North Adriatic Clean Hydrogen Investment Platform (NACHIP) to strengthen the North Adriatic Hydrogen Ecosystem
The Ecosystem of the North Adriatic region comprising Croatia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Autonomous Region of Italy, and Slovenia, has been expanding thanks to a newly launched initiative, NACHIP. A grant of 7.6 million euro has been awarded to the consortium of 12 partners from the three participating countries. The initiative represents an opportunity for up to 18 SMEs who will be selected to receive a grant of up to 60.000 euro each and join the two-tier NACHIP acceleration programme through which they be integrated in the value chains evolving around the five industrial pilot projects based on hydrogen-related technologies.
Map of the pilot locations.
The pilots
The NACHIP acceleration programme is developed around five industrial pilot projects aiming to create three hydrogen-based value chains.
Main goals and a wider impact
NACHIP aims to validate nascent technologies at TRL8-9, pilot dynamic clean hydrogen value chains, and develop an acceleration programme for the transfer of the technologies to market. These results will enable market replicability of innovations across NAHV territories, particularly benefiting less developed regions.
Specifically, the main goals are:
- Implement and scale-up a portfolio of investment propositions (pilots) for hydrogen-related technologies, initially as TRL 6 or higher, across selected value chains.
- Develop “local hydrogen alliances” around these pilots to anchor further development of target value chains.
- Generate an investable portfolio of hydrogen-related solutions with an acceleration program to support continuous technology maturation, dissemination, and integration into the NAHV ecosystem and beyond.
Consortium and collaboration
The consortium involves 12 private and public organisations spanning Slovenia, Croatia, and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region (FVG), Italy, led by Jožef Stefan Institute from Ljubljana.
Other partners of the consortium are:
ECUBES, KSSENA, ETRA, DOK-ING, Municipality of Velenje, META Group, META Circularity, University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Leonitus, Serichim and Faber.
All are committed to cross-border integration of hydrogen production, distribution, consumption, and clean hydrogen exchange. Collaboration will continue through governance integrated into the NAHV SPV to ensure continuity and maximise its impact.
Co-financing and time frame
NACHIP is co-financed by the European Union through the I3 Instrument implemented by EISMEA – European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. It was granted under the Call Interregional Innovation Investments Strand 2a (I3-2023-INV2a).
The three-year initiative will use its grant award to co-finance projects across the North Adriatic region.
The total committed value of the initiative is 10.5 million euro. The total grant funding provided by the NACHIP amounts to EUR 7.6 million, out of which 67.2 % is destined to finance the implementation of 5 pilot projects. The vast majority of the funding will be destined directly to the maturation of the technologies, including the gaps fulfilment process supported by Cascade Financing. The predominant part of the Cascade Funding will target less developed regions of the territories, including Eastern Slovenia, Mediterranean Croatia and Central Croatia. The co-financing is well balanced among the three territories of the NAHV, allocating 19.3 % of the total grant requested to FVG (and 23,8 % to Italy), 30.4 % to Croatia, and 31.7 % to Slovenia, before the portion of the grant destined to the Cascade Financing.
Contact
Lead partner, coordinator:
Jožef Stefan Institute, IJS
Matija Pavlovčič
NACHIP Coordinator
matija.pavlovcic@ijs.si
Communication and dissemination manager:
META Circularity, METAC
Jurij Giacomelli
NACHIP Communication & Dissemination
jurij.giacomelli@meta-circularity.eu