A review of Insplorion’s business was initiated in connection with the CEO change at the beginning of 2022, and this work has now been completed. The Board and management have now decided that the company needs a stronger focus in its operations regarding business approach and technology development.
The new strategic direction of Insplorion can be summarized as follows:
- Focus on hydrogen with a maintained instrument business, down-prioritize areas where the right technology and market conditions are unfavorable
- Prove the technology in customer financed hydrogen projects and achieve commercial success
- Accelerate the path to the commercial phase by exploring alternative ways in the form of acquisitions, mergers, and partnerships.
Over the past year, Insplorion’s technology in hydrogen measurement has attracted increasing interest. The reason is our proven ability to measure hydrogen specifically and quickly, and today we have several exciting customer dialogues where we are exploring hydrogen measurement in their applications. We have also entered into two customer financed pilot projects during the year.
The hydrogen market is undergoing considerable change, and substantial investments are expected globally to achieve high sustainability goals. In this work, hydrogen is a crucial energy carrier and, thus, a key factor for success. There are many initiatives in the hydrogen business area, and the Hydrogen Council, in collaboration with strategy and consulting firm McKinsey & Company, predicts that up to USD 500 billion will be invested in the hydrogen business area by 2030. (https://hydrogencouncil.com/en/hydrogen-insights-2021/)
Measurement of hydrogen will always be needed
Hydrogen will need to be produced on a large scale. In particular, a vast amount of green hydrogen will be required in the coming decades to replace the hydrogen currently produced from fossil fuels (natural gas and coal). Subsequently, it will be stored, transported, and used in numerous end applications. Throughout these stages, hydrogen will need to be measured to ensure that hydrogen in processes does not exceed or fall below specified values of importance to efficiency and safety, or simply to detect the presence of hydrogen where it is not supposed to be. As hydrogen production and future use also move closer to end consumers, safety requirements will most likely increase further.
In the hydrogen business area, there are many potential situations where measurement can add value. At the same time, there is some uncertainty about timing of implementation. As a result, we are staying true to our strategy of approaching applications through customer and partner cooperation, prioritizing applications as early in the value chain as possible.
There are currently other sensors for hydrogen in the market, but at Insplorion, we see that we can add customer value with our unique technology through:
- selectivity, where we can detect hydrogen in the presence of other gases
- rapid response time, enabling faster decisions
- flexibility, where the sensor can be adapted to different applications
- optical readout, allowing us to separate the sensor from the electronics
While developments in the hydrogen business area are progressing, the market for nitrogen dioxide sensors, as part of air quality measurement, remains immature, and there are other established sensor technologies in place. Regarding the battery sensor (InBat), we can now conclude that we are a long way from a product in the volume segment. Altogether, this makes us shift our focus from these initiatives to hydrogen.
However, we will continue to work diligently on the instrument business. In addition to generating some sales, it creates visibility for the company and the technology. Our customers’ use of the instruments also gives us more knowledge about future applications, as well as valuable contacts, especially with universities, but also industrial players. We will also complete the EU project 3beLiEVe ending in 2023 as it has synergies with the M8 battery research instrument.
As before, we will continue to explore alternative ways to move faster into the commercial phases, and acquisitions, mergers, and partnerships are always of interest.
Insplorion AB, with its unique sensor platform NanoPlasmonic Sensing (NPS), operates within two fields; hydrogen sensors and research instruments. The sensors are fast, flexible and selective, and cost efficient at volume production. Our hydrogen sensors show a sub-second response time, making them the fastest in the world and will promote the growth of hydrogen infrastructure. Our instruments give scientists around the world real time data within battery research and surface processes in fields like catalysis, material- and life science. Naventus Corporate Finance AB is Insplorion’s Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North.
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