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A new report from the F4E Fusion Observatory analyzes the latest data to provide a global picture of the growing private fusion sector.

The second edition of Global Investment in the Private Fusion Sector shows that, following major investments announced this summer, the cumulative funding for private sector initiatives is now at EUR 13 billion, with 77 companies in the field. "This funding is a mix of sources: private capital accounts for the majority at over EUR 8.9 billion while public funds, totalling around EUR 4.1 billion, are increasingly flowing into private ventures through grants and institutional support. A further EUR 84 million comes from hybrid forms like public-private partnerships and state-backed investments." The report goes on to break down investments by region, by technology, and by type of funding model.

Fusion for Energy (F4E) is the European Union’s organization for the development of fusion energy. It is mainly responsible for Europe’s contribution to ITER, but is also involved in major fusion projects such as the European/Japanese tokamak JT-60SA and the materials research facility IFMIF-DONES. The F4E Fusion Observatory provides objective analysis and intelligence on global and European fusion policies, R&D, technologies, investments and industrial activity for the benefit of European policy makers, the scientific community and other interested parties.

Download the F4E Fusion Observatory report here.

One of the challenges facing fusion is to identify the right materials for the next-generation fusion reactors like DEMO. A major initiative to find these solutions, the IFMIF-DONES project, achieved a major benchmark with the signing on 21 November of an international agreement to strengthen collaboration on testing to identify materials that best resist neutron irradiation.

The International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility-Demo Oriented NEutron Source (IFMIF-DONES) is based in Granada, Spain. The agreement was signed between the IFMIF-DONES España Consortium, Fusion for Energy (F4E) representing the European Commission and Member States, and R&D centres in Croatia (RBI), Japan (QST) and Italy (INFN). The multinational agreement provides a framework for the financing and operation of the test facility.

Learn more at F4E or the IFMIF-DONES site.