The Hydrogen Club of Mont-Blanc Industries, created in September 2019 and which already brings together 30 companies, is taking action to be present on projects eligible for the automotive sector funding, more specifically on research and development of hydrogen technologies for clean vehicles.
To structure its action plan, the club has elected Alain Auffret, technical director of the Pracartis group and its subsidiary Precise France, present in the hydrogen sector for more than 10 years through the supply of turbochargers, as its president.
Launched in September 2019, Club Hydrogène carried out a first collective action in February with a visit to the Hyvolution show in Paris. Thus, the fifteen participating companies were able to discover together the innovations and market prospects presented at the show. Today, the club is structured under the chairmanship of Alain Auffret, Technical Director of the Pracartis Group and Precise France, to create a new dynamic. The club’s objective is to federate the region’s industrialists in order to find collaborative axes for innovative projects and to position the network’s skills on the market and new hydrogen technologies, by linking up with regional, national and European programmes.
Hydrogen is one of the 5 themes eligible for the PIA4 research and development fund, 150M€ for 2020, as part of the support plan for the automotive industry.
A HYDROGEN SECTOR TO BE CREATED
The club is sponsored by Stäubli, another local player already present on the hydrogen market, through very high-pressure and fast connections. Stäubli will support the club’s efforts with its expertise, knowledge, and network.
Precise France has been a player in the sector for more than 10 years with its participation in the design of the Fischer group‘s hydrogen turbocharger.
“Hydrogen is probably the energy of tomorrow. Europe, including France, is already lagging behind Asia. The idea of the Hydrogène de Mont-Blanc Industries club is to create, based on a territorial initiative, a network of exchanges between industrialists and academics in order to develop our own systems, to finance them thanks to the various plans dedicated to industrial change and to adapt the production of our factories for the manufacture of these new products. The entire hydrogen sector needs to be created, a major project is starting, and our club intends to contribute to it!” says Alain Auffret.
Mont-Blanc Industries will ensure, through the CIMES competitiveness cluster, the link and coherence with regional players, including the competitiveness clusters concerned.
