After more than 11 years as Managing Director (Chair) of NOW GmbH, Dr. Klaus Bonhoff will move to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI – Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur) on 15 August 2019 as Director General for Policy Issues. The Federal Cabinet had approved the appointment at its meeting on 14 August 2019.
NOW GmbH, the National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, has supported the introduction of clean, sustainable mobility and energy supply at the interface of politics, industry and science since 2008 under the leadership of Dr. Bonhoff. Throughout its existence, NOW GmbH has been entrusted with the coordination of the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP) and other tasks in the field of clean mobility, most notably by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). This includes the coordination of the BMVI’s funding guidelines for electric mobility and charging infrastructure as well as the support of the BMVI in the further development of the Mobility and Fuel Strategy and of the Federal Ministry for the Environment in the area of the Climate Protection Technologies Export Initiative.
NOW’s programmatic work has laid the foundations for the market launch of key climate protection technologies such as batteries and hydrogen. The 50 hydrogen filling station programme in the NIP and the electric mobility model regions laid the foundation for a commercial market. Building on this, NOW GmbH is today increasingly coordinating not only research and development schemes but also procurement programmes for the development of infrastructure and the ramp-up of vehicle numbers.