In May 2024 the ITER Organization opened its doors for the first time to private fusion companies, recognizing that the mass of experience accumulated by the ITER project over the decades could be highly valuable to these new initiatives, and that everyone has something to gain if the commercialization of fusion energy is accelerated. One year later—for the 2nd ITER Private Sector Fusion Workshop organized on 22 and 23 April—the focus of the program was three-fold: how cross-sector innovation is addressing some of fusion’s key challenges, what capacities exist in the global fusion supply chain that can help avoid private companies having to “reinvent the wheel,” and ITER’s new mechanisms for knowledge-sharing. From the number of return participants to the workshop, and the buzz of conversation during breaks, it was clear that the restraint of the “get-to-know-you” phase is over and that connections between public and private actors have developed and deepened over the past year.For organizer Laban Coblentz, ITER Head of Communication, it was “energizing” to see the networking that took place across languages and sectors. “There is such benefit to bringing the private and public sectors into the same room. Even if we disagree on many things, we can go so much faster together.”"What we have discussed with the ITER Council and what we intend to do at the same time as our baseline job is to help the private sector in every way that we can,” said ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi in his welcome to the 350 participants—startup company representatives, industrial suppliers, researchers, advocates, investors, and ITER and Domestic Agency experts who attended the two-day event. “I am grateful to see your response to our invitation; your presence here means that our ambition is followed by interest from your side.” The 2nd ITER Private Sector Fusion Workshop concludes on 23 April after two days of conferences and networking at ITER Headquarters. More than 300 people take part—including startup company representatives, suppliers, researchers, advocates, and investors. Many went on to attend the ITER Business Forum in Marseille (23-25 April). Following suggestions generated at the first workshop in 2024, the ITER Organization has introduced a number of knowledge-sharing mechanisms under the umbrella of ITER’s Private Sector Fusion Engagement (PSFE) project. Hundreds of requests for specific ITER documents and technical visits, for example, have already been received through the PSFE Help Desk (psfe@iter.org), and a first private sector company—the California-based TAE Technologies—has signed an agreement with the ITER Organization for "cooperation and exchange in technical fields of mutual interest."Other mechanisms are in the works. The compilation of the ITER Design Handbook—a resource for technical information, lessons learned, and the evolution of the ITER design—is progressing well, with publication of the first of two volumes expected at the end of the year. ITER’s Integrated Modelling Analysis Suite (IMAS) software, which contains advanced tools to organize and manipulate fusion data, is ready for imminent open-sourced release (see the related article in this issue here). And the agreements are in place to enable private sector participation in the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) and its associated topical groups (also see the article linked in the previous sentence).“ITER is actively transferring knowledge that is not only relevant to tokamak experiments,” says Coblentz. “There is plenty of convergence across all the different fusion approaches.” At least half of the participants to the 2d ITER Private Sector Fusion Workshop in April take the opportunity to spend a few hours visiting the ITER plant. During the hop-on/hop-off tour, dozens of guides share specific expertise in critical fusion systems (cryogenics, power supply, heating) and walk guests through the machine assembly activities currently underway. Sergei Putvinski from TAE Technologies agrees. TAE’s fusion machine is a compact, linear device based on field-reversed configuration (FRC) technology, and yet during the workshop he listed at least five areas of ITER science and technology that are highly relevant to his company’s efforts and that are the object of technical discussions within the framework of TAE’s agreement with ITER—diagnostics, plasma-facing components, instrumentation & control, neutral beam injection heating, and plasma shot optimization. â€œWe share many of the same challenges,” the ITER Director-General stressed at the start of the workshop, and in panel discussions over two days participants heard about R&D underway in both the public and private sectors to solve some of the key issues remaining—as well as about the innovative technologies like specific artificial intelligence applications that can help the entire fusion sector accelerate. And both during the main program and on the sidelines, there was keen interest in the way the ITER supply chain can be leveraged.“The fusion supply chain is an area where ITER has provided a lot of value, and this is something we continue to build,” said Director-General Barabaschi. “We recognize the interest in connecting startups working on the integration of facilities with these industrial resources, and it directly responds to a demand we have received from the private sector.” Networking started at check-in in the morning and continued all throughout the day during coffee breaks, break-out sessions and site tours. Erik Fernandez, a representative from the Spanish association Ineustar that connects industry to science, said he could not imagine any company today working for ITER that could not work for a private fusion company.The director of supplier integration/tokamak systems at the US startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Jack Cohen, emphasized the importance of ITER’s investment in industrial technologies over the last decades. “My suppliers know fusion and my suppliers know ITER. I cannot overestimate how much that makes my life easier. A large percentage of our dollars are going to ITER suppliers. We couldn’t have private fusion without some of the innovations that public research has done for us.”In this context, the organization of the private sector workshop only two days before the start of the 2025 ITER Business Forum (IBF) in Marseille was no accident; many participants travelled directly from the close of the first event to the opening of the second. It is the first time that the private sector has been invited to participate in the IBF, and from conversations with startup representatives it was clear that expectations were running high for productive opportunities. ITER’s industrial partners, too, are hopeful that private sector contracts can help keep capacities active between the mobilization for ITER and the next large fusion devices.  In closing the private sector workshop, Laban Coblentz invited private companies to join ITER at two globe-spanning events—the World Expo that is taking place in Japan through October, and November’s climate change conference in Brazil. “Use the ITER booth to advertise your projects and efforts at these events,” he said. “Let’s make it about fusion globally.” 

