It’s spring in Finland

Time to grow

H2 Springboard is a next-generation hydrogen technology development ecosystem—the most effective way for companies with a collaborative mindset to prove the viability of the hydrogen economy and capture its full business potential.

We aim for the hydrogen business to grow exponentially

Transition

Hydrogen enables the world to transition to clean energy, starting with the heaviest industries. To make the hydrogen economy truly viable, we must overcome its key challenges: reducing production costs and increasing the flexibility of its use. This requires more than just ambition—it calls for bold, profitable action, and real growth in technology development and implementation.

Integration

Traditional linear technology development models are too slow for the acceleration needed. That’s why H2 Springboard offers an integrated and lean collaboration model, where ecosystem pilots, solution development and validation, and technology research run in parallel—engaging all key players from the start of the transition.

Acceleration

H2 Springboard reverses the conventional research, development and innovation (RDI) model into innovation and mission-driven IDR. The solutions created are modular, standardized, and immediately scalable for global markets, allowing industrial companies to make high-impact investments faster and more cost-effectively than ever before.

From linear RDI to lean IDR

Collaboration

A springboard for market-ready solutions

Led by ABB, H2 Springboard enables grid operators (electricity, H₂, CO₂), industrial end-users, system integrators, technology developers, investors, and research institutions to accelerate the competitive hydrogen economy effectively and seamlessly. New hydrogen solutions are developed and validated as close to real markets as possible.

The overall volume of H2 Springboard’s project portfolio is over EUR 150 million, driven by a mission to lower the levelized costs of hydrogen. Business Finland (a government organization for innovation funding and trade, travel and investment promotion) supports H2 Springboard ecosystem partners with an additional EUR 50 million. The availability of funding is determined by the estimated impact of collaborative projects and how they fit into the shared roadmap.

The roadmap to competitive hydrogen

The viability of the H2 economy requires capitalizing on new approaches to cost efficiency in the production and use of hydrogen.

The roadmap for addressing the six challenges is developed jointly, highlighting unique opportunities to develop, research, and market new technology solutions.

Flexible H2 subsystems and technologies

Today, many hydrogen economy subsystems are either too expensive to manufacture, operate or maintain, or they do not align with the dynamic needs of the renewables-based energy systems.

A viable hydrogen economy requires consideration of the economics of scalable and cost-efficient technology architectures for hydrogen production, storage, and transport systems.

Building active, flexible, and intelligent subsystems help balance the overall energy system when it is most needed—both at the request of grid operators and with entirely new economic models for operators.

Affordable and resilient energy transfer in grids

Expanding the clean energy system solely by increasing electricity grid capacity carries the risk of costly overinvestments in energy transfer infrastructure. Therefore, strategic consideration of all energy transfer mediums is pivotal to driving down the costs of hydrogen and its derivatives.

Affordable hydrogen (~$2/kg) requires an entire energy system built on orchestrated coordination between different grids (electricity, H₂ and CO₂) to minimize capital investments in energy transfer. Cost-effective designs are being developed, to ensure the grids actively balance each other.

Modular electrification for scalable H2 economy

Currently, most systems needed for the hydrogen economy are tailor-made with minimal regard for standardization. Achieving extreme cost-efficiency warrants collaboration—enabled by H2 Springboard—to develop standardized, modular blocks that can be combined to cost-effectively build large-scale hydrogen production and use systems.

Modular solutions can significantly shorten the lead time of investment projects and reduce costs compared to traditional RDI.

Optimized production facilities and manufacturing

A viable hydrogen economy is built on intelligent production, storage, and transport systems that enable the economics of flexibility, system resilience, and critical safety.

The focus lies on implementing advanced production plant concepts that optimize energy use and integration. Additionally, new manufacturing models and concepts are being explored.

Technology disruptions by science

New and disruptive initiatives are needed to address the profitability challenges related to the hydrogen economy.

Guided by the Roadmap to Competitive Hydrogen Economy, the H2 Springboard Ecosystem collaborates with leading scientific institutions and startups to identify new solutions for reducing the levelized cost of hydrogen.

The initial project pipeline is planned during the early phases of the ecosystem—the technologies to be used in the future must be developed today.

Ecosystem pilots for acceleration and scaling

Many hydrogen economy technologies and concepts are still in their nascent phases. Practical applications must be tested, piloted, and validated—not just theorized in the lab.

H2 Springboard actively engages with partner projects to scale new concepts to industrial levels. The production-scale projects serve as testbeds for new technologies and studies.

The H2 Springboard partners explore opportunities to apply for suitable funding instruments, such as the Innovation Fund, to scale these solutions to industrial capacity.

Partners

Our partners dare to do things differently

The members of H2 Springboard represent the entire hydrogen value chain. With a shared forward-looking attitude, they pledge to make the hydrogen economy a reality.

Location

H2 Springboard for hydrogen technology developers – it’s spring in Finland!

With abundant natural resources and an economy based on hydrogen-critical industries, Finland is uniquely positioned as the world’s most competitive hotspot for hydrogen technology, investments, and parallel development.

Hydrogen has the potential to contribute over EUR 34 billion to the Finnish economy by 2035*, with EUR 20 billion expected from technologies and services. This transformation is projected to create over 100,000 new jobs.

*H2 Cluster Finland

Would you like to know more?

The H2 Springboard Ecosystem is the next-generation platform for technology innovators, industrial firms, researchers, investors, and policymakers to shape the future profitability of the hydrogen economy, based on the shared roadmap.

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It’s spring in Finland

Time to grow