WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced awards for 18 projects with private industry to enhance collaboration with DOE national laboratories and U.S. universities to overcome challenges in fusion energy development.
The awards are provided through the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy, or INFUSE, program, which was established in 2019. The program is sponsored by the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program office within DOE’s Office of Science and is focused on accelerating fusion energy development through public-private research partnerships.
“This series of selections marks the start of the fourth year of the INFUSE program and the first time that universities are eligible for directly partnering with industry,” said James Van Dam, DOE Associate Director of Science for Fusion Energy Sciences. “There is strong interest in the private fusion sector to partner with the full complement of DOE capabilities at public research institutions, which includes both national labs and universities. We look forward to seeing results of these university partnerships.”
The funded projects will provide companies with access to the leading expertise and capabilities available at both DOE national laboratories and U.S. universities to assist in addressing critical scientific and technological challenges in pursuing fusion energy systems. The program solicited proposals from fusion industry and selected projects for one- or two-year awards between $50,000 and $500,000 each, with a 20% cost share for industry partners.
The 18 selected projects include representation from 10 private companies, including new participants. The projects will take advantage of capabilities at three national labs and eight universities. The full list of planned awards can be found under “What’s New” on the FES website. Full abstracts for each project are available on the INFUSE website.