The International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) provides a framework for internationally coordinated fusion research activities in the ITER Members. The ITER Integrated Modelling & Analysis Suite (IMAS) is the collection of software used at ITER for all physics modelling and analysis. Replying to the ITER Council’s request in late 2023 to engage with private sector fusion initiatives, the ITER Organization and Members have carried out the behind-the-scenes work making it possible for private sector initiatives to access both of these frameworks, which formerly had been restricted to publicly funded research institutes in the ITER Members. The International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) has provided a framework for internationally coordinated fusion research activities in the ITER Members since 2001, when it took over the tokamak physics R&D activities that had been conducted on an international level under the so-called ITER expert groups since the late 1980s and 1990s. The work of the ITPA has resulted in the achievement of a broad physics basis essential for the ITER design and experimental planning, but is also very useful for all fusion programs and for supporting progress toward a fusion reactor. Since 2008, the ITPA has operated under the auspices of the ITER Organization and its participants are the ITER Members, who provide experts from their national fusion research institutions to carry out research in a wide range of physics areas. This research is implemented by seven topical groups under the chairmanship of an ITER Member expert and the co-chairmanship of two experts, one coming from the ITER Organization.Until early this year, the experts and institutions participating in ITPA activities came exclusively from publicly funded research centres. Staff from privately funded initiatives could be invited to attend individual topical group meetings on an ad-hoc basis, but they were excluded from long-term involvement in ITPA research activities. To maximize the synergies between publicly and privately funded research, and in order to speed up progress of fusion energy development, the ITPA Coordinating Committee (CC), chaired by Dr. S.W. Yoon, decided in its January 2025 meeting to open the coordinated research activities to privately funded initiatives. This was not the end of the road, however. The ITPA is a voluntary activity whose legal basis is provided by international agreements among the ITER Members and the ITER Organization outside the ITER Agreement itself. After the go-ahead from ITPA Coordinating Committee, the ball moved to the court of the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Programme on Tokamak Programmes (CTP-TCP). This collaboration program provides the legal basis for the implementation of most of the ITPA activities and it already included, in principle, the possibility of allowing participation of privately funded fusion companies. However, some details of the IEA CTP-TCP agreement needed to be amended to make this practical. Following consultation with its members, the Executive Committee agreed to such amendments and its chair (Dr. S. Ide) sent the invitation for the first private company to join the CTP-TCP on 21 April 2025. If the answer is positive, experts from this company will join the ITPA activities, beginning with participation in the meetings of the topical groups being held in the next few months on the same basis as publicly funded research institutes. Companies interested in joining the ITPA should approach their respective ITER Member Contact Person at the ITPA-CC.This widening of the ITPA collaborative work supports the request from the ITER Council to the ITER Organization to engage with private sector fusion initiatives. To further facilitate this engagement, the ITER Director-General has approved the release of the ITER Integrated Modelling & Analysis Suite (IMAS) and Plasma Control System Simulation Platform (PCSSP) software under open-source licenses. This will allow the IMAS data model to become a worldwide standard for fusion research and lower the barriers to developing, validating, applying and contributing to it. Software whose intellectual property fully belongs to the ITER Organization (e.g., PCSSP) or whose background intellectual property is publicly available can already be accessed under open-source licenses at https://github.com/iterorganization. For the remaining pieces of software, the ITER Organization is seeking permission from the owners of the background intellectual property upon which IMAS is based and any codes not developed by ITER which are included in IMAS; these will be made available under open-source licences in the coming months as permissions are granted.

