After a year as the leader of Chalmers' hydrogen center TechForH2, Tomas Grönstedt can look back on a time where pieces have fallen into place - doctoral students and postdocs have been hired, networks have been established, scientific publications have been made.
He can look forward to a continuation where the center will be established within a research area that is in constant motion.
"We must put TechForH2 on the map internationally, and we must not be afraid to take risks," he says.
Tomas Grönstedt highlights that, among other things, two things were important when TechForH2 was planned. The research focus would be on the actual use of hydrogen gas, and the organization would be built around stakeholders who really want to make a difference in the hydrogen area.
When he sees who participated in the center's annual meeting at Chalmerska huset on 27 November, he can state that the outcome has been as planned, from both academia and industry.
"We have very strong industrial participation," he says. Everyone is here – people are really involved."
Picked up steam
A year ago, the center kicked off. After a period of negotiations and a somewhat tentative start, Tomas Grönstedt says that TechForH2 has really picked up steam.
"Everything is in place. Our projects have started to roll, we have PhD students on site, our connections to projects within Chalmers work fantastically well, and we have started to publish scientific results. We also feel that new forms of viable research collaborations are emerging between the participants in the centre," he says.
As part of a successful establishment, he also highlights the investment made by Chalmers' Transport Area Of Advance to employ postdocs, and believes that it was a very proactive move. Today, there are seven postdocs and ten doctoral students gathered under the TechForH2 umbrella.
At TechForH2's annual meeting on November 27, the center's various stakeholders and participants had the opportunity to meet, establish contacts with each other and discuss the research being conducted in hydrogen gas. Tomas Grönstedt emphasizes, among other things, the good atmosphere and how good the presentations were. And that the day was fun!
Doctoral students make their mark
"Everything is going so well that you hardly have to make an effort," he says with a smile, and highlights, among other things, the doctoral students within the centre:
"They have started building their own networks, which is great. They visit other universities, and they want workshops set in the industry. These are very good ideas that they have come up with all by themselves, and it goes straight to the top among what we have done in the center so far. And we have a gender distribution of 40 percent women among our doctoral students - we are very satisfied with that."
So how will he and the others at TechForH2 take the successful launch further? Some things have already been decided, including an experimental rig for fuel cells, something that Tomas Grönstedt believes will complement the activities that take place within the testbed SEEL (Swedish Electric Transport Laboratory) in a good way.
"We are very interested in how the fuel cell is run, and how we achieve longevity, best operating conditions, that is how peripheral systems work with the fuel cell. At SEEL, we have a greater focus on development and validation of the fuel cell itself. The rig allows us to build up the local competence here at the institution, and that is important – it is of strategic importance."
Focuses on the right things
Other things are about developing what has been started along the way, such as the seminar activities that the center conducts in collaboration with Luleå University's center CHE2SS - the idea is to also bring KTH into the collaboration, and in the long run to make the series completely national. And Tomas Grönstedt emphasizes the importance of taking risks.
"There is a lot happening internationally, and it is very important to have specialization and unique research ideas to justify your existence. We must have the ambition to dare to take risks and look at completely new technology, but we must also balance that with developing things close to applicability."
"We must be proactive about how the hydrogen society develops, but we can see that the idea with our center was right and that we are focusing on the right things."
- Centrumföreståndare, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences