AA Early Markets

The working group on Early Markets prioritized the subjects in the Multi Annual Plan and prepared a proposal for the subjects to be launched within the Annual Implementation Plan 2009, given the available budget for 2009.

In cooperation with the Industry Grouping, the priorities of the N.ERGHY and the Industry Grouping were merged, resulting in the present list of call priorities for 2009. These are listed in the Table below.

The above priorities are those as of February 2009, and are still to be adopted by the Governing Board of the JU. These priorities are a fair compromise between those of the N.ERGHY and the Industry Grouping.

One should be aware of the fact that the R&D content of Early Markets is limited, as this Application Area is especially devoted to the demonstration of successful fuel cell application, so to convince end users of the benefits of fuel cells who are prepared to pay a premium price. By this, product volumes can be established which enable a decrease in costs by means of "learning by doing".

At the same time, valuable field experience can be gained that is to be used for further improvements of fuel cells with respect to robustness and durability. The words "demonstration" in the various topics should be seen in this perspective.

The working group on Early Markets is at present formed by:

Chair:
Ralph-Uwe Dietrich (CUTEC)

Members:_{in alphabetical order}
Albert Tarancón Rubio (IREC)
Anders Ødegård (SINTEF)
Carmen Garcia (INTA)
Claude Lamy (CNRS, Univ. Poitiers)
Francisco Hernández Ramírez (XaRMAE)
Gabriella Calderari (Univ. di Roma, Sapienzia)
Gunther Kolb (IMM)
Iñaki Azkarate (INASMET-TECNALIA)
Jari Kiviaho (VTT)
Kevin Kendall (Uni Birmingham)
Neville Slack (CPI)
Peter Beckhaus (ZBT)
Pierre Serre-combe (CEA)
Rubén Beneito Ruiz (AIJU)
Stelios G. Neophytides (FORTH/ICE-HT)
Vincenzo Antonucci (CNR)

The group was considerably extended after the General Assembly in Paris in September 2008.