Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre

In 2013, Manchester Metropolitan University launched an initiative called the Greater Manchester Hydrogen Partnership together with the Combined Authority and a group of key innovators who came together to work through how hydrogen and fuel cells could be used for different purposes across diverse industry sectors in the region.

Within a year, the partnership developed working groups for energy, transport, research, innovation and skills and progressed several projects with feasibility studies. At its core was the growing recognition of the need for a physical centre to bring together academic and industry expertise in the challenge of hydrogen fuel cell technology in the North West.

The shared vision of a technology centre researching hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and a commitment to future skills development and low carbon energy meant Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre was endorsed in the region’s European Union investment plans.

At the same time, Manchester Metropolitan University focused on the potential that hydrogen and fuel cell technology research and education could bring to the University and the wider city region.

Working together, funding was secured from the European Regional Development Fund to make the Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre a reality. The £4.1m state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cell research and development hub officially opened in September 2018.

The work here contributes to the region, business, community, and the wider world.