What Fusion Energy Can Learn From Biotechnology
45 Pages Posted: 15 Apr 2024 Last revised: 25 Oct 2024
Date Written: February 27, 2024
Abstract
Fusion energy is currently facing many of the same opportunities and challenges as the biotechnology industry of the 1970s: exciting scientific and engineering breakthroughs that could change the course of human history, with sufficient public and private funding, more effective business models, and appropriate regulatory oversight. A number of lessons can be learned from the last 50 years of biotechnology industry history, which lead to five proposed initiatives for accelerating progress in fusion: the creation of a university intellectual-property consortium; the standardization of fusion energy milestones along with fusion rating agencies to certify their achievement; the development of new financing and business models to fund the various stages of fusion progress; a coordinated plan for two-sided outreach, education, and engagement at all levels from K–12 to policymakers and the general public; and managing fusion initiatives as part of a broader ecosystem. Applying these historical lessons today can accelerate the development of fusion towards the same level of commercial success and human impact that biotech has achieved.
Keywords: fusion energy; sustainability; megafund; biotechnology;
JEL Classification: Q4,O3, L26, G11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation