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Developing fusion – a technology that promises to be a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers the Sun and stars– is challenging. The science is complex; nuclear engineers and physicists have been working on it for decades. The capital needs are huge - in the realm of billons of euros- but the upside is so large that there is a global race to see which country or region can get there first.
 
European fusion startups are at a disadvantage because their U.S. competitors are raising anywhere from 10x to 20x the amount of funding and are benefiting from government incentives. But money is not the only criteria. It will take a whole ecosystem – including resources and expertise from many different disciplines and industries – to get over the finish line.

That is where KTH Innovation comes in. It’s the innovation arm of Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology, a public research university in Stockholm established in 1827 which conducts research and education in engineering and technology.

Like many universities KTH regularly spins-out startups but it recently made an exception and decided to spin-in a private Swedish fusion company called Novatron Fusion Group. The vision is to have a commercial fusion design in the final stage that enables net-power to the energy grid before 2040.

The decision to spin-in Novatron reflects KTH's conviction that Europe’s universities can and should play a bigger role in boosting Europe’s deep tech sector and is an example of how important it is not just to innovate technologies but also the models used to support them.

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Amount of state aid approved by the European Commission this week as part of the EU's drive to be at the cutting edge of technological innovation.

The projects, which involve a total of 56 companies in 14 member countries, include research and development into materials and tools, as well as chip design and manufacturing processes. They target 5G and 6G telecoms technology, along with autonomous driving, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.

The first novel products could come to market as early as 2025, while the overall project is expected to be completed by 2032.