Excellent: H2BlackForest

Source: IFF University of Stuttgart; Visualization: Lutz Wahler

Together with the Black Forest Campus, the IFF and the EEP of the University of Stuttgart, and the Fraunhofer IPA have applied for the Research Center for Biointelligent Water Cycle Management within the framework of RegioWIN 2030 – and won. H2BlackForest was awarded by three ministries and is one of the three flagship projects of the North Black Forest region. Now, the winners are looking for additional industry partners, municipalities, and municipal utilities who want to participate in the funding.

"The state intends to allocate about 80 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for RegioWIN projects and supplement it with state funds," promised Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Economic Affairs Hoffmeister-Kraut during the announcement of the awarded flagship projects. A significant part of this will benefit the Black Forest Campus, the IFF, EEP, and the IPA, whose project for a biointelligent hydrogen cycle is budgeted at a total of 12 million euros. The project aims to make it accessible to further partners from industry, energy supply, and municipal administration. "We plan to supplement the EU and state budgets by nearly five million euros," said Stefan Bogenrieder, Managing Director of the Black Forest Campus. "We are convinced that this will give the region a significant leap forward in innovation, climate neutrality, and sustainability."

H2BlackForest comprises four sub-projects that explore and enable the green hydrogen production and its biointelligent cycle management in the North Black Forest region.

Alexander Sauer, as head of the Fraunhofer IPA and the EEP of the University of Stuttgart, significantly co-designed the project: "In the FastCell sub-project, we make customer-specific fuel cell stack manufacturing suitable for mass production through high-speed assembly. ReduCO2 accelerates the CO2 neutrality of production in the North Black Forest region with sustainable hydrogen-based technologies. In WisFo, we create economic synergies through exchange with SMEs, and in BioRoh, we jointly investigate with Fraunhofer IGB how biotic raw materials, such as wood, can be used as a basis for sustainable and green hydrogen production."

The original initiator of the application, IPA Director Thomas Bauernhansl, who also heads the Institute for Industrial Manufacturing and Factory Operation at the University of Stuttgart, emphasizes the focus on integrating highly innovative technologies: "Automation and artificial intelligence play a crucial role in the project. Therefore, we are also interested in cooperation with companies from these sectors."

Companies, municipal utilities, and municipalities interested in participating in the winning project H2BlackForest are kindly asked to contact us promptly at: Stefan.Bogenrieder@campus-schwarzwald.de