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PROJECT H2SHIFT – APPLICATIONS OPEN TO ACCESS TO HYDROGEN INNOVATION SERVICES

The first call, aimed at startups and SMEs innovating in the field of hydrogen, is open until March 2026 

There is time until 18 March 2026 to participate in the first open call of the H2SHIFT project, targeting innovative companies active in the development of hydrogen production technologies. 

H2SHIFT brings together industrial partners, universities and research centres in an integrated ecosystem of services that covers the entire innovation path, from laboratory tests to business development support. The initiative is dedicated to startups and SMEs in the hydrogen supply chain interested in developing innovative technological solutions alternatives to those already on the market, also enhancing energy sources that are still underexploited. 

Through a system of cascading calls (Open Calls) managed by the Single Entry Point (SEP), a single access point for potential beneficiaries, H2SHIFT offers subsidised access to the services made available by the project. The first call, which has just opened, will select candidates who will be able to benefit from some of the development platforms made available by the project:  

  • Politecnico di Torino’s test infrastructures for the direct hydrogen production from solar; 
  • Youwind’s software for modelling hydrogen production in an offshore environment; 
  • Resolvent’s multiphysics simulation platform to support design and scale-up of hydrogen production technologies. 

DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS

Researchers from Politecnico di Torino will support companies in the development of processes and technologies for the production of hydrogen by thermochemical and photochemical reactions. Domenico Ferrero and Francesco Orsini, respectively associate professor and researcher of the STEPS group – Department of Energy Galileo Ferraris of the Politecnico di Torino, explain: “Our High-Flux Solar Simulator will enable the testing of prototypes of reactors, and their constituent materials, for the thermochemical splitting of water, a process that exploits only the concentrated heat of the sun to produce hydrogen and oxygen. This technology does not require electricity and therefore represents an interesting alternative for the generation of hydrogen from solar energy“.  

Simelys Hernandez, associate professor at CREST (Catalytic Reaction Engineering for Sustainable Technologies), part of the Department of Applied Science and Technology of the Politecnico di Torino, specialises in the development of catalysts, electrodes and photo-electro-chemical reactors for the production of green hydrogen. She remarks: “We have recently acquired an ultrasonic device for the production of large-scale photocatalytic cells with constant thickness. This, together with our test bench, will allow us to test and validate at scale new materials and devices for the production of hydrogen by photoelectric means, using only sunlight as a reaction motor”.

Youwind is a Software as a Service company that has developed a web platform for the optimized design of offshore and onshore wind farms. The simulator integrates engineering and financial modelling to support the definition of design parameters, from energy yield to fleet configuration. It considers environmental and technical constraints and state-of-the-art wake loss models, as well as logistics and downtime optimisation due to weather conditions, keeping track of the chosen financial indicators. “Our platform,” explains Edvald Edvaldsson, Co-Founder and CTO of Youwind,  “needs to consider the production and storage of hydrogen locally to offshore wind farms, to represent and evaluate the business opportunity. The goal of the collaboration with companies through H2SHIFT’s open calls is precisely to further develop our platform to include production models and obtain an estimate of the cost of hydrogen generated with wind energy”. 

Resolvent specialises in multiphysics modeling, supporting the study of complex processes such as those that occur for the production of hydrogen. “We supported several companies that needed to verify the functioning of their prototypes for a subsequent scale-up”, says Lene Gottrup Barfod, Resolvent’s Managing Director and Partner. “Simulation with our platform allows us to study the best configurations and operating conditions for process optimisation and is therefore a very useful tool to support the development of an innovation from lab to market.”  

HOW DO APPLICATIONS WORK?  

“The application procedure,” explains Alissa Bauer of the Collège des Ingénieurs, who oversees the presidency of the SEP, “involves filling out an online form, to be complemented by a video presentation of the innovation. After the deadline of 18 March, the consortium of H2SHIFT will evaluate all the applications received and interview the finalists to select the four winners, one for each development platform.” 

Companies will have up to six months to work with experts from the Politecnico di Torino, Youwind and Resolvent: “At the end of 2026 – confirms Mara Tumiati of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, which is the organiser of the Open Calls – all the test lines and services of the H2SHIFT ecosystem will be made available through a second open call, and 8 other start-ups and/or SMEs that develop innovation in hydrogen production will be selected”. 

All the details of the call and the application process are available on the dedicated web page of the www.h2shift.eu website, which also contains the recording of the launch webinar held on November 26, 2025. In addition, the H2SHIFT project organises two in-person events to meet innovators: the first will be held on Monday, January 26, 2026, in Paris at the headquarters of the Collège des Ingénieurs; the second on Wednesday, February 4th, in Turin at the Environment Park. Registrations are open for both events through Eventbrite: details will be available on the project’s website and LinkedIn page.  

PROJECT H2SHIFT 

H2SHIFT (Services for Hydrogen Innovation Facilitation and Testing), a European Horizon Europe project (GA no. 101137953), is an Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) that provides a network of laboratories and cutting-edge expertise to support the scale-up and validation of innovative technologies for hydrogen production, positioning itself as a catalyst for European technological innovation leadership in the sector. The project, co-financed by the European Union, is coordinated by Snam and is supported by a consortium of 13 Italian and European partners. 

Website www.h2shift.eu  

LinkedIn @H2SHIFT 
X @H2shift  
Bsky @h2shift.bsky.social 

Media enquiries:  ilaria.schiavi@envipark.com