The growing societal and political focus on the use of environmentally friendly technologies has led to an ever-increasing interest in electrolysis technologies in the scientific communities. This development is reflected by the plethora of candidate catalysts for the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, as well as the CO₂ reduction reaction, reported in the literature. However, almost none of them entered the stage of application yet. Likewise, the reports on process engineering inadequately address the utilization of these catalysts, as well as electrode and cell concepts, that might be suitable for the market. Evidently, a closer collaboration between chemists and engineers from industry and academia is desirable to speed up the development of these disruptive technologies. Herein, we elucidate the critical parameters and highlight the necessary aspects to accelerate the development of industrially relevant catalysts capable of fulfilling the forthcoming challenges related to energy conversion and storage. The aim of this Perspective, composed by industrial and academic partners, is to critically question current undertakings and to encourage researchers to strike interdisciplinary research pathways.

The electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide by means of renewable electricity holds great promise. However, despite significant progress in current literature, there remains a significant gap between fundamental research and the industrial demands to establish new disruptive technologies in real world applications. This gap primarily arises from a mismatch between performance parameters and requirements in both areas, leading to significant challenges in technology transfer. We herein suggest pathways to bridge this gap and outline current limitations in the field, proposing key parameters and procedures towards accelerated and streamlined technology development. Despite significant progress in CO2 conversion field, there remains a significant gap between fundamental research and the industrial demands. This Comment discusses key performance parameters for industrial applications and outlines current limitations in the field.