Tartu Hydrogen Days Turns Ten: A Latvian Guide to 8–9 October
Tartu Hydrogen Days celebrates its tenth edition on 8–9 October 2026 at the University of Tartu, with two days on hydrogen's past, present and future. Here's what's on the programme and why Latvian hydrogen stakeholders should be in the room.
EVENTS
HydrogenLatvia
9/22/20263 min read
Most of what moves hydrogen forward in the Baltics doesn't happen on stage. It happens in the ten minutes after a panel, when someone from a port authority and someone from a university lab realise they've been circling the same problem from different ends. That's the real reason we're marking 8–9 October in the calendar. Tartu Hydrogen Days turns ten this year, and it's one of the few places where the whole regional hydrogen conversation fits under one roof.
Ten years in Tartu, and a lot has changed since the first one
The conference started as a university gathering and has grown into what the organisers now call the region's most influential energy conference. This year's edition, Future Energy Today, is run by the University of Tartu, TalTech Virumaa College and AS Metrosert, with Hydrogen Valley Estonia behind it. Their own summary of the idea is simple: entrepreneurship, energy and science on one stage.
Estonia has used that decade well. It built a nationwide hydrogen valley and, through Metrosert, is developing semi-industrial test capacity for electrolysers and fuel cells. We watch that closely, because Latvia will need the same kind of shared infrastructure before most of our projects can leave the drawing board.
Thursday looks back, and asks what actually worked
Day one, 8 October, sits in the UT Physicum on W. Ostwaldi 1. Registration opens at 11:30 in the atrium, and the afternoon is built as three honest questions.
Session I (12:00–13:30) traces how Tartu and Estonia got onto the hydrogen technology map, and what the first pilots taught them.
Session II (14:15–15:45) covers projects running now in Estonia and abroad, across energy, transport and storage.
Session III (16:00–17:30) is a panel on turning research into something a customer will pay for.
If you only catch one session, make it the third. Getting from a working lab prototype to a financed plant is the step Latvian developers keep telling us is hardest, and it's good to hear it argued out loud.
Friday is about what comes next, plus the EXPO
Day two, 9 October, moves to the UT Library. Coffee from 09:30, then Session IV on next-generation electrolysis and materials science, and Session V on local communities, strategy and policy. That last one matters more than its slot suggests. Projects rarely stall on chemistry. They stall on permits, public trust and unclear rules, and Latvia has its share of all three.
After lunch the EXPO opens officially at 13:15, the student competition final runs 14:30–15:30, and the afternoon closes with EXPO visits and demo presentations until 17:00.
Students get a real stage, not a side room
The day before the conference, 7 October, the University of Tartu and TalTech run a hydrogen hackathon. The best teams bring their ideas to Friday's final: three minutes each to pitch, the audience votes, and the winners present their full solution. We like this format a lot. Latvia's hydrogen sector will need engineers faster than it will need strategies, and this is a cheap way to find them early.
Why Latvian hydrogen stakeholders should make the trip
Tartu is a morning's drive from Riga, and for two days the room holds universities, a national metrology and research body, a hydrogen valley, industry and the next generation of engineers. That mix is hard to assemble at home. It's also exactly the kind of room where a Horizon Europe or Interreg partnership starts as a conversation over coffee.
A few practical things. Day one runs in Estonian with English interpretation. Day two is in Estonian, while the EXPO works in both Estonian and English. You can register to attend either day, visit the EXPO, present a product there, or follow online. The organisers may still adjust the schedule, so check before you set off.
We'll be looking out for Latvian faces in Tartu. If you're going, let us know, and let's compare notes on the way back.