As Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed, hydrogen is a chance for clean energy, investments and economic development of the region.

- Today here, just like a few months ago in Podkarpacie, we are initiating a kind of cluster. The hydrogen valley is a link between institutions from the world of business, economy, but also universities and local governments. We need hydrogen to switch from emission carriers to zero-emission carriers. Hydrogen is an important element that is also produced in Poland. Poland is the fifth largest producer of hydrogen in the world. It is very important for us to engage in hydrogen technologies together with partners who have experience in using them to produce low- and zero-emission energy sources - added the Prime Minister.

The head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Michał Kurtyka, pointed out that hydrogen valleys are an essential component in building regional hydrogen economies and deepening international cooperation.

- Hydrogen valleys are the most optimal model of hydrogen market development. Through an integrated approach, they will pave the way for the emergence of the first regional "hydrogen economies" and positively influence the level of production, use and social acceptance of the new fuel, he noted.

The Minister recalled that one of the priorities of the Polish Government, according to the "Draft Polish Hydrogen Strategy until 2030 with a perspective until 2040", is the emergence of hydrogen valleys. On 18 May 2021, a letter of intent was signed in Jasionka to create a Hydrogen Valley in the Podkarpacie region, today the Lower Silesian Hydrogen Valley was inaugurated, and the Mazovian Hydrogen Valley is also planned. There are also valleys created on the initiative of local authorities (e.g. in Poznań), which testifies to the confidence of subsequent Polish regions in the success and prospects for the location of such undertakings.

As Minister Kurtyka added, Lower Silesia is a region with extraordinary potential, due to its location, infrastructure conditions and available resources. However, it requires comprehensive transformation and reindustrialisation, which the creation of the hydrogen valley naturally fosters.

- The creation of the Lower Silesian Hydrogen Valley, based on the production and use of zero- and low-emission hydrogen, is a great opportunity for the entire region to transform itself in economic, social and environmental terms. It is not only an opportunity for the exchange of information and experience between the participants in the hydrogen valleys, but also for a deeper international cooperation between local, national and foreign stakeholders - he explained.

According to Ireneusz Zyska, Deputy Minister for Climate and Environment, the hydrogen valley will be an accelerator for the development of Lower Silesia.

One of the signatories of the letter of intent was Industrial Development Agency JSC

- We want there to be more and more energy innovations in Poland. In this context, we see an opportunity in hydrogen and we are successively involved in promoting solutions based on its use - said Cezariusz Lesisz, President of IDA JSC.

Innovations in the energy sector are key to the development of the economy and the transformation

towards Industry 4.0. Industrial Development Agency JSC is actively involved in promoting solutions based on the use of hydrogen in Polish enterprises.

In the IDA Capital Group there are companies that manufacture emission-free means of transport, as well as produce a range of equipment that can be used in the entire supply chain of the hydrogen economy.

The initiators of establishing the Lower Silesian Hydrogen Valley are: Industrial Development Agency, Wrocław University of Technology, Wrocław University of Life Sciences, University of Wrocław, KGHM Polska Miedź, Grupa Azoty, Toyota Motor Poland, Łukasiewicz Research Network and the Cluster Association.