Fuelling the Future: H2FLY’s Maria Sol Rau on Hydrogen Innovation and the Power of Diversity

In the fast-evolv­ing land­scape of sus­tain­able avi­a­tion, Maria Sol Rau stands at the inter­sec­tion of inno­va­tion and inspi­ra­tion.

As a Project Man­ag­er at H2FLY, she’s not only help­ing to lead pio­neer­ing efforts in hydro­gen-pow­ered flight but also advo­cat­ing for greater diver­si­ty and inclu­sion in the indus­try. eVTOL Insights sat down with Maria to dis­cuss her work, the role of diver­si­ty in STEM, and the impor­tance of flex­i­bil­i­ty and men­tor­ship in shap­ing the future of avi­a­tion.

Break­ing Stereo­types Ear­ly

For Maria, the jour­ney toward inclu­siv­i­ty in avi­a­tion must begin long before young peo­ple enter the workforce—it starts in the class­room.

“It’s so impor­tant that from the very begin­ning, girls see that they can do jobs tra­di­tion­al­ly seen as male roles,” she says. Draw­ing from per­son­al expe­ri­ence with her daughter’s fas­ci­na­tion with fire­fight­ing, Maria empha­sizes the need to nor­mal­ize ambi­tion and tech­ni­cal careers for girls from a young age. “If you study the right career, gain the right knowl­edge, and are edu­cat­ed in the right areas—you can do any­thing.”

Rep­re­sen­ta­tion also plays a cru­cial role. “See­ing that their mum works, has kids, and is a pro­fes­sion­al is pow­er­ful for young girls,” she says. Maria believes that com­pa­nies must sup­port women through­out dif­fer­ent stages of life and lead by exam­ple.

A Cul­ture of Equal Oppor­tu­ni­ty

At H2FLY, Maria found a work­place that eval­u­ates indi­vid­u­als based on capability—not gen­der. “I was hired because of my back­ground, my stud­ies, and what I can con­tribute. That made me feel tru­ly includ­ed,” she shares.

Accord­ing to Maria, the foun­da­tion of real inclu­sion is a trans­par­ent career path­way acces­si­ble to every­one. “We’re all work­ing toward the same goals. It’s not about gen­der, it’s about team­work and deliv­er­ing results.”

Engi­neer­ing the Future with Hydro­gen

Maria cur­rent­ly leads efforts with­in the Euro­pean GOLIAT Project, aimed at prepar­ing air­ports to oper­ate with liq­uid hydrogen—a major step toward zero-emis­sion avi­a­tion. Her work con­nects her with major air­ports and part­ners across Europe, turn­ing vision­ary ideas into oper­a­tional real­i­ties.

“This is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to show what we’ve done and how close liq­uid hydro­gen real­ly is,” she says. Maria sup­ports both the prepa­ra­tion of air­craft and the trans­for­ma­tion of air­port infra­struc­ture.

Diver­si­ty as a Cat­a­lyst for Inno­va­tion

While tech­ni­cal excel­lence dri­ves H2FLY’s mis­sion, Maria points out that diverse teams fuel cre­ativ­i­ty. “Hav­ing dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives is invalu­able.

“Some­times some­one sees what I don’t because I’m too focused on one aspect—and that changes every­thing,” she explains. For her, fos­ter­ing an envi­ron­ment where every­one can speak up and feel heard is essen­tial to devel­op­ing new tech­nolo­gies like hydro­gen fuel cells.

A Flex­i­ble Future

Maria’s pas­sion is matched by her grat­i­tude for the flex­i­bil­i­ty H2FLY pro­vides. As a moth­er of three, she under­scores how cru­cial work-life bal­ance is to sus­tain­ing high per­for­mance and per­son­al well-being.

“It doesn’t mat­ter if I do the task at mid­night or 3 a.m. The trust in our abil­i­ty to deliv­er, regard­less of sched­ule, is incred­i­bly valu­able,” she notes. “It’s a win for the com­pa­ny, the fam­i­ly, and society—because we’re show­ing kids that bal­ance is pos­si­ble.”

The Pow­er of Men­tor­ship and Role Mod­els

Reflect­ing on her own jour­ney, Maria cred­its her PhD men­tor, Maria Rosa, with pro­vid­ing the sup­port and belief that helped launch her career. “She trust­ed me, helped me find fund­ing, and gave me space to work. That kind of men­tor­ship is vital—not just for girls, but for any­one need­ing encour­age­ment.”

Lead­ing the Way to 2025 and Beyond

As 2025 approach­es, Maria’s focus remains on H2FLY’s ambi­tious demon­stra­tion of liq­uid hydro­gen oper­a­tions at an inter­na­tion­al air­port in Stuttgart. The project aims to prove that sus­tain­able avi­a­tion is not only possible—but immi­nent.

More Than a Num­bers Game

Maria is quick to note that diver­si­ty isn’t just about hir­ing more women. “It’s about fos­ter­ing a cul­ture where all per­spec­tives are wel­comed and respect­ed. That’s what tru­ly trans­forms a work­place.”

A Call to Action

Clos­ing the con­ver­sa­tion, Maria offers a hope­ful mes­sage: “Avi­a­tion needs help from all of us. We face big chal­lenges, and con­tri­bu­tions from everyone—engineers, gov­ern­ments, families—are essen­tial. Let’s all trust in our capac­i­ties to con­tribute.”

Simon Cor­bett

Simon Cor­bett is the Founder of eVTOL Insights. He has a love of media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions, and has worked in the inter­na­tion­al Pub­lic Rela­tions indus­try since 1999. Today Simon runs the Pub­lic Rela­tions agency Jar­gon PR and, in his spare time, enjoys sport and trav­el.

See Full Bio