First companies confirmed for innovation hub NextGen Demo in the port of Antwerp-Bruges

This week, the first concessionaires signed for NextGen Demo, the innovation hub that is part of NextGen District in the heart of the Antwerp port. Power to Hydrogen and TripleW have chosen to use the port environment to test their innovative projects in energy transition and circularity. The demo projects of both pioneers align perfectly with the ambitions of Port of Antwerp-Bruges and will make a significant contribution to the transition to a climate-neutral society.

Port of Antwerp-Bruges has cleared an area with a total surface of 88 hectares for NextGen District with the ambition to establish a hotspot for the circular economy. NextGen Demo is a zone of about 2 hectares within this cluster in the heart of the Antwerp industry, where demonstrators (start-ups and scale-ups, spin-off companies, and pilot projects) can test new technologies and circular demo projects that have outgrown the lab, on a larger scale and in an industrial environment before moving to commercialization.

NextGen Demo, as an innovation hub, aims to be the ideal catalyst for sustainable innovations in the field of feedstock raw material and energy transition. The two companies that have signed first perfectly match this ambition.
​
​Power to Hydrogen wants to accelerate the transition to a green hydrogen economy through AEM (anion exchange membrane) electrolysis. This advanced technology is a potential solution to drastically reduce the cost of green hydrogen production using renewable energy. The technology has never been applied on an industrial scale before, and the AEM electrolysis stack for the NextGen demo project, which will be installed in the fourth quarter of 2024, will be the largest in the world. This demonstration is also being financially supported by global utility leaders, including American Electric Power, EDP, E.ON, and ESB as part of the Free Electrons utility innovation program.
​
​TripleW, a foreign investor that has been active in Belgium for some time and has chosen Belgium again with the scaling of this project, has developed an industrial process to produce lactic acid made entirely from food waste. The high-quality lactic acid serves as a raw material for biodegradable plastics and biochemicals. TripleW wants to expand the application of this innovative technology to a broader range of food waste streams and end products by demonstrating its scalability and adaptability with the project in NextGen Demo. The project is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2024.