Work package leader: VEBIC, University of Vaasa.
The aim of the work package is to design a clean hydrogen ecosystem and its operating model for South Ostrobothnia.
The Role of Hydrogen Ecosystems as a Driver for Regional Hydrogen Economy Development
Work Package 2 began with a background study examining hydrogen ecosystems based on hydrogen ecosystem literature and other publicly available materials.
Ecosystems are recently gaining the attention of governmental authorities around the world as a suitable alternative to tackle complex challenges such as the transition towards clean energy technologies. Ecosystems as flexible social structures, enable the development of innovative solutions from the collaborative work of multiple and heterogeneous social actors (Asplund, Björk, Magnusson, & Patrick, 2021). These social structures strengthen and expand by the interactions and interdependencies between actors, resulting in resource sharing, knowledge transfer and co-creation.
A key aspect in ecosystems is to improve the creation of bonds of trust and reciprocity between members to facilitate risk sharing and decision making (Kola, Koivukoski, Koponen, & Heino, 2020; Zeng, 2022).
A key aspect of ecosystems is fostering trust and reciprocity among members to facilitate risk-sharing and decision-making (Kola et al., 2020; Zeng, 2022). According to the recent literature, ecosystems are characterized by its co-evolution over time (Gifford, McKelvey, & Saemundsson, 2021; Maguire, 2022; Riasanow et al., 2020). Therefore, ecosystems reach several stages from emergence to consolidation. During the ecosystem emergence, there are four key processes taking place: value discovery, building collective governance, building contextual embedding, and acquiring resources (Thomas, Autio, & Gann, 2022; Thomas & Ritala, 2022).
Processes in ecosystem emergence could be successfully approached when there is a strong commitment from its members, including a specific definition of the role of the orchestrator (Autio, 2022). The relevance of the orchestrator’ role has been emphasizing in the literature in keeping coherence and alignment between individual interests and the system-level value proposition (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen & Nätti, 2018; Parida, Burström, Visnjic, & Wincent, 2019). As the orchestrator has simultaneously a peripheric and granular perspectives of the ecosystem, it is possible to benefit from pooling resources to build an innovative solution adjusted to the market needs (Autio, 2022; Pinilla-De La Cruz, 2024).
In the international landscape, hydrogen ecosystems appear closed related to the concept of hydrogen valleys. Indeed, hydrogen valleys are ecosystems that meet some characteristics in terms of scale, value chain coverage and geographic delimitation (Weichenhain, Kaufmann, Hölscher, & Scheiner, 2022). Currently, there are relevant initiatives in several countries in Europe, as well as in Asia, Australia, and America. Finland also takes part of hydrogen valleys as the BalticSeaH2 and the BotH2nia Valley. Experiences from hydrogen valleys around the world provide valuable insights for the further emergence and development of regional clean hydrogen ecosystems in Finland.
At the national level, collaboration networks as the H2 Cluster Finland, BotH2nia and Hydrogen research forum are supporting the regional and local initiatives in terms of clean hydrogen. As a result, the current Finnish hydrogen portfolio shows tangible actions on the country’s commitment to the development of the hydrogen economy and collaborative networks.
The full background report is available here: T2.1 Background mapping of hydrogen ecosystems
Regional Stakeholders’ Perspective on the Core of the South Ostrobothnia Hydrogen Ecosystem
In a project workshop, we explored the key factors and goals that should play a central role in South Ostrobothnia’s hydrogen efforts. The main objectives identified were:
- Balancing decentralisation and centralisation, and ensuring diverse hydrogen use, which requires the development of methane and ammonia production and the formation of value chains.
- Increasing electricity-intensive industry in the region, where investment promotion, zoning of industrial/chemical areas, creating favourable conditions for projects, and involving well-known project developers are essential.
- A profitable, sustainable, and value-creating whole, with ready and optimized project locations, a pilot project in South Ostrobothnia, utilisation of waste and side streams, and a high degree of value-added processing.