American expert in hydrogen technology honored with Magnolia Silver Award
Christopher John Guzy poses for a photo call at the 2023 Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award presentation ceremony.
Dr Christopher John Guzy has been honored with the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award in recognition of his contribution to the city’s development.
Hailing from the United States, Guzy is the chief technology officer of the Shanghai REFIRE Group Limited, which is focused on hydrogen technology research and development, product development, building an ecosystem of the hydrogen industry and at-scale commercial application.
Guzy has worked in the global hydrogen and fuel cell industry for nearly 20 years, accumulating extensive experience in scientific research and management. Since his arrival in the city in 2016, Guzy has actively contributed to and witnessed the rapid growth of China’s hydrogen energy industry.
Before moving to China, Guzy had hoped fuel cells could ultimately be implemented, becoming products that could be used, and afforded, in people’s daily lives. He firmly believed that aspiration was most likely to become a reality in China first.
He led the construction of the first domestic fuel cell stack production line and with his technical team, achieved the localization of producing key components.
He also spearheaded the establishment of China’s first hydrogen energy industry park, and played a key role in the commercial operation of China’s first batch of fuel cell buses and the initial fleet of fuel cell logistics vehicles.
Guzy received the “Friendship Award” presented by the State Council in 2019.
For his contribution to China’s development, he was honored with a “Friendship Award” from the Chinese government in 2019. This award is the highest honor established by the Chinese government to commend foreign experts who have made exceptional contributions to China’s modernization and the nation’s endeavors of reform and opening-up.
As CTO of Shanghai REFIRE, Guzy recognizes the importance of building a talented workforce and strongly supports the cultivation of domestic R&D personnel as well as actively recruiting top international technical talent. Several core R&D personnel received prestigious honors from the city and Jiading District, becoming leading talent in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry.
Guzy also leads the R&D center to collaborate with top domestic universities such as Tongji University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to engage in technological research.
Guzy (left) and his research and development team at the Shanghai REFIRE production base in Jiading District.
He is dedicated to promoting the construction of industry standards in the fuel cell sector. Guzy secured multiple international and domestic authoritative certifications for Shanghai REFIRE. He engaged himself with the application and certification process for REFIRE’s ISO26262: 2018 certificate, making it the first certificate issued in the field of fuel cells by SGS Global Functional Safety Technical Center in China.
He has attended numerous international and domestic hydrogen energy industry forums and technical exchanges, actively promoting collaborative progress within the industry. He highly praised the Chinese government’s supportive measures for the new-energy vehicle industry, and has great expectations for Shanghai as a pioneer in hydrogen energy.
Guzy believes REFIRE’s future competitive advance will manifest in its “irreplicability,” having independently developed core components and mastering fuel cell systems.
