The effective promotion of hydrogen technologies is best achieved when there is a,strategy and a well defined and accepted plan for a hydrogen-based economy. The HYRREG project, funded by the Program of Cooperation of Southwest Europe (SUDOE), had as main objectives the development of a platform to generate hydrogen-related projects and a roadmap to enhance regional competitiveness and development of industry in this field in the SUDOE region which accounts for approximately 18% of the area and 12% of the population of the European Union. An analysis of the energy profiles in these regions reveals significant growth in capacity of renewable sources, principally from wind energy, yet the region has a high dependence on fossil fuels. The HYRREG consortium therefore believes that there is a good basis for supporting the development and introduction of hydrogen-based technologies in the region, especially with respect to the use of hydrogen for storage, to enhance security of supply and pave the way for a cleaner environment. The measures undertaken, in the form of platform activities and the preparation of a roadmap, were designed to increase collaboration between different institutions, at both national and international levels, and to raise awareness in society of the benefits of using such technologies. An online database of technologies and product opportunities in SUDOE and across Europe, as well as yearly catalogues listing profiles of companies or institutions working on hydrogen and fuel cells, their research lines and fields of interest and also including technology transfer profiles highlighting technologies offered and those sought in the region, were prepared to help companies in the region to access international markets and as an aid to establish links between entities. The SUDOE roadmap is mainly based on a qualitative analysis, focused on stakeholder preferences and region specific conditions, such as availability of resources as well as the characteristics of the current and future energy systems in the region. Several enquiries were conducted to systematically examine each component of the different hydrogen chains selected by the regions of France, Portugal and Spain. This exercise contributed to the identification of first user centres in the SUDOE region. The project concluded that hydrogen will play an important role in the energy context of SUDOE, namely in the transport sector, and its production will rely mainly on renewable energies wind and solar being in the forefront. Copyright (C) 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.