- Strategic collaboration between HMIL, IIT Madras and Guidance Tamil Nadu signed in January 2024 during The Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024
- Executing the same, a combined commitment of INR 100 Crore by HMIL and HMIF is made towards the development of this state-of-the-art green hydrogen research facility spread across 65,000 sq. ft.
- This funding is part of the total project cost of INR 180 Crore
- Located at IIT Madras’ Discovery Satellite Campus at Thaiyur; to be operational by 2026
- The design of the Centre was unveiled by Thiru. T.R.B. Rajaa, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) and Guidance Tamil Nadu, today unveiled the design of the Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre – a state-of-the-art Research & Development hub poised to serve as a catalyst for innovation in the field of green hydrogen technology and its ecosystem. Unveiled by Thiru. T.R.B. Rajaa, Hon'ble Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu, the centre is being developed with the support of the state government and will be located within the Discovery Satellite Campus of IIT Madras at Thaiyur, Chennai.
This milestone marks the next phase in HMIL’s INR 100 Crore commitment to pioneering green hydrogen innovation in India. This funding made by HMIL partially through Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) as part of its CSR initiatives, underscores Hyundai’s dedication to advancing clean energy and fostering sustainable innovation in India.
IIT Madras will house this Centre, spread across a sprawling 65,000 sq. ft. area at its Discovery Campus at Thaiyur, featuring advanced computational and experimental laboratories. The development of digital twins of hydrogen infrastructure, along with customized test rigs and fabrication lines, will contribute to the pilot-level evaluation of electrolyzers and fuel cells. It will also host test zones for containerised pilot demonstrators for industrial-scale products.
Speaking at the design unveil ceremony, Thiru. T.R.B. Rajaa, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce - Government of Tamil Nadu, said,“What Hyundai Motor India and IIT Madras’ efforts bring to my mind is the amazing capabilities of India and we are here to celebrate just that. The possibilities that are here in this amazing place and the possibilities that the rest of the world is only now looking up. The Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre is a crucial step towards indigenous hydrogen production.”
Thanking all the stakeholders of this project, Thiru. T.R.B. Rajaa added,“Tamil Nadu has a huge potential, just like India. For India to grow, Tamil Nadu needs to be growing by leaps and bounds and that is exactly what Tamil Nadu is doing now through its amazing talent. We are the auto capital, We are the electronics capital, and tech capital, mainly because of the talent that we have and because of the distributed growth and because of the way our people embrace education. That is what IIT Madras is all about, celebrating human capital and how people can be the changemakers for a particular place on this amazing planet”
Further, Thiru. T.R.B. Rajaa said,“I would love to see Tamil Nadu become the R&D capital of not just India but of Asia itself. It is definitely possible and I do not think we should go back to tech, which is already been conquered. We should leapfrog into the future and try to solve those problems. That is exactly what we are doing here...Policymaking is the key to development in any part of the world. Policymaking is where everything starts...Hence, Policy writing itself needs to be given a big impetus. I would love to see more policy schools coming up at IIT Madras.”
Mr. Unsoo Kim, Managing Director - Hyundai Motor India Limited, added, “At Hyundai, we believe hydrogen is a key pillar in achieving global carbon neutrality. With the Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre, we aim to foster an open platform for knowledge exchange by facilitating collaboration between global expertise and the local green hydrogen ecosystem. This initiative demonstrates our commitment to ‘Make in India’ by empowering local innovation, nurturing talent, and supporting the development of scalable, affordable, and sustainable hydrogen solutions. Our collaboration with IIT Madras and the Government of Tamil Nadu reflects our long-term vision of advancing India’s clean energy future and establishing a strong foundation for a hydrogen-powered tomorrow.”
Highlighting the role of the Institute in this project, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director - IIT Madras, said, “This Centre will work with all the stakeholders of the hydrogen sector at the global level including academia, national R&D laboratories, industries and policymakers. This will make India Atmanirbhar Bharat in the hydrogen sector. It will greatly contribute to sustainability and provide a boost to the nation’s decarbonization initiatives that target Net Zero by 2070. This Centre can accelerate the efforts to achieve these targets.”
Aligned with the Government of India’s vision of energy independence by 2047, the facility will also drive R&D and demonstration activities to accelerate readiness and adoption across the green hydrogen value chain, making the Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre a national hub for cost-effective, scalable hydrogen innovation.
The occasion was further graced by the presence of esteemed guests including Mr. Chang-nyun Kim, Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Chennai; Mr. Gopalakrishnan CS, Whole-time Director & Chief Manufacturing Officer - HMIL; Mr. JW Ryu, Function Head - HMIL; Dr. Ashish Lele, Director - CSIR National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, Dean (ACR) - IIT Madras; and Project Principal Investigator Dr. Aravind Kumar Chandiran, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering - IIT Madras; along with other key stakeholders from government, academia and industry.
Building on Hyundai Motor Group’s hydrogen brand and business platform - HTWO, the Centre is envisioned as a hub for industrial-scale hydrogen research and innovation. Leveraging HTWO’s comprehensive expertise across the entire hydrogen value chain - from production and storage to application - as well as its role as an open platform for collaboration, investment and partnership, the facility will focus on advancing hydrogen solutions in the mobility and power sectors. With a strong emphasis on localisation of the hydrogen value chain, pilot infrastructure development, and public-private collaboration, the Centre aims to accelerate the growth of a viable hydrogen economy.
Beyond R&D, the facility is expected to play a critical role in developing India’s skilled hydrogen workforce and supporting Government of India’s vision of building an Atmanirbhar & Viksit Bharat.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) was established in 1959 by the Government of India as an ‘Institute of National Importance.’ The activities of the Institute in various fields of Science and Technology are carried out in 18 academic departments and several advanced interdisciplinary research academic centres. The Institute offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes leading to B.Tech., M.Sc., M.B.A., M.Tech., M.S., and Ph.D., degrees in a variety of specialisations. IITM is a residential institute with more than 650 faculty and 10,000 students. Students from 18 countries are enrolled here. IITM fosters an active entrepreneurial culture with strong curricular support and through the IITM Incubation Cell.
Recognized as an Institution of Eminence (IoE) in 2019, IITM has been ranked No.1 in the ‘Overall Category’ for the sixth consecutive year in India Ranking 2024 released by National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India. The Institute has also been ranked No.1 in the ‘Engineering Institutions’ category in the same Rankings for nine consecutive years – from 2016 to 2024. In 2023, IIT Madras became the first IIT to establish an international Campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania called 'IIT Madras Zanzibar.
