The Director of the IFMIF-DONES Consortium, Ángel Ibarra, has met the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Granada and the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Granada (CGE) to analyse the progress and roadmap of the large scientific infrastructure that Granada aspires to build.

The Director reviewed the administrative and technical steps that have been taken so far to strengthen Granada’s candidacy, as well as the different preparatory projects that are contributing to the key aspects such as prototype design, governance model of the facility or training of specialised staff. ‘We have been working on the development of IFMIF-DONES for many years. From a technical perspective, we are very close to the objective: being able to start the construction of the accelerator when a political decision is made’.

The President of the Chamber and CGE stressed the significance of IFMIF-DONES as ‘the cornerstone of Granada’s future as a scientific and industrial power’. Entrepreneurs in Granada have promoted and supported the particle accelerator project from the beginning and are currently working in the preparatory phase through the Cluster OnTech Innovation.

‘We believe in this project. We believe in the ability of our researchers and companies to contribute to the design of the energy of the future’, explained the President of the Chamber of Commerce and CGE, who is convinced that the project ‘will transform Granada and its companies into a top research and entrepreneurial reference’ in high-quality scientific research, Artificial Intelligence or biotechnology. ‘IFMIF-DONES will place us on the map of nuclear fusion and will be the final boost to strengthen industry of knowledge capable of attracting talent and investment’.

Gerardo Cuerva and Ángel Ibarra agreed that the institutional joint effort has been essential for the candidacy and on the importance of the public and private cooperation to transform Granada into an innovation and research centre around the accelerator.