Ein Lkw mit Wasserstoff fährt auf einer deutschen Autobahn.

Research funding

Hydrogen for heavy goods transport

Sustainable development requires forward-looking concepts. There are already many good ideas. For these to be put into practice, they must be further developed through research and development. Supporting scientific work on sustainability and climate protection is therefore an integral part of many Savings Banks’s commitment to sustainability. A large number of institutions and affiliated companies are actively involved – as sponsors, funders or key players – in current research projects.

Savings Bank Regensburg, for example, is actively supporting an ambitious research project that is developing hydrogen-based propulsion systems for heavy goods transport. Research into technologies for climate-resilient transport management has been underway at the Wörth-Wiesent campus of Deggendorf University of Applied Sciences since 2023. Hydrogen propulsion systems form a key focus of this research. Savings Bank Regensburg has been supporting the project since 2024 through donations and sponsorship. Last year, it provided targeted funding to support the expansion of the laboratories at the technology campus.

For Markus Bayer, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Savings Bank Regensburg until August 2026, funding this research is also an important investment in the future, helping to retain skilled workers and ideas in the region: “Young talent needs the best possible conditions to drive innovation forward. Combined with the sustainable, forward-looking research focus, we are therefore supporting a project that is fully in line with our guiding principles as a savings bank.”

€24.8 million
in funding from the Savings Banks Finance Group for science and research, infrastructure and business development in 2025.

Social commitment of the Savings Banks Finance Group 2025

  • €135.8m 
           
    social affairs and education
  • €138.4m 
           
    art and culture
  • €105.7m 
           
    sport
  • €24.7m 
           
    environment
  • €24.8m 
           
    promotion of research, business and science
  • €74.2m 
           
    other public welfare purposes
€503.6 million total volume

There is a particular need in the region for sustainable solutions for transport and logistics. In March 2025, the mobility concept for the greater Regensburg area was presented, which had been jointly initiated by the City and District of Regensburg and the Free State of Bavaria. The concept explicitly identifies car and heavy goods traffic with high volumes as a key problem. Many key regional transport arteries, such as the B16, are heavily used by freight traffic, with the corresponding strain on the environment and infrastructure.

And the Regensburg district is certainly not the only region heavily affected by heavy goods traffic. The research project is therefore intended to have an impact beyond the region and is explicitly conceived as a ‘flagship project’.