Even stronger and even more innovative together

The partnership is sealed: InnovationLab GmbH and the TNO-Holst Centre recently signed a collaboration agreement in Eindhoven. Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, the economics affairs minister of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and iL Managing Director Dr. Michael Kröger joined an exciting delegation trip to the neighboring country.

The gateway has been opened: The Heidelberg-based InnovationLab GmbH and the TNO-Holst Centre in Eindhoven recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at creating a close, international scientific and economic partnership. The formal signing ceremony was attended by Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, the economics affairs minister of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and government representatives of the Noord Brabant province at the high-tech campus of the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (or TNO) in a dignified setting.

Project Manager Province Noord-Brabant Coean de Graaf, Senior Business Development Manager of the TNO-Holst Center Emilio Manrique Ambriz, iL Managing Director Dr. Michael Kröger and Baden-Württemberg's Economics Minister Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut after signing the contract in Eindhoven

“As a result of this partnership, we are bringing together two exceptional innovative regions in Europe – Noord-Brabant and Baden-Württemberg – on the technological and economic level. InnovationLab will support Holst’s work to transfer innovative electrolyzer technology to the industrial manufacturing sector. InnovationLab and its partner will profit from the continuous enhancement and improvement of the technology”, said iL Managing Director Dr. Michael Kröger, who participated together with other 50 representatives from Baden-Württemberg at this three-day delegation trip to a neighboring European country.

Both contract partners are now considering ways to accelerate technological transfers and the industrial production of electrolyzers and to assume something of a leadership role in electrolyzer technology in Europe. InnovationLab GmbH is working to create an open pilot factory that could industrially manufacture electrolysis stacks. These stacks could then be used to support both the development of an infrastructure and promising research and development projects being funded by government agencies. In addition to printed electronics, the iL management team is focusing closely on fields of the future and the two key issues energy and health.

 

 

The TNO-Holst Centre is the perfect partner for this work. Like InnovationLab, it focuses on turning scientific findings into practical and marketable solutions. It is an independent research and development center that responds to global societal challenges and has developed specialties in the areas of health, quality of life and vitality, energy and the climate, mobility, digital security and Industry 5.0. The high-tech campus in Eindhoven has every right to be viewed as a creative idea workshop. Eindhoven, a city of 240,000 residents that has been shaped by the electronics giant Philips, melded the areas of technology, design, art and research into one far-reaching mission years ago.

The idea of partnering two innovation locations like InnovationLab and the TNO-Holst Centre was an obvious step to take in order to jointly shape the definition of materials, core processes used in the manufacture of catalyst-coated membranes, mass production or international personnel exchange programs. In addition, options for financing and government funding on the national and international levels are to be considered.

“From Rotterdam Harbor to ‘Brainport’ Noord-Brabant: A clear, future-focused strategy was on display during every stop of the trip: fueling innovation, establishing partnerships and creating favorable framework conditions for private-sector investments. The trip also served as the perfect way to network with Dutch partners and represented the first step in our partnership with the TNO-Holst Centre”, said Michael Kröger.

The partnership is initially scheduled to last for three years. But nothing should stand in the way of an extension if those content and project-related areas that belong together do indeed grow together. Particularly, if other doors open across national borders and even in a multilateral European context.

 

Joachim Klaehn

Head of Communications