H2Excellence aims to establish a platform of centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs) in the field of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies that will provide a collaborative educational, training and development program to narrow and close the existing industry skills’ gaps. It is envisaged that different local clusters will be set up across different countries in Europe (e.g. Portugal, Spain, France, Finland and Italy) which will each focus on different aspects of the hydrogen value chain (e.g. production, storage, distribution, end-use applications and cross-cutting issues). The clusters will bring together stakeholders such as universities, industrial partners and governmental bodies, forming strong links at regional, national and European level. Different target audiences will be approached: managerial, professional/technical and general public.

The H2Excellence CoVEs will facilitate the development of transnational collaborative platforms by leveraging EU cooperation, support enabling technical support, and mutual learning opportunities in the green hydrogen sector and related industries. The centres of Vocational Excellence will be aimed at creating world-class reference points for training in green hydrogen technologies for both initial training of young people, engineers as well as for continuing up-skilling and re-skilling of adults, through flexible and timely offer of training for the skills needs of companies in the green hydrogen sector.

The CoVEs will operate locally and will be embedded in the local innovation ecosystems. CoVEs will act as catalysts for local business investment and ensure supply of high-quality skilled workers in green hydrogen technology. The planned CoVEs will also support and promote SMEs, entrepreneurial initiatives in adapting and responding to existing and emerging training and upskilling needs, and act as knowledge and innovation hubs for companies (SMEs), VET providers and R&D labs.

The quality standards and protocols in developing VET initiative as well as learning and training programme will allow VET excellence ensuring high quality skills and competences. The proposed development will lead to quality employment and career-long opportunities, which meet the needs of an innovative, inclusive, and sustainable economy.