From Innovation to Uptake: MAST3RBOOST and MOST-H2 Bring Stakeholders Together to Discuss the Future of Hydrogen Storage

From Innovation to Uptake: MAST3RBOOST and MOST-H2 Bring Stakeholders Together to Discuss the Future of Hydrogen Storage

On 13 July 2026, the Horizon Europe projects MAST3RBOOST and MOST-H2 hosted the joint online stakeholder workshop “From Innovation to Uptake: Stakeholder Dialogue on Hydrogen Storage for Mobility”, bringing together researchers, industry representatives and hydrogen experts to discuss one fundamental question:

What is needed to move adsorption-based hydrogen storage from promising research results to real-world deployment?

The event showcased how both sister projects, funded under the same Horizon Europe call, are tackling one of the key challenges of the hydrogen economy: developing safer, more efficient and more sustainable hydrogen storage technologies for future mobility applications.

Two complementary approaches towards the same goal

The workshop opened with a keynote message from Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, who highlighted the strategic importance of hydrogen technologies for Europe’s competitiveness, energy resilience and industrial sovereignty, stressing that innovation in hydrogen storage will be essential to support the continent’s energy transition.

Participants were then introduced to the complementary work carried out by both projects.

MOST-H2: advancing cryo-adsorbed hydrogen storage

Theodore Steriotis, coordinator of MOST-H2, presented the project’s work on developing advanced Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) capable of storing hydrogen through cryogenic adsorption at significantly lower pressures than conventional compressed hydrogen systems.

The presentation demonstrated how AI-assisted material discovery, scalable MOF production and cryogenic storage tank development are being combined to create a technology particularly suited for heavy-duty transport applications such as trains, buses and trucks.

MAST3RBOOST: connecting materials with real storage systems

Representing MAST3RBOOST, Teresa Valdés-Solís and Paolo Taddei showed how the project goes beyond material development by addressing the complete hydrogen storage system.

Their presentations covered the development of sustainable activated carbons and MOFs produced from renewable and waste-derived feedstocks, the scale-up of adsorbent production, computational modelling, Digital Twin development, storage tank engineering, refuelling interfaces and safety validation.

Together, these activities aim to bridge the gap between laboratory-scale material performance and a fully integrated 1 kg hydrogen storage demonstrator suitable for future mobility applications.

What do stakeholders see as the biggest challenges?

Following the technical presentations, attendees participated in an interactive discussion using Mentimeter, providing valuable insights into how experts perceive the future of adsorption-based hydrogen storage.

When asked which technological aspects should receive the highest priority, participants identified two clear priorities:

  • Long-term material durability
  • Manufacturing scalability

Reducing operating temperature requirements also emerged as an important research direction, highlighting that future progress will require improvements not only in material performance but also in manufacturing and system engineering.

The discussion also explored the main barriers preventing wider adoption of adsorption-based hydrogen storage technologies.

Stakeholders overwhelmingly identified high system costs as the greatest obstacle, followed by:

  • Limited demonstration projects;
  • Regulatory uncertainty and lack of standards;
  • Hydrogen infrastructure availability.

These results closely reflect the challenges currently being addressed within both MAST3RBOOST and MOST-H2, particularly regarding demonstration activities, scale-up and system validation.

Where can adsorption-based hydrogen storage make the greatest impact?

Participants also shared their views on the sectors with the greatest deployment potential.

The strongest support was given to:

  • Stationary energy storage
  • Heavy-duty road transport
  • Rail applications

These responses closely align with the application scenarios explored throughout both projects and reinforce the growing interest in adsorption-based storage for sectors requiring high energy density and improved safety.

What will accelerate market uptake?

When discussing the actions needed to bring adsorption-based hydrogen storage closer to commercial deployment, stakeholders highlighted several priorities.

The highest-ranked measure was public funding, closely followed by:

  • Industrial partnerships;
  • Pilot and demonstration projects;
  • Regulatory support and cross-sector collaboration.

During the discussion, project experts also emphasised that standardisation will play a decisive role in enabling future commercialisation, particularly for innovative storage vessels and cryogenic systems where dedicated standards are still under development.

Looking ahead

The workshop demonstrated that adsorption-based hydrogen storage is increasingly recognised as a promising pathway for future hydrogen mobility. At the same time, discussions confirmed that technical innovation alone will not be enough.

Moving from successful research projects to widespread deployment will require continued collaboration between researchers, industry, policymakers and standardisation bodies, together with further demonstration activities capable of validating these technologies under real operating conditions.

By bringing together complementary expertise and engaging directly with stakeholders, MAST3RBOOST and MOST-H2 are helping build the foundations needed to accelerate the transition from innovation to real-world application.

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