Chris Barton, the UK’s Trade Commissioner for Europe recently visited Loughborough University to see some of the latest energy innovations taking place, and to explore opportunities for UK-EU collaboration in low carbon technologies.

Chris was hosted during his visit by Professor Dan Parsons, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Loughborough University and Dr Kathryn North Pro Vice Chancellor for Climate Change and Net-Zero at the university.

During his visit, Chris visited Intelligent Energy, one of the world’s leading fuel cell companies which specialises in low emission hydrogen fuel cell products – from 800W to over 300kW in automotive, aerospace, power generation, telecoms, marine, rail, UAV and materials handling industries. Chris was able to see first-hand the range of hydrogen fuel cells developed by Intelligent Energy, including the low weight IE-SOAR for powering drones and UAVs and the IE-DRIVE for high powered automotive applications.

After the visit to Intelligent Energy, Chris Barton visited the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technologies (CREST) the Director, Professor Phil Eames and Jake Bowers discussed some of the work taking place in renewable energy, particularly in solar and photovoltaic technologies.

Mr Barton also met with researchers involved in the work of the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) project. MECS researches and develops new cooking products and solutions for use in developing countries, to accelerate a transition from biomass to genuinely clean cooking.

Chris Barton’s final visit was to the Incubator hub where he met with student entrepreneurs and businesses before taking part in a roundtable chaired by the Energy Research Accelerator’s Faye McAnulla, which included regional organisations including Midlands Innovation, the East Midlands Freeport, Intelligent Energy, Loughborough University and others.

Chris Barton took part in a roundtable with representatives from local businesses and organisations

Chris Barton said: “It was fascinating to hear about the ongoing research and development activity being undertaken on sustainable energy solutions at Loughborough University, and to explore the trade and investment aspects.

“I very much enjoyed the tour of the facilities and am grateful for the time spent by staff to explain the latest PV technology and the Global South Cooking project.  I also particularly valued the excellent roundtable table discussion.

“My DBT Midlands colleagues look forward to further collaboration with Loughborough University and your partners in the region.”

Faye McAnulla, Programme Director for ERA said: “It was great to meet Chris Barton at Loughborough today. We gave him a taste of some of the great things that are taking place at the university and in the region more widely in energy and related low-carbon technologies. Chris and his team are very keen to support businesses and researchers in the Midlands to make links in Europe to open new opportunities for trade and investment.”