Private Sector Fusion Engagement Project

The Private Sector Fusion Engagement (PSFE) project was launched in November 2024 to foster collaboration between the ITER project and private sector fusion initiatives worldwide. It emphasizes the complementarity of public and private fusion efforts and seeks to optimize how ITER—drawing on its decades of experience in designing and building a fusion reactor—can share its accumulated knowledge with startups from the ITER Members and contribute to accelerating the effort to realize the promise of fusion. 

The elements of the PSFE project, described below, emerged from internal and external consultation with interested parties, including at public-private fusion workshops held in 2024, 2025 and 2026. At the heart of the project is knowledge-sharing.

PSFE activities include:

• Organizing public-private fusion workshops with participation from startups, suppliers, research institutes, and investors. An inaugural private-public sector workshop was held in May 2024 at ITER Headquarters. A second workshop was held in April 2025, timed to make participation in the ITER Business Forum (IBF), held the same week, possible for startup fusion initiatives. A third public-private workshop (“Fusion: A Joint Quest”) took place in April 2026.
• Publishing the ITER Engineering Basis Handbook to share design principles and lessons learned from the ITER project. Volume 1 explores the genesis, design, and evolution of the ITER project, while Volume 2 examines the plant’s structure and systems in detail. The initial chapters are available for download at this ITER website address, with all chapters scheduled for release by the end of 2026. The Handbook is designed as a dynamic document that can be revised in future editions to reflect additional project progress. 
• Giving private companies from ITER Member countries access to ITER technical documentation through IP-protective agreements. The ITER Document Management System (IDM) holds many years’ worth of technical information, data and know-how that could be useful for private sector fusion initiatives. Access to this documentation is now available to private companies (under appropriate conditions, including being based in an ITER Member country). Documents requested are screened for defined criteria (e.g., export control restraints, protection of intellectual property), and the requesting entity is asked to sign a user agreement. Since this process was launched, more than 10,000 documents have been shared (update April 2026).
• Open-sourcing critical ITER simulation software (Integrated Modelling & Analysis Suite (IMAS) and Plasma Control System Simulation Platform (PCSSP). The goal of this element is to allow these ITER tools to become a worldwide standard for fusion research, and to lower the barriers to developing, validating, applying and contributing to this software. The standalone Intellectual Property of IMAS and PCSSP, which is wholly owned by the ITER Organization, is now fully accessible as open source. Following agreement from all relevant owners of background IP (BIP), the IMAS and PCSSP software was open-sourced in late 2025. See this page for explanations and this page for software sets available as open source.      
• Signing cooperation agreements with private companies. The ITER Organization has established a Cooperation Agreement Coordination Board under the leadership of the Deputy Director-General for Science & Technology to oversee progress on all formal agreements with public and private entities. One function of this Board is to oversee any collaboration agreements requested or agreed with private sector fusion initiatives. To date, the IO has signed a cooperation agreement with one private sector firm, TAE Technologies, focused on neutral beam R&D and other areas of mutual interest.
• Compiling catalogues of fusion resources: The ITER Organization is compiling information on three types of resources with expertise and capacities relevant to private sector fusion initiatives: technical experts in fusion-related disciplines; the research and testing capacities of publicly funded fusion facilities; and fusion-related capacities of supplier companies. Publication will be made available here.
• Facilitating site visits and expert consultations: Technical visits by fusion startup companies can be requested through @email, or as before through @email. Requests will be referred to specific ITER divisions or experts, depending on the technical scope. Consultations with ITER experts on specific technical topics can also be facilitated, either as part of an ITER visit or independently.
• Providing access for private sector initiatives to the International Tokamak Physics and Engineering Activity (ITPEA) topical groups: The International Tokamak Physics and Engineering Activity (ITPEA) provides a framework for internationally coordinated fusion research activities among the ITER Members. Modifications recently implemented in the ITPEA Charter and the International Energy Agency (IEA) Technology Collaboration Programme on Tokamak Programmes (CTP TCP), which provides the legal basis for the implementation of ITPEA activities, now make it possible for staff from privately funded fusion initiatives from the ITER Members to attend individual topical group meetings. Two startup firms—Commonwealth Fusion Systems (USA) and ENN Science and Technology Development (China)—have completed all of the formal steps.

The PSFE Help Desk serves as the central coordination point for requests to access ITER documents and connect to ITER experts, and for technical questions. PFSE Helpdesk: @email

Other useful links:

• The ITER Engineering Basis Handbook
• ITER site visits 
• The ITPEA Charter
• The ITER Organization open source platform