Three projects from the Department of Energy awarded at Switch2Product Edition 2024
The winners of the 16th edition of Switch2Product, the entrepreneurial empowerment programme promoted by the Technology Transfer Office of Politecnico di Milano, PoliHub and Deloitte’s Officine Innovazione, have been announced. With over 500 applications and 184 projects evaluated, the initiative confirms its status as a benchmark for those who want to transform an innovative idea into a business.
The 26 finalist start-ups will enter an incubation programme, and among these, nine projects have received a €30,000 grant from Politecnico and the initiative’s partners. Among the winners are three projects linked to the Department of Energy, which stand out for their impact on sustainability and energy innovation.
Hu.Moss: revolutionising humidification in fuel cells
In addition to participating in the incubation programme, Hu.Moss was awarded the most prestigious grant, €30,000 in funding from Politecnico di Milano, to be used for prototyping and validating the project. The team, composed of Amedeo Grimaldi, Giorgio Tomaino, Andrea Casalegno, Stefano De Antonellis and Andrea Baricci, is working on the development of an innovative humidification system for hydrogen fuel cells.
The idea stems from a crucial challenge in the sector: ensuring adequate air humidification to maximise the efficiency and durability of the cells, overcoming the limitations of current solutions, which are bulky, expensive and inefficient in dynamic conditions. Hu.Moss introduces a new concept based on a planar design and low-cost water storage systems, reducing size and costs by up to 50% and optimising humidity control. Thanks to the use of advanced materials and a modular architecture, the solution guarantees greater scalability and efficiency, helping to make fuel cell vehicles more reliable and competitive and accelerating the transition to sustainable hydrogen mobility.
Two projects that will enter an incubation programme
• Synergy H2 Solutions: The Synergy team, composed of students from Physis PEB (Polimi Energy Boat), is developing an innovative hydrogen PEM fuel cell stack for maritime mobility. Thanks to an innovative bipolar plate design, the technology fits into solutions for the energy transition of the naval sector. The team participates in the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge, a competition dedicated to sustainable technologies for boating.
• HyMotor: an internal combustion system for the production of mechanical power from hydrogen characterised by high efficiency, zero carbon dioxide emissions and virtually zero nitrogen oxide emissions, as well as not requiring critical raw materials for its manufacture. The project is led by Francesco Battistella, Thomas Dalberto and Gianluca Valenti of the Energy Conversion and Storage Laboratory (LabX) of the Department of Energy.
team HyMotor
