” said Timothy Gribaudi, Founding Partner of the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance and Managing Director of CoMotion.

Hydrogen Today, which was able to attend the forum, particularly appreciated the round-table discussion on sport. It covered motor sport (endurance with Forze Racing, Extreme H) and water sports (with Oceanslab and EODev).

H2Fly wins the innovation prize

As part of the forum, the Alliance also awarded the 2nd Monaco Prize for Innovation in Renewable Hydrogen and Transportation. This global competition evaluated 55 solutions from 15 countries. Of the 9 finalists, H2FLY, a Stuttgart-based developer specialising in hydrogen fuel cell technologies for aviation, won the prize.

The Monaco Prize also rewarded 3 companies. SoHHytec, a Swiss supplier of on-site renewable systems for the production of solar fuel (hydrogen, oxygen) and energy (electricity, heat), was awarded the Emerging Technology Solution Prize. HSL Technologies (HySiLabs), a French company developing an innovation for transporting and storing hydrogen, was awarded the prize for the solution with the most disruptive potential. Finally, H3 Dynamics, a Singaporean company developing hydrogen propulsion systems for drones, was awarded the prize for the Solution with the Most Intersectoral Adaptability.

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King