Developing a sustainable hydrogen supercluster

Spanning the South West of England and South Wales, the Great Western Supercluster of Hydrogen Impact for Future Technologies (GW-SHIFT) will connect academic, civic and industry partners with a shared vision to maximise the enormous potential of the region’s hydrogen ecosystem.

Powering green, inclusive growth across the region, the ambition of GW-SHIFT is to transition from a nascent cluster to an established supercluster which is uniquely placed to lead the delivery of the green hydrogen economies needed to decarbonise the UK. The impact will span multiple sectors (maritime, road, rail, aerospace, and chemicals) across the region’s unique testbed of urban, rural, and coastal areas and resources.

Great Western supercluster for hydrogen impact for future technologies

The establishment of GW-SHIFT as a hydrogen supercluster for the South of England and South Wales will enable maximum impact from joined-up strategic advances in hydrogen production, storage and distribution, conversion, end-use applications (for mobility, heating, power), industrial feedstocks, and cross-cutting issues (economic, environmental, social and safety).

It will be a critical enabler of a thriving low-carbon hydrogen sector in the South-West and South Wales, with national and global applications, delivering energy security, skills, economic growth, supply chain development and driving Net Zero innovations.

Academic team

  • Professor Tim Mays

    Co-Director

    University of Bath

    View blog post

  • Professor Xiaohong Li

    Co-Director

    University of Exeter

    View blog post

  • Dr James Courtney

    Co-Investigator
    Theme Lead: Production

    Swansea University

    View blog post

  • Dr Jemma Rowlandson

    Co-Investigator
    Theme Lead: Storage & Distribution

    University of Bristol

    View blog post

  • Professor Agustin Valera-Medina

    Co-Investigator
    Theme Lead: Conversion

    Cardiff University

    View blog post

  • Professor Deborah Greaves OBE FREng

    Co-Investigator
    Theme lead: End-use Applications

    University of Plymouth

    View blog post

  • Dr Yeaw Chu Lee

    Co-Investigator
    Theme lead: End-use Applications

    University of Plymouth

    View blog post

  • Jon Maddy

    Co-Investigator
    Theme Lead: Industrial Feedstock

    University of South Wales

    View blog post

Delivery of high-impact projects & activities

Network building

GW-SHIFT will begin with network building to bring together the nascent cluster, leading towards creating a mature cluster ready for further collaborative impact activity.

Knowledge sharing secondments

Will enable knowledge sharing/collaboration among partners to support shared understanding of challenges, policy development, and wider ecosystem requirements. These will be two-way, eg, researchers seconded part-time into industry/civic partners or civic/industry into universities.

Collaborative match-funded impact projects

Through a rolling competitive application process, academic, industry and civic partners will propose 1-2 year collaborative projects (supported by extensive facilities and equipment provided by partners) to build on existing research, including follow-on of sprints.

Engagement, inclusion & dissemination

Awareness raising and education with the public, schools, wider academia, industry, SMEs, and policymakers to increase understanding, improve public acceptance and catalyse collaborative R&D partnerships to develop new technologies.

Policy & theme conversations

Workshops and roundtables involving civic, industry, academic, third sector, policymakers, and influencers will explore regional civic and industry priorities for hydrogen.

Sprint projects

Short (3-6 month) collaborative sprint projects for proof-of-principle, market validation, policy foresight/development and horizon scanning projects. Sprints will enable rapid collaboration building with industry and the public sector and will provide academics (particularly early career researchers) with opportunities to undertake initial proof of principle studies regarding new technologies, processes, or policy interventions. Successful sprint projects will be able to apply for larger collaborative match-funded projects.

Capacity building

GW-SHIFT will ensure the skills required to create maximum societal impact from the hydrogen economy are embedded regionally via:

- Entrepreneurial training

- Early Career Researcher training

- Mentoring

- Upskilling programmes

Keep in touch

If you want to keep in touch as the project progresses and get involved in upcoming opportunities, please complete the following short form

Place Based Innovation Accelerator Account Programme

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