Funding of Projects on the Topic "Exploratory Research Approaches in Fusion"

The funding program "Explorative Research Approaches in Fusion" supports companies nationwide in researching innovative, technology-neutral concepts for inertial fusion and magnetic confinement. Under the umbrella of the Fusion 2040 funding program of the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), the grant aims to lay the scientific and technical foundations for future fusion power plants. Projects that develop novel components, technologies, and system approaches or elevate existing research to an application-oriented level are funded. The funding is provided through a two-stage process, in which a project outline is first submitted. In the subsequent phase, selected projects are invited to submit a full application.

Eligible to participate are companies based in Germany that submit the project outline via the electronic easy-online procedure. Required documents include a meaningful project outline as well as the fully completed application form. Submission deadlines are January 15, 2026, October 31, 2026, and October 31, 2027 (note: no legal exclusion deadline). The program’s goal is to strengthen an innovation ecosystem in which research institutions, industry partners, and experts collaboratively work toward the realization of a fusion power plant. By promoting explorative approaches, decisive impulses for technology transfer and the competitiveness of the German fusion sector are to be generated.