Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Links

Of Interest

See archived articles

Conferences


ITER NEWSLINE 285

Tapping into ITER opportunities

At the ITER Business Forum last March, industrial representatives from 24 countries learned about opportunities of doing business with ITER. (Click to view larger version...)
At the ITER Business Forum last March, industrial representatives from 24 countries learned about opportunities of doing business with ITER.
Two new video clips have been released by the European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy, that highlight the advantages of participation in ITER for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and industry.

In Europe alone, EUR 2.7 billion in contracts have been awarded for ITER since 2007—of which an estimated three-fourths has been directed to industry, trickling down through partnerships to the second and third-tier level. Industrial Liaison Officers (ILOs) have been established throughout Europe to facilitate contact between companies and the ITER Project.

In the first clip, "ITER: A unique collaboration with business potential," we hear from some of the ILOs who were present last March at the ITER Business Forum where over 700 industry representatives interested in ITER attended from 24 countries.

In "ITER: Direct benefits for industry, laboratories and SMEs," representatives from European companies that have already signed contracts for ITER share their experience of the Project's challenging requirements.

Excerpts below.

Soren Bang Kors, ITER ILO in Denmark (Clip 1, 4ʹ08"): "[ITER] is not just any other business opportunity. There'll be both conventional deliveries but also very high tech, very specialized technologies required—technologies that are on the brink of what is possible today. The first major challenge for SMEs and industry in general to get involved in a project like ITER is that they should be able to see themselves and their competencies as being relevant to ITER."

Christian Dierick, ILO in Belgium (Clip 1, 5ʹ00"): "It's not only an [opportunity] for big players in the field; on a second-tier level—contracting—there are also possibilities. We have many technical companies which have niche competencies and which have to find their place ..."

Paolo Bonifazi, Business Development Manager at Walter Tosto, Italy (Clip 2, 1ʹ42"): "Let me say that ITER was for us like a [rocket booster] because I think that we reached the level of know-how and the level of capability in a very, very short time."

Michael Peiniger, Managing Director of Research Instruments, UK (Clip 2, 0ʹ42"): "ITER technical requirements are really very, very demanding, cutting-edge ... as a cutting-edge company it is still very challenging for us. We are excited to get to this level of technology ... and to get into a new business area."

Maria Teresa Dominguez, Director of Advanced Projects at Empresarios Agrupados, Spain (Clip 2, 3ʹ18"): "Having been involved in ITER we have had the opportunity to work in consortiums with international companies, and work with SMEs. For us, it was not the case before. We are able to work with the young generation, and transfer our nuclear experience to the young generation. There are a lot of benefits to our being involved in the ITER Project."

Henrik Bindslev, Director of the European Domestic Energy, F4E (Clip 1, 0ʹ47"): "In ITER, we are creating something that is absolutely unique. It's hugely challenging and it hasn't been done before. This, of course, means that we're going to be pressing technology to the limit of what we know today. In fact, we're going to be inventing new technologies and much of this invention will take place in industry, but also in partnerships with other high-tech technology areas such as companies and in public research organizations. So our expectation is that SMEs, which are where much of the innovation takes place in society, will ... help us address this very challenging, very difficult task of making fusion a reality, but also be part of improving the competitiveness of our economy, of ensuring job creation..."

View the video clips on the European Domestic Agency website.


return to Newsline #285