Projects

The challenge

The challenge was to develop a human capital roadmap for Limburg (NL) for green hydrogen in the framework of the national program on green hydrogen and a comprehensive human capital agenda for the energy transition in the Netherlands.* Not an easy task in a region where hydrogen is already dominantly used as a raw material in the chemical industry and not as an energy carrier, a region that is strongly affected by population decline and is therefore hit twice as hard by an existing shortage of technically trained personnel

(*) This project is part of the program management of the Chemelot Circular Hub, a public-private alliance aiming to become a leading hub for circularity in Europe and financed through the Dutch project GroenvermogenNL on green hydrogen.

The process & results

It was essential to assemble a team composed of core partners related to education, research & development, and business. This is the most important success factor for any project. Together we made an analysis of the existing situation, mainly based on policy and strategy documents. With our core partners and several stakeholders in the field of process industry, mobility and transport we developed a supported and focused roadmap on strengthening the existing learning community, developing a community of practice and business support, and setting up field labs on applications and pilot plants for new technologies. In addition to a good core team, the involvement and support of a broader group of stakeholders is also extremely important. No matter how many actions your plan may contain or how detailed they may be, if there is no support for it, it is loose sand.

Besides regional cooperation (including the nearby cross border region) the roadmap advocates a strong national cooperation to set up a worknet of learning communities, a digital platform to bundle available educational materials on green hydrogen, establish a shared pool of experts, devising campaigns and compiling vacancies. Such a transition requires cooperation, and also the awareness that some interventions should be done at a different, higher level. That is not easy, because you can no longer control it alone, but it is necessary.

The roadmap also contains a plan to elaborate follow up projects, which are now being processed. A roadmap without an overview of the first steps is a map without a signpost. Those first, often small steps, are important to get started.

Read more about the project:
https://groenvermogennl.org/en/southeastern-netherlands-region/

https://groenvermogennl.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GVNL_HCA_Roadmap_Zuid-Oost.pdf