Within H2CE, the City of Zagreb developed a framework for Regional H2 Competence Centres. It was designed to strengthen the capacity of public authorities and private-sector stakeholders to participate in the hydrogen transition.
The approach recognised that regions differed in their available resources, existing expertise, institutional structures and hydrogen-development priorities.
Main elements of the framework
The framework covered three connected areas:
- Regional context analysis: identifying existing expertise, resources, institutions and capacity gaps.
- Expert profiles: defining the knowledge and competencies needed for different hydrogen-related roles.
- Training pathways: developing targeted learning opportunities for public authorities and private stakeholders.
Practical value
The approach helped regions consider:
- which hydrogen-related services stakeholders required;
- which organisations could provide those services;
- where technical or administrative expertise was missing;
- how existing institutions could cooperate; and
- which training activities could address identified gaps.
Transferability
The framework was developed as a flexible methodology rather than a fixed institutional model. This allowed regions to adapt it to their own governance structures and build on existing agencies, research organisations, public bodies or business-support institutions.
Its key lesson was that a Regional H2 Competence Centre did not necessarily require a new standalone organisation. Its value came from coordinating expertise, making support accessible and creating clear pathways for stakeholder learning and cooperation.
The Zagreb work complemented the competence-centre pilot in Styria and contributed to the project’s transferable approach for building regional hydrogen capacity.