2026氢能专精特新创业大赛海洋氢能专项赛在厦门落幕2026 Hydrogen Specialized and Innovative Startup Competition Marine Hydrogen Track Concludes in Xiamen

According to Green Fuel International Business Network, on September 10, the Marine Hydrogen Special Track of the 2026 Hydrogen Specialized and Innovative Startup Competition concluded successfully in Xiamen, Fujian. After two days of competition, the first, second and third places and the top ten lists for the enterprise group and the project group were finally announced.

The first, second and third places in the enterprise group went to Zhejiang Haozhen Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd., Shanghai Hydrogen Maple Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Qingyao New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.; the first, second and third places in the project group went to the Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory (Zu Xiaolong team), Beijing Oasis Clean Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Baimahu Laboratory Co., Ltd.

The competition had two groups, enterprise and project, with 37 teams in total. The project proposals brought by participating teams covered directions including electricity-hydrogen coupling and green hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, transportation and distribution, diversified green hydrogen applications, system integration and safety, core materials and components, and frontier technologies and new processes, with many directly addressing marine scenarios such as offshore wind power hydrogen production, marine vessel hydrogen fuel, port equipment and island power supply.

The competition adopted a format of "10 minutes of project presentation + 5 minutes of on-site Q&A". In the presentation stage, the enterprise group, drawing on the deployment of its equipment and solutions in marine scenarios, focused on technology maturity, product delivery, market share and business models, presenting projects including reliability design of hydrogen production systems for offshore operating conditions, high-pressure hydrogen storage systems for underwater submersibles, and magnesium-based solid-state hydrogen storage equipment for ocean hydrogen transport; the project group focused on R&D, explaining technical routes, research progress and pathways for commercializing results, covering seawater corrosion-resistant electrodes, new membranes, direct seawater electrolysis hydrogen production and new hydrogen storage.

In the Q&A stage, judges focused their questions on marine operating conditions, covering whether equipment can operate stably over the long term under high salt fog, high humidity and wind-wave disturbance, the adaptability of equipment to space-constrained and unattended operating environments, and the maintenance costs of equipment in marine environments. Industrialization was also a focus for the judges, with questions on whether equipment production bases have been built, whether products have clear mass-production timelines, and whether project economics are predictable.

The judging panel brought together experts in hydrogen research, industrial investment and green finance, including Yang Fuyuan, member of the Expert Committee of the China Hydrogen Alliance and tenured professor at Tsinghua University; Yu Hongmei, member of the Expert Committee of the China Hydrogen Alliance and chief researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Zhao Yingru, vice dean and professor of the College of Energy at Xiamen University; Zhou Junbo, member of the Expert Committee of the China Hydrogen Alliance and professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology; Tao Chun, managing director of China Reform Fund Management Co., Ltd.; Qi Jiuhong, assistant general manager of the Beijing Green Exchange (National Green Technology Exchange Center); and Wu Xiang, vice president of Sinopec Capital's hydrogen fund. Speaking on behalf of the judging panel, Yang Fuyuan said the participating projects covered the entire hydrogen industry chain of production, storage, transmission and use, presenting three features: broad coverage, strong innovation and good practical viability.

After the competition, an awards ceremony and a signing ceremony for strategic cooperation agreements for the marine hydrogen special track were held one after another. Zhuang Yuanyuan, deputy director of the Xiamen Free Trade Commission and permanent deputy commander of the Airport Economic Zone Command, and Wang Yongxin, member of the Standing Committee of the Xiang'an District Party Committee and deputy head of the district, signed strategic cooperation agreements with representatives of the first, second and third place winners of the enterprise group and the project group respectively. Under the agreements, the parties will cooperate on the commercialization of marine hydrogen technology results, the matching of industrial scenarios and project implementation, promoting the rollout of high-quality competition projects in Xiamen.

During the event, the China Hydrogen Alliance also carried out the "Walking with Hydrogen—Xiamen Station" industry research activity, organizing participating enterprises and project teams to visit the Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, the Xiamen Airport Economic Zone Hydrogen Industrial Park, the Xiang'an New Airport and a skid-mounted hydrogen station to examine Xiamen's hydrogen industry planning and project implementation on site. After the Xiamen stop concludes, the 2026 Hydrogen Specialized and Innovative Startup Competition will move to Liangshan, Sichuan, to hold a hydrogen drone application challenge with two tracks: forest and Qionghai Lake inspection, and agricultural product transport.