Christa Thoben, Minister for Economy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Canadian Vice consul Henri Proulx signed an agreement of collaboration between the Zentrum für Brennstoffzellentechnik (ZBT), of the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the Canadian research institute NRC-IFCI (National Research Council Canada – Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation) on joint technology development for system components and operation in the 5 – 10 kWel class for mobile applications with battery hybrid technologies. This collaboration, HiPerLoCo is in line with the electro mobility strategy of the energy region North Rhine-Westphalia in which battery and fuel cell are playing a complementary role. Other joint activites will cover optimisation of high quality power supply.