The fourth edition of the event in Seville brought together scaleups, corporations, and investors, and featured the participation of Enagás Emprende to highlight how entrepreneurship and collaboration are key to the energy transition and industrial competitiveness.

The Pabellón de la Navegación in Seville hosted on September 24 and 25 the fourth edition of Al-Andalus Innovation Venture, the benchmark event in southern Spain on scaleups and open innovation, which brought together more than 2,800 attendees, 192 investment funds, and 250 corporations. The event once again positioned Andalusia as a strategic hub for innovation, entrepreneurship, and future technologies, with a special focus on green hydrogen and artificial intelligence.

Green hydrogen as a vector for decarbonization

On September 24, Emilio Martínez Gavira, our Head of Open Innovation & Entrepreneurship, spoke on the Startup Stage in the roundtable “Green hydrogen: sectoral integration – opportunities in industry, mobility and energy.” Together with representatives from Cox Energy, Plug Power, Airbus, and HyFive Hydrogen, he discussed the role of renewable hydrogen as a key vector in the decarbonization of strategic sectors.

Emilio emphasized Enagás’ commitment to open innovation as a lever to accelerate the deployment of these technologies, highlighting the importance of collaboration between startups, corporations, and institutions to turn the hydrogen economy into an industrial reality.

The Hydrogen Technology Observatory

That same day, Lola Storch, Innovation and Technology Development Coordinator at Enagás, presented the Hydrogen Technology Observatory (Observatorio TecH₂), a pioneering initiative to identify trends, analyze emerging technologies, and generate strategic knowledge around green hydrogen.

During her presentation, Lola explained how this observatory has become a key tool to drive innovation within the ecosystem, connecting scientific, technological, and industrial stakeholders with the goal of accelerating the development of decarbonization solutions.

Andalusia, a European benchmark in green hydrogen

The celebration of Al-Andalus Innovation Venture coincided with the strong momentum that Andalusia is experiencing in renewable hydrogen: the region already has 14.5 GW of installed renewable power —more than double that of five years ago— and 23 green hydrogen projects underway, which will provide 3.7 GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030, equivalent to 33% of the national target.

These projects will mobilize more than €5.3 billion in investment and generate over 17,700 jobs, consolidating Andalusia as a European leader in decarbonization. In this context, the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley stands out as the largest project in Europe, with 2 GW of electrolysis capacity and an annual production of 300,000 tons.

Enagás, as the operator of the Spanish Hydrogen Backbone Network, will play a key role: of the more than 2,600 km of network planned by 2030, 147 km will run through Andalusia, connecting Huelva, Seville, and Córdoba with the national and European networks through the H2med corridor. In addition, the company is working on the conversion of its LNG plant in Huelva into a multi-molecule terminal, capable of handling ammonia, bio-LNG, and exportable hydrogen.

Networking, scaleups and the entrepreneurial ecosystem

In addition to the technical sessions, the event included innovative initiatives such as the Investment Train, organized by Renfe, which allowed investors, corporations (including Enagás), and startups to connect and generate synergies even before arriving in Seville.

Al-Andalus Innovation Venture once again confirmed the strength of the Andalusian entrepreneurial ecosystem and its potential to lead emerging sectors such as green hydrogen. A message aligned with what Emilio Martínez highlighted at the close of the event: “Open innovation is essential to turn the energy transition into a real opportunity for industrial and social transformation.”

Enagás Emprende thus reinforces its commitment to promoting scaleups, startups, and entrepreneurial projects that combine innovation, sustainability, and collaboration, in a framework that, like Andalusia, is consolidating itself as an international benchmark for the future of hydrogen. The event also included the participation of our investee Vira Gas Imaging, with a prominent role highlighted by our partners at Inerco.

You can visit the event website at this link