Alterg is led by Denis Hugenin, a French scientist and entrepreneur, who brought the project to Scotland because he said that there was nowhere else in the world where he could get range and depth of support offered by the ITI programme.

Hugenin said: “There are so many things that a technology start-up must do: carry out the research, protect the intellectual property and develop applications into potential products. We could not have financed it all ourselves. The ITI offered support in all these areas.”

He said that the ITI offered coaching at every level, it had extended the French patent to a world patent and identified partners, particularly the University of Strathclyde, to help develop the technology. 

The Alterg research is currently being conducted with the University of Strathclyde with further trials being conducted at the University of Glasgow and another university at St Etienne in France.

If the research is successful, it could result in material that could be used in a wide range of energy applications, such as fuel cell and battery systems.

It could potentially lead to Scotland building a new industry in areas such as clean energy technology, hydrogen storage and a range of industrial processes involving hydrogen.

Hydrogen is expected to become a major fuel of the future, in addition to its existing roles in energy conversion and chemical processing.

The key problem in developing its future role is one of cost. Alterg’s solution, if successful, will be to allow the storage of hydrogen close to room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure. It will in effect be a “disruptive technology” which will create new industries and materially affect existing ones.

Hugenin said: “Scotland has the capacity to become a world leader in hydrogen gas storage technology. It’s something we can build. ”

If successful, the Alterg material would, for example, transform the hydrogen bottled storage market which is worth several hundred million pounds a year.

Jackie Doyle, marketing and communications director of ITI Energy said: “The company that will come out from this ITI Scotland programme will be a world-class industrial opportunity.

“It is a good example of what could be created for Scotland on the back of world-leading technologies.”

The ultimate value to the Scottish economy will depend on the applications that are produced. It may be that an application for use in a battery in the automotive industry would be licensed to a major company. Other applications could lead to the creation and development of major new businesses in Scotland.

ITI Energy is one of three operating groups that make up ITI Scotland, a programme backed by £450 million of public money over the next 10 years to support the development of new technologies to meet the needs of emerging markets.

Alterg was founded as a start-up in the Nice area of France in 2002, backed by regional seed investment fund Primaveris, before it relocated to Strathclyde University.

ITI Energy has invested £1m into the Alterg project and has taken an undisclosed share of the equity in the company in return. This means that the public purse will get a share of any Alterg profits which will be re-invested in future projects.

Once the business plans are finalised by the start of 2006 it is expected to be a further two years until actual products are developed.

Doyle said he hoped that Scottish investors and business partners would seek to get involved with Alterg in order to gain the maximum possible benefits for the Scottish economy. 

28 August 2005