Welcoming Ki Hydrogen to 1 Portal Way

A UK cleantech startup with breakthrough green hydrogen technology is set to call our North Acton Innovation Hub home from June 2026. This is what we built 1 Portal Way for.

We’re really pleased to announce that Ki Hydrogen — one of the UK’s most promising cleantech startups — will be the first company to take up space at our new Innovation Hub at 1 Portal Way, North Acton, ahead of our June 2026 opening.

Ki Hydrogen will occupy 1,500 sq ft of laboratory and office space, giving their team the room and infrastructure to progress into an engineering scale-up phase — all while staying connected to the Imperial College London ecosystem they grew up in.

From a single bench to a fully fitted lab

Ki Hydrogen’s journey is the kind of story that 1 Portal Way is designed to support and extend.

The company originated within Imperial’s innovation ecosystem, beginning with a single bench at Imperial Incubator in White City. They then moved into dedicated lab space before being selected for the inaugural cohort of EarthScale — the Imperial-led programme supporting pioneering climate tech ventures advancing from prototype to commercial manufacturing — as well as Imperial Undaunted’s accelerator.

Their arrival at 1 Portal Way is the next chapter: a purpose-built hub where they can scale their technology without leaving the network that has supported them.

“Sciopolis offers exactly the kind of environment we need as we progress into our engineering scale-up phase. Remaining within the Imperial and WestTech London ecosystem — while gaining the space, capability and flexibility to scale our technology — is a major advantage. We’re excited to grow here in Old Oak and to contribute to this emerging innovation cluster.”

Koji Muto — Co-founder & CEO, Ki Hydrogen

Technology that matters

Ki Hydrogen is tackling one of green hydrogen’s most stubborn problems: the enormous amount of energy required to produce it.

Green hydrogen is an essential chemical feedstock to make clean fuels, but it takes a huge amount of electricity to make, which has always kept costs high.

Ki Hydrogen has found a smarter way. Instead of using electricity alone, their process leverages abundant, non-food biomass: things like leftover wood waste, agricultural residue, and industrial side streams. The result is green hydrogen produced at a fraction of the usual energy cost.

As a bonus, the process also co-produces biogenic CO₂, itself a valuable ingredient in sustainable aviation fuel and green methanol.

So one process, two useful outputs, and a much more viable path to clean industry.

Part of a growing cluster

Ki Hydrogen’s arrival at 1 Portal Way places them at the heart of Imperial’s emerging Old Oak Innovation Cluster, part of WestTech London.

They’ll be neighbours with companies including Solena Materials, based at Imperial’s nearby advanced manufacturing site, Grapht Works.

“We’re delighted to see Ki Hydrogen continue to grow. They started with a single bench at Imperial Incubator and then moved into their own dedicated lab space. Now we are looking forward to partnering with Sciopolis at 1 Portal Way and to working with Ki Hydrogen again. Their journey shows exactly what WestTech London is designed to deliver: a place where a startup can launch easily, expand within a supportive community and begin pilot manufacturing locally.”

Graham Hewson — Head of Incubation & Prototyping Spaces, Imperial College London

Setting the scene for what's to come

London has a well-documented shortage of affordable, ready-to-occupy laboratory space. Too many companies at a critical stage in their growth are priced out of the capital just as they’re hitting their stride.

1 Portal Way exists to change that: offering cost-effective, fully fitted CL2 laboratories and flexible offices, with no upfront capital investment required, embedded in an exciting, university-linked ecosystem.

“Ki Hydrogen’s arrival sets the tone for what Sciopolis stands for: bringing together companies tackling the world’s most urgent challenges, and giving them the space, infrastructure and community support they need to scale and begin manufacturing in London.”

Charlie Mitchell — CEO, Sciopolis

If your company is looking for space to grow, we’d love to talk.

Ki Hydrogen is the first member of our community, and it’s a lovely first.

We’ll be announcing more tenants in the months ahead as we count down to our June opening.

Discover our lab and office availabilty

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ABOUT KI HYDROGEN: ki-hydrogen.com →