As a promising type of clean energy, hydrogen energy has become a significant field of global science and technology innovation and energy market competition. It is also crucial in deploying China's Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Strategy. As a critical hydrogen research institution, the Zhejiang University (specifically the Zhejiang University Hydrogen Energy Institute or 'Hydrogen ZJU') built a close partnership with the China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd. (CIMC) and the CIMC Enric Holdings Limited (CIMC ENRIC), the advanced energy equipment provider, on October 2022 to establish the ZJU-CIMC & ENRIC Hydrogen Energy Technology Joint Research & Development Center. Their goal is to build a world-leading hydrogen research center and a model of inter-sector collaboration between higher education institutions and the industry.

The joint center is to utilize three partners' advantages in hydrogen storage and transportation equipment and safety research, energy equipment production, and hydrogen storage and transport system design.

Specifically, scholars and researchers at Zhejiang University started researching hydrogen in 1978, which is one of the earliest institutions in China to explore hydrogen energy. Within decades of development, Zhejiang University hosts a lot of active hydrogen-related research teams and talents and has produced many talents contributing to the hydrogen energy field, as well. In particular, Prof. Jinyang Zheng has developed an active and cutting-edge team in hydrogen equipment and safety. Moreover, he and his team have worked in the field for more than 20 years and have achieved substantive innovations. In 2022, Prof. Zheng became a Chinese Academy of Engineering member and started to lead Hydrogen ZJU later on.

CIMC is a leading provider of logistics and energy equipment in the world. It has developed as an international industrial group and built a powerful network worldwide (learn more about CIMC at https://www.cimc.com/en/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=lists&catid=5). As one of its key member corporations, CIMC ENRIC is significant hydrogen storage and transportation equipment producer and system designer in China (learn more about CIMC ENRIC at https://en.enricgroup.com/about#enric).

Before the establishment of the joint center, the three partners have closely collaborated on standardization and technology innovation and have produced significant achievements. Per the establishment of the joint center, they will strengthen their partnership and work closely on vital hydrogen equipment and safety technology innovation, standardization, and deployment. Moreover, they will cooperate to cultivate engineers and researchers in related fields. In addition, they will explore efficient mechanisms and methodologies to operate the joint center and shed light on inter-sector collaborations.