In this season of festivals it is tempting to imagine a hydrogen event that will turn heads and attract the crowds of Glastonbury, V Festival, Pukkelpop or Aix en Provence. Hydrogen conferences to date have attracted mostly researchers, application developers, consultants, government officials (sent of paying out of pocket), students (sent or paying out of pocket), retired engineers regretting not to be part of this wave. Although the H2 and FC industry over the last 7 years has achieved remarkable results in terms of performance and costs and many Drive and Rides are part of the program, the general public let alone VIP or even local press do not seem to find their way yet to these events. The coming European FC and H2 event season offer an opportunity to change this tide: the EHA will be presenting at the International Conference on Hydrogen Safety, September 9- 11 in Brussels, F-Cell seminar is broadening its crowds through a timely selections of new topics like energy storage is kicking off on September 30 in Stuttgart, the FCH JU Stakeholder General Meeting, since its inception dubbed the “hydrogen event of the year”, on November 13 2013 in Brussels, is celebrating its continuation with a € 1,4 bln budget for 7 years, the 5th edition European Fuel Cell Technology & Applications “Piero Lunghi Conference” (EFC13), is continuing to impress with state of the art fuel cell presentations on December 11 in Rome. Last but not least the European Hydrogen Energy Conference is back with an exciting program, in an even more very exciting location in Sevilla, Spain. We encourage the organisers of all these events, including many national and local events organised by EHA’s national association members, to colour their program with unexpected twists, crowd pleasers and at least one program session that get the press on their feet. So submit these papers and bring that cynical friend. As the coming years should be the run up to full commercialisation we need to define formula’s that carry our messages further than long powerpoint presentations in dark halls. If the Wagner Festival allows a petrol station as backdrop of the Ring in Bayreuth, the keynote of the next FCH JU Stakeholder General Meeting needs to at least act, sing and dance!
(picture Enrico Nawrath/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)