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Astris Energi Secures Fuel Cell Funding from Czech Republic

November 13, 2006 by Jeff Shepard

Astris Energi Inc. announced that Astris s.r.o., the wholly owned European subsidiary of Astris Energi Inc., received another grant from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) of the Czech Republic. This is the third grant awarded to Astris from the MPO. The funding will be used to subsidize Astris' fuel cell development efforts for backup power in the telecom industry at its Czech-based subsidiary.

The amount of funding will be approx. 6,000,000 Czech Crowns (CZK) or approximately US $0.3 million against anticipated program spending of 10,500,000 CZK or approximately US $0.5 million over the next 2.5 years. Astris believes that every US $1 spent in the Czech Republic on research is the equivalent of about US $5 spent in North America on research.

This is one of the largest fuel cell grants ever awarded by the MPO in the Czech Republic and it is indicative of the growing global government support for fuel cells. The work will be carried out by the Astris scientific team in cooperation with several leading academic and industrial institutions, including the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic, and the Department of Chemical Technology of University of Pardubice. Astris invested into building a pilot production line for its POWERSTACK™ MC250 product at the Astris s.r.o., Vlasim, Czech Republic facility. The facility was originally selected by Astris for both its technical capabilities as well as its significantly lower cost structure. Much of the continued development and ongoing improvement of the company's AFC technology is carried out there, due to the significant cost savings for labor and overhead.

"We would like to thank the Ministry of Industry and Trade for awarding us this grant to continue our fuel cell development activity in the Czech Republic. We are grateful to the Czech government and hope that other countries will increase their investment in technologies that focus on climate change," stated Jiri Nor, CEO and President. "This grant will enable us to continue to remain on the leading edge of fuel cell commercialization."