Aalto University Hydrogen Innovation Centre started in summer 2023. The Centre鈥檚 fundamental aim has been to build upon Aalto University's competence across the hydrogen value chain and to enable a sustainable hydrogen society.
The Hydrogen Innovation Centre builds upon a strong collaboration with industry. The dialogue with the major industrial players in hydrogen sector in the Centre鈥檚 advisor board has been extremely valuable to the university, when developing new educational activities, prioritizing research topics and finding ways to proceed from research to innovations.
The Hydrogen Innovation Centre was founded with funding from the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC). This funding supports directly ten doctoral theses in the field.
Since its launch in autumn 2024, the Doctoral School has acted as an anchor for an active community of over 120 researchers working on hydrogen-related topics across Aalto. This community brings together researchers from diverse fields, including chemistry, energy technology, electrical engineering, and energy systems, working upon topics across almost the entire hydrogen value chain.
The Hydrogen Doctoral School regularly organises activities for doctoral students and their supervisors, such as research seminars, workshops, shared courses, and relaxed networking events. Doctoral students have also been active participants in Hydrogen Breakfast events, which bring together the academic community and industry.
From the very beginning of the Innovation Centre, industrial stakeholders were taken onboard. The industrial advisory board (IAB) came together for the first time in April 2024, consisting of representatives from major industrial players in the field, with Outi Ervasti from Neste acting as the chair of the board. This spring, Outi passed on the responsibility of chairing the IAB to Olli Sipil盲, CEO of Gasgrid Finland.
"You have here such a nice view of the future, plus at the same time an optimistic and determined mind: I have enjoyed the atmosphere in this community so much," said Outi Ervasti.
" Across the whole ecosystem, we must enforce a positive mindset and create pathways through early phase risks of major transition, leveraging Finland鈥檚 many strengths. The pace of change in some leading countries is rapid, but we continue to uncover opportunities鈥攎any right here in this room," said Olli Sipil盲.
The IAB has contributed to the selection of funded doctoral projects by offering views on project topics and commenting on applicants鈥 research plans. The Board has also shared its overall perspective on the technical challenges that still need to be addressed through research, as well as the sector鈥檚 educational needs.
鈥淭he feedback received from IAB was extremely valuable and made the decision-making regarding doctoral project grants much easier,鈥 states Kari Tammi, Dean of Aalto University School of Engineering.
This spring, Hydrogen Innovation Centre Doctoral School joined the Aalto Inventors programme. The Hydrogen Inventors programme brought together 26 researchers, mostly doctoral students, to learn about innovation processes, IPR and collaboration needed to develop innovations towards commercialization.
Visiting experts from industry contributed to Inventors program by sharing their knowledge and their views on hydrogen innovation.
In the final event of Hydrogen Inventors, eight teams showcased their innovations developed during the programme. Mika Anttonen, Founder and Chairman of the Board at St1, participated the final event of Hydrogen Inventors as one of the industrial judges who commented the students鈥 innovation pitches.
鈥淛ust remember: this is a marathon, not a 100 m sprint. We need to go on and find ways to substitute fossil fuels. Keep your faith on, keep doing what you are doing. In times when you feel that there is no hope, the sun is always rising. There is always a new day to tackle the challenges. In energy sector, we haven't invented anything remarkably new since nuclear power. I wish I will see the remarkable things you have achieved when I'm 96 years old,鈥 said Mika Anttonen to the students.
Chair: Olli Sipil盲, CEO, Gasgrid Finland
Members of the Board:
The leadership team of the Aalto Hydrogen Innovation Centre is extremely thankful to the former Chair Outi Ervasti, as well as to Mikko Muoniovaara, who recently retired from Fortum and was earlier an active member of the IAB. We are happy to welcome Riitta Silvennoinen, Satu Sipola and Heidi Bergman to join the group as of spring 2026.
EDIT: The newest member of IAB Heidi Bergman added to the list.
The Hydrogen Innovation Centre works to enable a sustainable hydrogen society by facilitating world-leading research at Aalto, and collaboration between our research community, companies, policymakers and external research organizations.
The first step on your innovation journey: Field-specific innovation training designed for researchers to discover the impact potential of your work and build relevant networks.
