The cluster is part of the of the $97 million Flagship Collaboration Fund, which in turn is part of the larger Federal initiative, Backing Australia’s Ability 2 – Building our Future Through Science and Innovation.

Prime Minister John Howard announced the initiative last year when the CSIRO-initiated National Research Flagships received $305 million in funding.

The Flagship Collaboration Fund Cluster funding is designed to facilitate the involvement of the wider Australian research community in addressing the critical national challenges targeted by the Flagships.

As part of the $305 million funding over seven years provided by the Government to the National Research Flagships, $97 million was specifically allocated to further enhance collaboration between CSIRO, Australian universities and other publicly funded research agencies.

The Flagship Collaboration Fund enables the skills of the wider Australian research community to be applied to the major national challenges targeted by CSIRO’s Flagship Initiative.

Australia has internationally recognised experts in hydrogen generation, solid-state storage and fuel cell technology. This research cluster is intended to assemble the country’s expertise into a coherent, focused effort.

Coordinated through the Energy Transformed Flagship, the research is aimed at developing new materials that improve the efficiency and economics of hydrogen generation, storage and end use.

Led by hydrogen materials specialist Dr Andrew Dicks of the University of Queensland, the cluster’s 12 participating research agencies comprise the University of Queensland, Griffith University, Australian National University, Curtin University of Technology, Monash University, Newcastle University, Queensland University of Technology, RMIT, the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, the University of Wollongong and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.