We are proud to look back at the immense success of our flagship international event, «SEAL-HYDROGEN: From Lab Innovation to Industrial Scale-Up« held on April 28 and 29, 2026, in the stunning coastal city of Valencia. Hosted at The Terminal Hub right by the sea, this two-day gathering served as a premium meeting point for academia, top-tier research centers, and industrial leaders dedicated to driving the green hydrogen transition.
As an EU-funded initiative, the SEAL-HYDROGEN project focuses on pioneering a new class of conventional alkaline electrolyzers. By combining proven classical systems with cutting-edge innovations in materials science and catalyst design , our ultimate promise is to significantly reduce the cost of green hydrogen production using stable, efficient systems with zero critical raw materials.
Here is how the two dynamic days unfolded, showcasing the journey from fundamental laboratory breakthroughs to full-scale commercial viability:
DAY 1: APRIL 28, 2026 – Shifting from Lab Innovation to Industrial Vision
The opening day was masterfully structured to trace the evolution of technology, starting with highly technical, scientific sessions («Lab Innovation») in the morning and shifting towards commercial applications («Industrial Vision») by the afternoon.
Morning Session: Deep Dive into Lab Innovation
The event kicked off with rigorous scientific insights into materials science, advanced components and next-generation electrolysis. Key highlights included:
- Dr. Christian I. Bernäcker (Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM) – presenting «Development of Electrolyzer Components from Laboratory scale (cm²) to Industrial Scale (m²)»
- Prof. Olivier Joubert (Nantes Université) – presenting «A Brief Overview of Hydrogen R&D Activities at IMN, Focus on Materials Issues»
Breaking Formats: Innovation Radar & Strategic Debates
To inject high energy into the middle of the day, we broke away from traditional lecture layouts with two highly interactive blocks:
Innovation Radar – Elevator Pitch Sessions: This fast-paced segment allowed emerging innovators to showcase disruptive concepts poised to reshape the clean tech landscape (including 3 external projects + 2 internal from the SEAL-HYDROGEN project):
- DeltaSpark – presented by Suhas Nuggehalli (Co-founder)
- OLESYM – presented by Gonzalo Prieto (ITQ Scientific Lead)
- Kerionics – presented by Pablo Campos (Project Manager)
- HORIBA – presented by Madjid Tarabet (Consortium Partner)
- Matteco – presented by Vicente Vert (Consortium Partner)
Expert Roundtable: «The H2 Snapshot in Spain & Europe: A Roadmap to the 2030 Industrial Horizon» moderated by Bianca Dragomir (Director at Cleantech for Iberia), with contributions from:
- Beatriz Lucero (Sales Manager at Grupo Álava)
- Rubén Beneito (Product Manager in the Technology & Product Development Area at Técnicas Reunidas)
- Jesús Rodríguez (Head of the Scientific Development Unit at the National Hydrogen Centre – CNH2)
- Alejandro Rubio (Head of Green Hydrogen at the Energy Technology Institute – ITE)
- Irene Larroy (Expert in Global Incentives and Innovation at E&Y)
Afternoon Session: Industrial Visions
The latter half of Day 1 pivoted fully toward large-scale deployment, infrastructure and real-world market entry, featuring vital industry perspectives from:
- Tiago Lagarteira, CEO at Verdantia – «Beyond Proof-of-Concept: When Clean Syngas Meets Industrial Economics»
- Javier Llabrés, CTE at SENER – «Scale-up of Hydrogen Production Technologies: Alkaline, Anionic Electrolysis and NH3 Cracking»
- Alessandra Pellegrino & Soroosh Saeedi from HYDEP (NextChem) – «Engineering and Scale-Up of Electrolyzer Stack: HyDEP Design Approach»
DAY 2: APRIL 29, 2026 – Ecosystem Collaboration
The second day centered heavily on the power of collaboration, tracking progress within our own consortium and uniting with European peer networks.
SEAL-HYDROGEN Progress & Sister Projects
Day 2 provided a transparent stage for our SEAL-HYDROGEN Consortium members to present the latest technological breakthroughs alongside our valued sister projects (EU-funded / co-funded initiatives working jointly toward #NetZero targets) including:
- AEMELIA
- EXSOTHyC
- X-SEED
- ENDURE
- ELECTROLIFE
- MATCATH
Additionally, the agenda featured crucial technical and equipment scaling interventions, highlighting specialized industry and research expertise from:
- Thermo Fisher Scientific: presented by Cristina Gómez.
- IMDEA Energy: presented by Cristina Álvarez.
Headline Keynote Presentations
A major highlight anchoring both Day 1 & Day 2’s strategic vision was the contribution of two world-renowned keynote speakers, who provided invaluable academic and field authority:
- Christodoulos Chatzichristodoulou from Technical University of Denmark (DTU) – delivering his keynote: «Accelerating Electrocatalyst and Electrode Architecture Optimization for Advanced AEL/AEMEL»
- Jan van Herle from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) – delivering his keynote: «AEM kWe Stack Assembly and Characterisation»
Thank you to all our partners, speakers and attendees who made this event unforgettable!
Follow our journey on LinkedIn and X / BlueSky using the hashtag #SEALHYDROGEN
