Westinghouse wins major contract for vacuum vessel welding

EUROfusion has opened applications for its 2026 Engineering Grants program, supporting the education and development of a new generation of fusion engineers. These two-year grants are aimed at young engineers with a Master's and/or PhD degree working in or entering the EUROfusion program. Around 14 grants are expected to be awarded.

The grants support career development in key competency areas for fusion and are awarded based on the excellence of the candidates. New eligibility rules now allow applicants who completed their MSc degree between 1 June 2019 and 28 July 2025, and candidates may complete their PhD during the grant period.

The application deadline is 28 July 2025. See further details about the program and how to apply here.

A new report on the private fusion sector has been published by the Fusion for Energy (F4E) Observatory, describing "the vibrant and complex landscape of global fusion private investment." It tracks the rapid growth that has been documented in the sector since 2020, and highlights the concentrated nature of that growth geographically—with the US and China accounting for 85% of all funding. 

While the global private market currently favours magnetic confinement fusion (70% of funding), the European Union's private sector is instead allocating most funding (69%) to inertial confinement. As noted in the report, this important difference in the European Union's ecosystem may be a result of the availability of stable public funding for magnetic confinement fusion project. 

Indeed, the EUR 6.8 billion public investment in the European fusion supply chain for ITER, allocated through Fusion for Energy, has created "a foundational asset of unparalleled value"—a world-class industrial base. "However, aside from spinoff applications outside fusion, the long-term sustainability of these supply chains depends on a future fusion technologies market and commercial fusion plants, and this may be one of the main challenges facing the European Union in the coming years."

With these data-based insights, the F4E Observatory aims to support the policy conversation around the future European Union fusion strategy.

You can download or read the full report here.

See the announcement of the report on the Fusion for Energy website here.

Fusion researchers are constantly challenging the scientific state-of-the-art and improving the technology thereby creating the conditions for innovation, much of which can be exploited in other science and industrial sectors for the benefit of society. The SOFT Innovation Prize highlights and rewards excellence in innovation that can be found in fusion research as well as the quality of the researchers and industries involved. Following the success of 2022 and 2024 editions of the SOFT Innovation Prize, the European Commission is holding the contest again in association with the next Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT), which will be held in Aix-en-Provence, France, from 21 to 25 September 2026.

The contest is open to researchers, research teams, or industrial participants eligible for funding under the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025, to researchers or research teams working for a national program in an ITER partner country or in any third country that has a bilateral fusion cooperation agreement with Euratom in force, and to industrial participants participating in the ITER project.

There are no specific categories for this prize. Participants are free to submit an application concerning any physics or technology innovation that has been developed in magnetic confinement fusion research and that has market potential or has been taken up (or recognized) by industry to be further developed for the market.

Entries will be assessed on originality and replicability, technical excellence, economic impact, exploitation, and plans for further development. Proposals are studied by an independent jury composed of experts in technology transfer, from business and academia.

The deadline to submit applications is 03 March 2026. See further details on the SOFT Innovation Prize 2026 website.

The European Commission has published a four-week Call for Evidence to collect feedback and provide input for the European Union’s (EU's) first-ever Fusion Strategy. Programmed for publication by the end of 2025, the strategy will be a key step to position the EU at the world forefront of fusion development and accelerate commercial fusion energy in the EU. Through this Call for Evidence, the Commission invites research stakeholders, industry and startups as well as private investors to provide inputs to shape the strategy and identify the most effective actions to support fusion development and deployment. Available in all 24 official EU languages, the Call for Evidence is open until 1 July 2025.

See this news feature or participate directly in the Call for Evidence.