The International Business Forum, which aims at connecting ITER and industry, was established in 2007 when preparation work was just beginning on the ITER platform in southern France. In the nearly two decades since, the event has expanded its reach, bringing together more companies and featuring greater diversity in terms of company size, geographical origin and expertise. Organized by Agence Iter France (AIF), an agency of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the eighth edition on 23-25 April in Marseille, France, attracted record attendance: 1,200 participants representing 630 companies. For different reasons, foremost among them the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ITER Business Forum (IBF) had not convened for the past six years. “We missed you,” said AIF Director Fabrice Raynal in his welcome address to the participants. The 2025 edition intervenes at a critical juncture in project history. “In 2022, the project was in serious difficulty,” acknowledged ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi to the crowd. “Today, the outlook is different. We had a record rate of execution in 2024, the faulty components are now repaired, a new matrixed organization has been set up, and by assembling a sector module in 6 months instead of 18 previously we have made the impossible possible.” The revised project Baseline promises to “rapidly deliver substantive research.” All of this, he insisted, thanks to “all the people that use their hands and turn financing into reality.” “In 2022, the project was in serious difficulty,” acknowledged ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi during his opening address. “Today, the outlook is different." And there is still a lot of work to be done: ITER presently has 1,300 ongoing contracts with more than 600 companies for a total value of EUR 2.7 billion. Since January, 90 new contracts have been signed for a cumulative value of EUR 180 million. “Massive systems, such as tooling and diagnostics, are still to be delivered,” says Mack Stanley, the head of the ITER Procurement Division.IBF is the place where long-time ITER partners can keep abreast of the latest project developments, rub shoulders with prospective contractors from different horizons, share experience and establish partnerships. “Most people in the industry world know about us and our present status,” says Stanley. “I think we have been pretty successful in removing the ‘mystery’ that surrounded the project.”IBF is also an opportunity for companies to engage in the longer-term. For one recently established startup, the hope is to contribute to ITER’s procurement of helium, which is presently supplied by Qatar. Nuclear Valley, a French industrial hub, has established a “Tritium Club” that aims to be part of the great tritium challenge that conditions the future of fusion. Whether planned or impromptu, "business to business" and "person to person" meetings are at the heart of the dynamic of the ITER Business Forum. The international event reflected one of the major changes that has affected the fusion landscape in recent years. Six years ago, when the last IBF was held in Antibes, France, private fusion ventures were unheard of; this year in Marseille their participation was significant. ITER had deliberately scheduled the second edition of the Private Sector Fusion Workshop back-to-back with IBF so that participants could attend both events. “Embrace and engage,” is how Pietro Barabaschi described ITER’s approach to the private ventures. “The benefit is mutual,” he said. Public-private collaboration will help “document dead ends” and avoid “slipping on the same banana peels…”Another important feature of the 2025 edition of IBF was the strong presence of small- and medium-sized businesses. “These companies have strong and sometimes very specific expertise in niche technologies,” explains Eve-Mary Ries, the head of the ITER Industrial Committee and organizer of the event. “Small companies have often felt that it is difficult to connect to ITER. What is happening here proves that this perception is a thing of the past.”Whether held in Nice, Manosque, Toulon, Washington, Antibes, Avignon or Seoul, the ITER Business Forum has been instrumental in creating mutual understanding between ITER and industry, and in establishing, over 18 years of existence, a truly global “fusion ecosystem.” 

It was a four-day science, art and music bonanza in La Palma, Spain at the STARMUS festival, whose overall aim is to “engage humanity in the biggest questions of our time.” ITER was represented.  For its second participation at STARMUS, ITER was part of an impressive line-up of world-class organizations, scientists—many of them Nobel Prize laureates—astronauts and leading experts. Speakers addressed many of the world's major challenges, ranging from pollution, threatened biodiversity, space exploration and climate change to the potential, and risks, of artificial intelligence. Across a hugely diverse range of issues, there was a shared sense of hope and optimism, and a call to action, that humanity will rise to meet these challenges.ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi joined this hopeful outlook with an update on the ITER project. After some challenging years, ITER is now making important strides forward in completing the assembly of the largest tokamak in the world, opening the way to groundbreaking science. In one of the STARMUS town camps, ITER captivated hundreds of students, tourists and locals with explanations about fusion energy. The most northwesterly Canary Island was chosen to stage the festival in order to contribute to recovery efforts following the volcanic eruption of 2021, whose effects are still very visible around the island.For the first time, STARMUS opened two town camps to take science to the streets. In Los Llanos, the economic hub of La Palma, ITER introduced the prospect of fusion energy to the public, captivating hundreds of primary and high-school students as well as local inhabitants and tourists. One of the highlights of every STARMUS festival is the music, with concerts that bring together megastars of the music scene. While last year it was The Offspring performing in the hockey stadium in Bratislava, this year Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Derek Sherinian, Ash Sheehan, Tony Franklin, and Dino Jelusick, joined by the “voice” of Deep Purple Glenn Hughes, electrified the port of Tazacorte. For more information on STARMUS see this website.

Another 440-tonne sector of the vacuum vessel is travelling to ITER. It will be the sixth (of nine) to reach the worksite. Some of the comings and goings of components through the ITER gates are routine; others are spectacular. Vacuum vessel sectors contained in their protective housing fall into the latter category and in just a few weeks, the ITER Organization will be receiving another one—sector #4 from the European Domestic Agency.The sectors do not arrive in numerical order. After sectors #6, #7, #8, and #1 from Korea, and sector #5 from Europe, sector #4 will be the sixth large sub-element of the ITER vacuum vessel to reach the ITER site. At ITER, once they have been unpacked and controlled, a number of sub-assembly operations are carried out—for example, the integration of some diagnostic components. Then in turn, when space exists in one of the large standing tools in the Assembly Hall, the real creation of a vacuum vessel "sector module" can begin. Thermal shield panels are rotated over the sector surfaces and attached, and two D-shaped toroidal field coils are mounted. Only then can the assembly be transferred to the tokamak pit. An example of that spectacular operation took place just a few weeks ago and must be repeated eight other times.