QINGDAO DAILY, July 14 — The 15th Five-Year Plan period marks a pivotal window for China's hydrogen industry as it shifts from pilot projects to large-scale commercial deployment, with the country's national hydrogen strategy increasingly taking shape through local implementation. The Qingdao leg of the 2026 Hydrogen Entrepreneurship Competition was held in Qingdao West Coast New Area on Tuesday, creating fresh opportunities for the city's high-quality hydrogen industry development.

The Qingdao event marked the opening round of the 2026 Hydrogen Entrepreneurship Competition, the first stop on this year's national circuit with Academician and former Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Executive Deputy Director of the Strategic Steering Committee of the China Hydrogen Alliance Gan Yong delivering a keynote address outlining the current state of the hydrogen industry, its development trajectory and recommendations for future growth at the opening ceremony. Various experts from academia and industry also shared insights into cutting-edge topics including off-grid hydrogen production technologies and the development of marine hydrogen energy.

Taking advantage of Qingdao's established industrial base and diverse application scenarios, the event sought to accelerate the growth of specialized and sophisticated hydrogen enterprises by matching them with demonstration opportunities. The program's flagship technology roadshow brought together 25 companies from across the hydrogen value chain to compete in areas including core materials, key components, and testing and inspection technologies where participants also showcased their latest technological innovations, with the competition ultimately naming a Top 10 as well as champion, runner-up and third-place winners.

“Qingdao has built a comprehensive growth pathway for the participating private companies—from technology roadshows and industry-finance matchmaking to application validation and business incubation,” said Secretary-General of the China Hydrogen Alliance and Director of the Hydrogen Energy division at China Energy Investment Corporation (CHN Energy) Liu Wei, before further iterating that the alliance will continue leveraging its platform resources in partnership with Qingdao to develop the competition into a key hub connecting technology, capital and application scenarios to further support the clustered growth of specialized and sophisticated hydrogen enterprises.

Now in its fifth year, the Hydrogen Entrepreneurship Competition has attracted more than 500 high-quality hydrogen companies and projects over its previous four editions. The competition has helped more than 60 companies secure financing or sign project agreements while over 30 participants have been recognised as national- or provincial-level Specialized and Sophisticated Enterprises (SSEs), making it one of China's leading innovation and entrepreneurship platforms for the hydrogen industry. The 2026 edition features multiple legs across Qingdao, Ordos, Liangshan, and Xiamen—with each host city leveraging its local strengths to cultivate a distinctive hydrogen industry ecosystem.