EU Fuel cells research body becomes autonomous

Europe’s collaborative effort to develop and commercialize fuel cells and hydrogen took a step forward this week when the body responsible for the €1 billion public-private partnership was freed of the Commission’s fetters, streamlining administration as it seeks to push fuel cells and related technologies to market.
“We are now in a position to take our own financial decisions,” Bert De Colvenaer, executive director, told Science|Business, as the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking became an autonomous organisation.
The fuel cells body was launched in 2008, and until last week had been under the formal umbrella of the European Commission. Now it is judged to be grown up enough to manage its own programme and make proper use of public funds, the Commission said.
Fuel cells and hydrogen are a “key technology” if Europe is to achieve its 20-20-20 goals of a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, 20 per cent of energy coming from renewable sources, and a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency, by 2020, De Colvenaer told stakeholders at their general assembly in Brussels.