Meet Simon Brugger, Co-Founder and CEO at CellForm Germany
LCBA joins the #EuropeanYearofYouth
Simon Brugger is a young German entrepreneur who founded CellForm, a company specialised in Flow Plates for Hydrogen Industry (Fuel Cells and Electrolysis Cells). This technology has a wide range of uses and is expected to play a key role in stationary, mobile and portable applications. We had the opportunity to talk to him and learn more about CellForm:
- Could you tell us about yourprofessional background and why you chose to focus your career on Hydrogen Industry?
I studied process engineering in my bachelor degree in Stuttgart (University of Stuttgart) and General Mamagement in my Master in Friedrichshafen (Zeppelin University). During my time in Stuttgart, I was always fascinated by technological things that also have the greatest impact on society. And so I spent a relatively large amount of time as a research assistant at the institute doing research on plastics made from renewable raw materials. 
After my bachelor’s degree, however, it was clear to me that i wanted to gain a more comprehensive view of society and the economy and for this reason I decided to do a non-consecutive master’s degree at Zeppelin University. During this time, I first became aware of hydrogen in 2017. The subject gripped me so much that I spent my entire master’s thesis on hydrogen and fuel cells, in addition to my technical background, from a social, ecological and economic perspective. A internships at the strategy department at Daimler also underlined my passion for hydrogen.
After my bachelor’s degree, however, it was clear to me that i wanted to gain a more comprehensive view of society and the economy and for this reason I decided to do a non-consecutive master’s degree at Zeppelin University. During this time, I first became aware of hydrogen in 2017. The subject gripped me so much that I spent my entire master’s thesis on hydrogen and fuel cells, in addition to my technical background, from a social, ecological and economic perspective. A internships at the strategy department at Daimler also underlined my passion for hydrogen.- Which is your main role at CellForm Hydrogen?
I am Co-Founder and CEO. As the head of a pretty young company, this means I am involved in everything. My passion is our technology and R&D but I am also focused on our funding process, HR, technical sales and supply chain.
- What kind of services does it provide?
We are manufacturing (forming and welding) bipolar plates for fuel cells and electrolysis with market leading condition in terms of stack efficieny and costs (the two main disadvantages about fuel cells and electrolysis stacks). We developed a new forming and welding technology that gives us the opportunity to implement geometries and features on these plates that are not possible with any other approach. The bipolar plate is the core component of a fuel cell and electrolysis stack. The substrat is a very thin metal foil (0.05-0.1mm thickness). This foil is pretty hard to form. We succeeded in the implementation with not only the most filligree and efficient Flowfield but also by reducing the thickness from 0.1mm (state of the art) to 0.05mm which saves further resources, weight and waste.
- How does your projectcontribute to the environment?
Since we are able to produce plates that enable a +5% efficiency increase while using -50% of resources we are able to make hydrogen itself way better but also enable the hydrogen technologies in a wider application which also contributes a lot by replacing for example diesel generators.
- Which was the main challenge you faced to launch your own business project?
Since CellForm is a very young company the lack of experience was the biggest obstacle before we had our first projects with leading fuel cell companies.
- Do you have any young talent that inspired your career?
CEO of Sunfire: Nils Aldag.
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