The Director of the IFMIF-DONES Implementation Office (OFID), Antonio Peña, analyses the prospects of the project

The IFMIF-DONES particle accelerator project will be a milestone in the race towards fusion energy. Its construction will transform Granada’s economy entirely and will boost knowledge-based industry closely related to the University of Granada. This large scientific infrastructure will be key for the economic future of Granada, Andalucía, and Spain.

For this reason, Fundación Pública Andalucía Emprende, under the Department of Employment, Training and Self-Employment of the Regional Government of Andalucía, analysed the status of the project and its implications for the economic and social development of the province at a webinar about the challenges in innovation, technology, and health after COVID-19.

Fundación presented ‘Emprende Post COVID-19’ at the webinar, a study on entrepreneurship after COVID-19. The Director of the IFMIF-DONES Implementation Office (OFID) from the University of Granada and coordinator of a series of work packages in the DONES-PreP project (the preparatory phase for IFMIF-DONES), Antonio Peña, also participated in the webinar. The Professor explained the current situation of the project and the impact of its construction in Escúzar. ‘Granada is well located in the knowledge map but, for the first time, we will try to define from Escúzar the future we have ahead in terms of energy’.

Antonio Peña assured that, if it is finally built in Granada, the project will have ‘very good prospects for the business sector in Granada, Andalucía and Spain’. Nevertheless, he warned about the complexity of the project and that all private and public actors involved will have to ‘give the best of themselves to get on board’.

‘The IFMIF-DONES project needs people and companies with great expertise. Institutions are doing an excellent job within their competence, and it is now necessary that everyone else presents what they can do’, explained the Director of the OFID.

The webinar, organised by Andalucía Emprende, was also attended by Virginia Fernández, Delegate for Employment, Training and Self-Employment, and Economy, Knowledge, Companies and University of Granada; Juan José Díaz, researcher at Pfizer-University of Granada-Andalusian Government Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research; Juan Prieto, Deputy Director of Granada Digital; Agustín González, General Secretary for Employment and Self-Employment in the Regional Government of Andalucía; and Rosa Siles, Director of Andalucía Emprende.