East Midlands Freeport, through the East Midlands Zero Carbon Innovation Centre, is supporting Loughborough University with scaling up its multi-award-winning hydrogen technology. This involves using low-cost automation to manufacture new battery-electrolyser cells as part of an assembly process. These cells are being integrated into a new hydrogen production demonstrator at Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park (LUSEP). This demonstrator aims to promote research, innovation, and scale-up efforts - key steps towards creating a Hydrogen Superpower in the East Midlands. This is also part of the Hydrogen Works Initiative.
Nora Senior CBE DL, Chair at East Midlands Freeport, said: “The launch of the East Midlands Zero Carbon Innovation Centre is a game-changer for businesses looking to develop and scale new technologies. Our five million pounds investment is about more than just funding innovation – it’s about creating a clear pathway for businesses to move from research and development to full-scale operations within the Freeport. With the right infrastructure, incentives, and support, companies can accelerate their growth and take their solutions to market faster. This sends a strong message to global industries: the East Midlands is the place to innovate, scale, and lead in the industries of the future.”
With investments from East Midlands Freeport, Research England’s UK Research Partnership Investment Fund and match-funding by the two universities, the centre will drive innovation, create high-value jobs, and provide businesses with a clear path to transition from developing new technologies to potentially establishing operations at the Freeport.
Based at Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus, and with a site at Loughborough University, the ZCIC brings a range of open access innovation capabilities to the region including electrical machine manufacturing, robotics, digital twinning and green hydrogen generation. A new electrical machine manufacturing line will enable end-to-end manufacturing, allowing flexible reconfiguration for low volume, high value production of advanced machines with state-of-the-art performance and power. This will accelerate technology insertion into manufacturing to support production in region and nationally.
Professor Dan Parsons, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Loughborough University, said: “The partnership with East Midlands Freeport and University of Nottingham is vital for ensuring that, as a region, the East Midlands can meet its potential of becoming a global leader in low and zero carbon research and innovation. We are collectively incredibly placed to play a significant role in delivering the green industrial revolution. This is a partnership in every sense, with each partner bringing expertise and resources to enhance and complement each other and we're excited at the opportunity this investment will afford.”
The launch of the ZCIC comes amid major developments in the East Midlands, including the formation of the East Midlands Combined County Authority and the East Midlands Investment Zone which will create jobs and drive growth in advanced manufacturing and clean energy through local infrastructure investment and tax reliefs across sites.
Minister for Local Growth and Building Safety, Alex Norris, said: “I am pleased to see the East Midlands Freeport take a big step forward in driving growth through innovation in transport, a sector in which this region has long been an industrial leader. The new centre will help secure the East Midlands’ role in the future of green transport, accelerate the government’s Plan for Change mission for growth and help deliver on the UK’s ambition to be a clean energy superpower.”
Romina Davoudi, Head of Programme Delivery at the Aerospace Technology Institute, said: “The Zero Carbon Innovation Centre is set to drive cutting-edge research and development in sustainable transport and energy technologies. Building on years of pioneering aerospace research, much of it funded through the ATI Programme, the ZCIC will play a crucial role in fast-tracking sustainable technologies from research to deployment.
“The ATI is proud to have helped accelerate aerospace innovation in the East Midlands, which can now be applied across multiple sectors to deliver real-world impact through the ZCIC.”
At Loughborough University, a novel battery-electrolyser demonstration facility is being created with a manufacturing prototype now developed. Loughborough also has complementary business incubation, commercialisation and scale-up facilities at LUSEP, with an existing CleanTech cluster of organisations.
More information on the Zero Carbon Innovation Centre can be found here.