A bilateral call for proposals on the "Development of the hydrogen pathway for the future energy mix"

The BMBF and the MESR (via ANR) will launch a call for proposals on the “Development of the hydrogen pathway for the future energy mix. In line with the respective national strategies to accelerate the development and deployment of clean hydrogen technologies both France and Germany have adopted, The German (BMBF) and French (MESR) ministries of research have decided to launch a joint call on key challenges toward the deployment of the hydrogen economy where the bilateral cooperation provides especial added value.

With this call for proposals, the German and French ministries of research, BMBF and MESRI, seek to strengthen the French-German cooperation in energy research and stimulate the innovation processes in both countries, as it was agreed upon at the German-French Ministerial Council on July 13th 2017 and the French-German Research Forum in December 2022. This call is based on the German Federal Government’s “7th Energy Research Programme” and on the French ANR’s “Work Programme 2024”.

The call will feature three main topics:

• Innovations for electrochemical hydrogen production
• Research contributing to a powerful hydrogen infrastructure, especially hydrogen carriers
• Advances for hydrogen energy systems: systems integration and modelling

Funding will be provided to collaborative projects between German and French partners that conduct application-oriented basic research (roughly corresponding to TRL 1-5).

The projects should demonstrate highly innovative research contributions to a future cross-sectoral hydrogen economy in France, Germany and Europe. Projects have to generate added value from the French-German cooperation.

The call is seeking the participation of research institutions4  (universities or assimilates and research organisations) and companies as well as other institutions providing research contributions. The involvement of partners covering the entire innovation chain from research to industry to end users is encouraged to support the practical relevance of the developed solutions.

The consortium of each proposal shall consist of at least one French public research organisations (or assimilates) and one German research institute. The participation of companies as active (and funded by ANR or BMBF) partners or as associated (not funded) partners in the project is highly encouraged.

Projects with a full budget in the range of 1.5 to 2.5 million Euros are expected, with a fair balance of research expenses between Germany and France4.  Smaller or larger projects can be proposed if duly justified.