Snam – the first hydrogen startups rewarded in the Hyaccelerator program, EH Group (fuel cells) and Atawey (refuelling stations) will undertake the program.
At the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, Snam awarded prizes to the first startups to join Hyaccelerator, the company’s hydrogen-focused accelerator program for startups.
Following the first call, the jury, made up of Snam’s top managers, selected two startups that will undertake the Hyaccelerator journey and awarded a special mention to a third startup that participated in the program.
The two winners are the Swiss EH Group, which proposes a fuel cell technology that is characterised by high efficiency and a radical reduction in production costs, and the French Atawey, which aims to design and develop both small and large-scale hydrogen refuelling stations. The two startups will undertake a six-month acceleration program that will lead to the development, together with Snam, of a first industrial deployment.
The program also envisages that the startups will be mentored by Snam personnel, also coming into contact with the Hydrogen Innovation Center network created by the company in collaboration with universities and research centres.
The Special Prize Tech of the Future mention went to the Italian startup Particular Materials, which will produce green hydrogen from electrolysis through an innovative technology based on supercritical water, which it currently uses for the synthesis of nano-materials and the recovery of noble metals from wastewater.
This startup will be included in a special Snam R&D program dedicated to promising technologies under development.
About 70 startups from all over the world took part in the first call; about 50 were from Europe and 20 from the United States and Asia. The business areas covered the entire hydrogen supply chain, from production to transport, storage and end uses in industrial sectors and mobility.
Hyaccelerator, launched by Snam last October, is the first corporate startup acceleration program focused on hydrogen on a global scale.
The aim is to exploit technologies with the greatest potential to accelerate the development of hydrogen and thus contribute to efforts to decarbonise the economic system, in line with national and international climate targets.
Speakers at Hyaccelerator Day included Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Patrizia Toia, Councillor for Economic Development and Labour Policies for the Municipality of Milan Alessia Cappello, Director of the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office Sunita Satyapal, Talent Garden Founder and Chairman Davide Dattoli and Snam CEO Marco Alverà.
During the event, the Museum’s Technological Mosaic exhibition was opened to participants. The area houses the Synoptic Panel, a 50-square-metre video wall used by the Snam dispatching centre in San Donato Milanese, which was later donated to the Museum and replaced by a more modern version. Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.
The dispatching centre is the “brain” of the Italian gas network, a strategic infrastructure that is preparing for the energy transition and that in the future will transport increasing volumes of green gases (biomethane and hydrogen).
Highlights:
- The Swiss EH Group (fuel cells) and the French Atawey (refuelling stations) will undertake an acceleration program.
- Particular mention for Italian company Particular Materials, which will be included in an R&D program.
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Snam: the first hydrogen startups rewarded in the Hyaccelerator program, Milan, February 22, 2022