ABOUT
The Hydrogen HiveMinds Ideathon brings together Belgium’s leading academic researchers to co-create bold, future-shaping ideas for the country’s hydrogen ecosystem.
Organised by the BE-HyFE project and its partners, the event welcomes Belgian academics (PhD level and above) working across the full breadth of hydrogen-related topics.
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WHAT?
A 3-day ideathon where multidisciplinary academic teams (4 people) co-create bold, future-focused hydrogen pathways for Belgium.
Working across scientific, technical, economic, and policy angles, participants explore innovative directions that can support a resilient and competitive Belgian hydrogen ecosystem.
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WHY?
Belgium's hydrogen ambitions sit at the crossroads of energy security, industrial transition and EU cooperation. But without clear priorities and coordinated action, progress risks stalling.
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To maintain leadership, Belgium needs joined-up thinking across markets, infrastructure, policy and innovation. The ideathon brings researchers together to outline realistic pathways for the country's hydrogen future.
HOW?
Teams are guided through an expert-led warm-up phase that equips them with the tools, insights, and system context needed to start strong.
During the 3-day event, they combine creative ideation with structured analysis and targeted mentorship to produce ambitious yet feasible case studies that contribute to Belgium’s long-term hydrogen roadmap.
WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF HYDROGEN HIVEMINDS?
To co-create credible, future-oriented pathways for Belgium’s hydrogen ecosystem and translate them into concrete, Belgium-anchored cases that demonstrate how these pathways could realistically unfold, providing insights that are relevant for research, industry, and policy decision-making.
WHO CAN JOIN?
Hydrogen Hiveminds welcomes academics working at a Belgian knowledge institute on any aspect of the hydrogen-related value chain - from production and storage to system integration, applications and policy.
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Researchers from both technological and non-tech backgrounds are invited and no coding or prototyping experience is required.
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We encourage participants at all career stages, from PhD researchers to professors.
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Note: participants must work at or be affiliated with a Belgian academic institution. The organisers may request proof of affiliation.
Why participate?
Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of leading researchers and industry mentors
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Apply your expertise to real-world challenges and help shape Belgium's hydrogen ecosystem
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Gain exposure to industry practices, policy perspectives and market insights
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Receive hands-on experience in ideation, design thinking and presenting innovative solutions to decision makers
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Expand your professional network and discover potential collaborations or future projects
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Compete for cool prizes! For each category our specialist jury will select one winning team. Check out the prize pool
OUR IDEATHON CATEGORIES
Participants to the event will form teams to develop future pathway solutions within one of the four proposed categories. Future pathways are plausible, coherent routes from today's hydrogen landscape to ambitious outcomes for Belgium in 2030-2050. Each pathway combines technical building blocks, business models, policy changes and social/market actions.
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Within these pathways, teams will also work out one innovative and concrete case study for the Belgian context, which could be a solution (or 'path towards') within on of the four categories.
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The pathways and case studies should be anchored in Belgian assets (infrastructure, industries, ports, human capital), identify key barriers and the most impactful interventions to overcome them, include a clear timeline with milestones/risks/KPIs, show interaction between categories (where possible) and be creative but also actionable or feasible.
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GUIDED THROUGHOUT THE JOURNEY
Important: you don't need to be an expert in every aspect of the hydrogen ecosystem to participate!
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Hydrogen HiveMinds provides continuous support through expert mentors, a shared knowledge repository and explanatory webinars that build a common understanding across participants.
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During the event, teams will work within a clear framework and will be guided through proven design thinking methods that help structure ideas, explore interactions and translate future pathways into concrete, credible cases.
PRIZE POOL
As a team you will be tackling one of the four categories above, designing your specific pathway and case study. For each of those categories the jury will choose one winning team, so there will be four winning teams in total.
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The winning teams will receive a prize, which will be communicated soon.
COMING
SOON
AGENDA & VENUE
Please note that Hydrogen HiveMinds is a full 3-day event. Registering for the event as a participant means you commit to be present during 18-20 March 2026 live in the venue. All participants will receive a certificate of attendance after the event.​
High-level agenda
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Registrations open: 19 January 2026
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Warm-up phase (2 webinars): in the period between 2-13 March 2026
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Registrations close: 6 March 2026
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Wrap-up team formation: 6- 10 March 2026
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Live Ideathon: 18-20 March 2026
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Please note that your first team deliverable will be due before the starting date of the event, so some preliminary work will be needed.
Location
Hydrogen HiveMinds will take place at Silversquare Bailli, Avenue Louise 231, 1050 Brussels. The venue can be easily reached via public transport and there are a number of affordable accommodations near the venue.
FAQs
PARTNERS
Hydrogen HiveMinds is organized by the BE-HyFE project, an Energy Transition Fund project funded by the Belgian federal FPS Economy. The entire event is made possible through ETF financing.
This event is also supported organization-wise through the TiNTHyN project, the Walloon network of high-level scientific hydrogen expertise.
Bridging academia and industry, Hydrogen HiveMinds is also proud to welcome the following companies on board of the event. They bring their expertise, know-how and industrial mindset to the academic teams, guiding them along towards real-world solutions.
- coming soon -