Hydrogen isn't a trend.
It's engineering.

CTO & R&D leadership for hydrogen and deep-tech.

Chade Hydrogen brings nearly two decades of building hydrogen technologies from lab concept to industrialised product.

Led by Daniel Chade, PhD — founder of Chade Hydrogen.

Listen to the podcast

H · 1.008 uWARSAW · POLAND · WORKING ACROSS EUROPE & GLOBALLY

Our Mission

Hydrogen: from concept to industrial deployment

To help hydrogen and deep-tech companies turn promising technology into investable, scalable products.

Daniel Chade, hydrogen technology advisor and CTO

Founder

Daniel Chade, PhD

About the founder

Daniel Chade

PhD · Engineer · CTO · R&D & Technology Commercialisation

PhD in Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. MSc in Electrical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, and MSc in Renewable Energy, University of Iceland.

17 years of hydrogen experience — including 10+ years developing hydrogen products across startups (Elcogen Oy, Kerionics S.L., HydrogenTech Sp. z o.o.) and large organisations such as Polska Grupa Energetyczna PGE S.A. Core expertise: Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Electrolysers (SOC). My work spans system architecture, materials, validation, performance, degradation and lifetime — from laboratory prototypes to industrialisation.

Author of peer-reviewed publications in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Renewable Energy and the Electrochemical Society Journal. European Commission evaluator in hydrogen technologies.

17+

Years in hydrogen

3

startups successfully advanced

5

Countries

10+

Publications

What we do

Hydrogen CTO, Electrolyser Expert and Technical Due Diligence Advisor

Most hydrogen ventures don't fail on the science. They fail in the gap between the engineering and the decisions made around it — and very few people can stand in both places. Chade Hydrogen is built around that rare combination: nearly two decades taking demanding hydrogen technologies from lab to the market — depth forged in Solid Oxide fuel cells and electrolysers, and applied well beyond them — paired with the leadership to run the engineering inside organisations that get products shipped. I help make the right technical decisions where engineering and business meet, taking responsibility for the technology in a scope tailored to your project's development stage:

01

CTO (permanent, interim or fractional)

For startups and companies

I take responsibility for the technology and the decisions that shape it.

Technology vision and product roadmap
Critical technical decisions
Permanent, interim or fractional hire
Support through build and scale-up

02

R&D Director

For companies and scaling startups

Structure and lead the engineering organisation end to end.

Department and team structure design
Engineering recruitment
Project delivery
Systems that keep an R&D team productive as it grows

03

Technical due diligence & advisory

For investors, universities and startups

Independent technical assessment for investment and commercialisation decisions.

Technical due diligence for hydrogen technologies
University research routed towards a product
National and EU grant strategy and application support
Preparation for investor discussions

Funding & investment support draws on hands-on grant experience — including projects securing over €6 million and over €3 million in public funding — and work as a European Commission evaluator.

Based in the Warsaw area, Poland, I work with clients across Europe and internationally, including on-site when hands-on collaboration is needed.

Case studies

From laboratory technology to industrial product

Three engagements, TRL 3 to TRL 7. In each one I led the work hands-on — owning the roadmap, building the R&D organisation, and taking the technology from concept to validation.

Selected engagements demonstrating measurable technology progress, team build-up and secured public funding — from laboratory concept to validation in an industrial environment. Client and organisation names have been anonymised to protect confidentiality.

CASE 01TRL 3 → 5

Anonymised

MW-scale electrolyser system development

Project aim

Development of a megawatt-scale electrolyser system.

Starting point

Initial technology proof of concept validated at laboratory scale (TRL 3).

Outcomes achieved

Defined a strategic development roadmap covering technology targets, recruitment plan and budget
Built a complete R&D organisation of 4 departments and ~25 specialists
Designed, manufactured and validated market product prototypes
Secured public funding in excess of €6M from national and international programmes

Timeframe: 1 year 3 months

CASE 02TRL 3 → 6

Anonymised

kW-scale mCHP system with novel technology validation

Project aim

Development of a kilowatt-scale mCHP system combined with validation of a new technology concept.

Starting point

Initial technology proof of concept validated at laboratory scale (TRL 3).

Outcomes achieved

Built and tested a 1 kW mCHP prototype in a relevant industrial environment
Validated a new, innovative technology concept and benchmarked it through a structured SWOT analysis against alternative approaches
Secured public funding in excess of €3M

Timeframe: 3 years

CASE 03TRL 4 → 7

Anonymised

Multi-kW commercial fuel cell / electrolyser stack

Project aim

Development of a multi-kilowatt commercial fuel cell / electrolyser stack.

Starting point

Initial technology prototypes tested at laboratory scale (TRL 4).

Outcomes achieved

Delivered a full commercial product, scaling electrolyser power from ~250 W to ~12 kW
Tested and validated the technology across diverse operating regimes: variable load, on/off cycling, long-term degradation over 10,000 h, and multiple fuel mixtures
Completed a mass-manufacturing feasibility study and launched the industrialisation project

Timeframe: 4 years

Podcast

Chade Hydrogen — The Hydrogen Podcast

I started this podcast after watching it happen too many times: brilliant engineering quietly undone by business decisions made without the technical picture. A promising technology stalls — not because the science failed, but because the choices around it did. Each episode unpacks the decisions, strategic and executional, that make or break hydrogen projects, and turns them into something clear, structured and genuinely useful for the people making those calls.

I've seen too much good engineering lost to bad business decisions. This podcast is about the ones that could have been avoided.
The failure modes, and what to do about them.

Episode 7

From announcement to FID: What makes hydrogen projects succeed?

Episode 7 of the Chade Hydrogen podcast: why most announced hydrogen projects never reach a final investment decision — the gates a project must pass from announcement to FID, the signals investors actually look for, and what the projects that get there do differently.

Episode 6

Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is not business readiness

Episode 6 of the Chade Hydrogen podcast: why high-TRL technology still stumbles on the road to market — the six places a proven technology quietly stalls, the readiness scales TRL leaves out (MRL, CRI, IRL), and the real-world cases that prove it.

Explore all episodes

Video