The development and adoption of renewable and sustainable energy has become a top priority in Europe, and is Horizon 2020’s most prominent theme. Research into new energy methods required to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint is an urgent and critical need, and is reliant upon a flow of newly qualified persons in areas as diverse as renewable energy infrastructure management, new energy materials and methods, and smart buildings and transport. Bioenergy is a particularly important field in this respect as it is at the cross-roads of several important European policies, from the Strategic Energy Technology Plan Roadmap on Education and Training (SET-Plan) to the European Bioeconomy Strategy to European Food Safety and Nutrition Policy. European development in this prioritised field is stalled due to a lack of qualified personnel, a lack of cohesion and integration among stakeholders, and poor linkage between professional training and industry needs. To address these problems, BioEnergyTrain brings together fifteen partners from six EU countries to create new post-graduate level curricula in key bioenergy disciplines, and a network of tertiary education institutions, research centres, professional associations, and industry stakeholders encompassing the whole value chain of bioenergy from field/forest to integration into the sustainable energy systems of buildings, settlements and regions. The project will foster European cooperation to provide a highly skilled and innovative workforce across the whole bioenergy value chain, closely following the recommendations of the SET-Plan Education Roadmap.

The HI2 Valley project will establish a large-scale renewable hydrogen (H2) economy in the Austrian industrial regions of Upper Austria, Styria and Carinthia, directly contributing to the goals outlined in the European Green Deal, REPower EU and Hydrogen Strategy. The project will achieve this by decarbonising key sectors through H2, drastically reducing emissions in the steel, chemical, and cement industries as well as in energy and mobility via displacement of fossil fuels – including reducing the reliance on natural gas which Austria overwhelmingly imports from Russia. With 13,000 tons of green hydrogen being needed in the regions by 2028, over 10,000 tpy of green hydrogen will be produced within this HI2 Valley. By introducing strategically placed, decentralised H2 production facilities, the project will strengthen the country's energy resilience and flexibility and create a robust domestic market for green H2. The HI2 Valley will play a crucial role in bridging the gap between Southern and Eastern European hydrogen supply corridors. Being embedded on the European Hydrogen Backbone and TEN-T network and future pipeline connections (PCIs) with Southern Europe and North Africa, the HI2 Valley will seamlessly connect Austria's multi-user H2 ecosystem with neighbouring countries like Germany, Italy and Slovakia, fostering a truly interconnected Central European hydrogen network. This role model helps to secure industrial jobs, and through standardisation and integration brings costs of hydrogen down, creating a green industrial future for Europe. Going beyond its immediate neighbours, the HI2 Valley will also foster knowledge sharing and wider adoption of green hydrogen through the active collaboration with five other emerging Hydrogen Valleys in Eastern Europe in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia and the Czech Republic.