The R+Dones Forum was born today with the participation of 150 local, regional and national companies and representatives of public administrations and the University. The forum has served as a meeting point for all the agents of the Spanish R&D system interested in contributing to the development of innovative technologies useful for IFMIF-DONES and other large scientific facilities. In this first edition, the projects that are already underway were presented, as well as the existing public-private collaboration channels.

During the opening of the conference, the deputy to the director of the IFMIF-DONES Consortium España, Moisés Weber, insisted on the need to make Granada a reference place to develop the Science Industry. “Public administrations and business organisations must collaborate in order to promote meetings such as this one”, said Weber.

For his part, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Granada, Gerardo Cuerva, welcomed the attendees saying that “today is the first clear sign that the productive fabric of Granada is eager to know what IFMIF-DONES needs to improve its capabilities”. “Business organisations must work so that local companies can work in this great scientific project, as well as to attract foreign talent, allowing multinationals to open offices in the province,” he added.

The president of Ineustar, Erik Fernández, recalled that the Spanish Science Industry “is a success story”. In his opinion, Granada has the capacity to become a European and world reference in the sector. “Conferences like today’s crystallise a reality: companies want to respond to the challenges posed by IFMIF-DONES,” he concluded.

According to the Government Delegate of the Junta de Andalucía, Antonio Granados, “the Junta de Andalucía maintains its commitment to investment as a change of productive model and, above all, with a commitment within the green revolution of President Juanma, in its application throughout Andalusia. And what better place than the province of Granada, from Escúzar, as an inexhaustible source of energy with all its research and development, and for this reason the Junta de Andalucía has its contribution and its commitment to funding in the coming years”.
The Government Subdelegate, Inmaculada López Calahorro, highlighted the importance of Granada hosting the IFMIF Dones, the most innovative Spanish scientific project, and thanked the CDTI, of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, for participating in the organisation of this 1st R+Dones Forum, which brings together the major national companies dedicated to great science: “A meeting with a vocation for continuity and which aims to attract innovative and cutting-edge projects, which I am convinced will help to develop all the talent and scientific potential there is in Granada”.
During the event there were live demonstrations of robots, such as the model that the Spanish company Plain Concepts is developing for IFMIF-DONES, based on the quadruped platform of Boston Dynamics.

The event was held at the Granada Chamber of Commerce and was organised by the IFMIF-DONES Spain Consortium in collaboration with Ineustar, CDTI Innovation, the Chamber of Commerce and the University of Granada and with the support of OnTech Innovation, Safran, AVS and Negratín.

About IFMIF-DONES

The International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility – Demo Oriented NEutron Source (IFMIF-DONES) is a unique scientific infrastructure in the world where materials to be used in future fusion power plants will be tested, validated and qualified as DEMO (a prototype demonstration fusion reactor). In December 2017, Fusion for Energy (F4E) positively assessed the joint Spanish and Croatian proposal to locate IFMIF-DONES in Granada about this international project.

On 16 March 2023, the first meeting of the DONES Steering Committee, the highest international governing body of the DONES Programme, was held in Granada, and the start of the construction phase of the global scientific infrastructure in the town of Escúzar (Granada) was associated with this date.

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) included IFMIF-DONES in its 2018 Roadmap as a project in the area of energy, and it currently appears in the 2021 Roadmap. IFMIF-DONES thus becomes one of ESFRI’s key infrastructures, positioning itself as a relevant strategic infrastructure for European scientists in energy research and innovation.

IFMIF-DONES will therefore be a unique international facility. In addition to its relevance for the development of fusion as an energy source, it will also be very relevant in other areas of research and knowledge that will benefit from its technology, such as medicine, particle physics, fundamental physics studies, and industry. All this is on a planet that is increasingly committed to sustainable development and using clean, safe and efficient energy.

The IFMIF-DONES project is an initiative of the National Fusion Laboratory of the Energy, Environmental and Technological Research Centre (CIEMAT), which the IFMIF-DONES Spain Consortium is developing.

CIEMAT is the Public Research Organisation attached to the Ministry of Science and Innovation that has led the design of this facility from the beginning and is currently financing the construction of some buildings and laboratories in Escúzar (Granada).

The IFMIF-DONES Spain Consortium is a research entity shared equally between the General State Administration and the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia.