Cooperation and International Projects

Since the ZBT is working on about 50 research projects simultaneously, research cooperation takes place on many levels. While cooperation with other chairs of the University of Duisburg-Essen in the fields of engineering and chemistry of course exists, there is also good cooperation with the Ruhr University Bochum and cooperation between the different institutes of the Johannes Rau Research Association, e.g. IUTA, DST, AMO in Aachen and the Wuppertal Institute, is actively promoted. Contact with chairs at RWTH Aachen University has also intensified, as interest in fuel cell and hydrogen technology is growing there. At the scientific level, the ZBT also cooperates with partners with project-specific expertise, both from the fuel cell and hydrogen sector (DLR Oldenburg and Stuttgart, Fraunhofer ISE and ZSW) and with basic research institutes with complementary expertise (such as the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, INP in Greifswald). Similar constellations of project partnerships have been established in order to successfully apply for EU projects. Important partners include companies like Nedstack in the Netherlands, Johnson Matthey (UK), and research partners such as CEA (France), VTT (Finland) and Sintef (Norway).

Demand for industrial R&D services is increasing, particularly in the field of electromobility with fuel cell drives. Orders are coming both directly from the automotive industry and from suppliers and component manufacturers.