Cranfield University will receive funding to unlock technical challenges and scale-up hydrogen-enabled aviation to help meet net-zero emissions targets.

The £69m investment creating the Cranfield Hydrogen Integration Incubator (CH2i) is the largest financial injection for research that Cranfield University has ever secured. £23m comes from Research England’s Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF), with a further £46m committed from industry partners and academic institutions.

The investment from Research England brings the total funding figure for the RPIF scheme to £1bn since its inception. Cranfield is one of four universities to receive funding in this round.

CH2i will create a unique ecosystem at Cranfield, connecting the production, integration and use of hydrogen for net-zero aviation, proving how the industry can decarbonise rapidly.

The research collaboration, linking into a new Centre for Doctoral Training in Net Zero Aviation at Cranfield, will provide an environment to develop the production technologies, catalysts, materials, structures, storage tanks, aircraft designs and engines that are urgently required to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen in a net-zero world. By developing new laboratories, at scale test facilities and airport infrastructure this project will deliver a transformation in hydrogen technologies.

Bringing together academia, industry, government and regulatory authorities, CH2i’s work will inform policies, services and regulatory practices that are needed to realise regional, national and international economic growth and skills development opportunities.

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