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WORLD-GENERATION 5 ITER is designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power and is the world’s largest experimental fusion facility. ITER is a first of a kind of global collaboration of 35 coun- tries. Europe is contributing almost half of the costs of its construction, while the other six members to this joint international ven- ture (China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA) are contributing equally to the rest. The ITER project is under construction in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, in the south of France. The construction strategy is to achieve First Plasma by 2025, with full fusion power by 2035. Over 600 US compa- nies, laboratories and universities are ITER participants. The ITER Council just offered a second five-year term to Dr. Bernard Bigot as Director-General of ITER. The Council believes in the continuity of the project leadership under Dr. Bigot. Prior to his appointment at ITER Dr. Bigot completed two terms as Chairman and CEO of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, CEA. From 2003 to 2009, Bernard Bigot served as France’s High commissioner for atomic energy. Bernard Bigot was trained at the Ecole nor- male supérieure de Saint-Cloud and holds an agrégation (highest-level teaching diplo- ma in France) in physical science and a PhD in chemistry. The US Department of Energy launched a program to encourage private- public partnerships to speed the develop- ment of fusion energy with PPPL physicist Ahmed Diallo serving as deputy director. The program is called the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE). It’s an initiative of the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) within DOE’s Office of Science and will facilitate collaborations between industry and the DOE national laboratory complex. “Industry will tap the core competencies of national labs to enable new or advanced fusion technolo- gies toward realization,” Diallo said. “We will maintain the submission website, and organize and conduct merit reviews.” FES will make the award decisions and will usher through the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for each partnership. Diallo is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a PhD in Physics, receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Montana. In June, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup commercializing fusion energy company, raised $115 million and closed its Series A round. CFS is collaborating with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center to develop the world’s first net energy gain fusion system, called SPARC. CFS will produce first-of-its-kind high temperature superconductor magnets to build smaller and lower-cost fusion power plants. CFS will use these magnets to build SPARC by 2025 and demonstrate net ener- gy gain from fusion for the first time in his- tory. SPARC will pave the way for the first commercially viable fusion power plant called ARC, which will produce fusion power onto the grid. CFS announced a $50 million invest- ment from Italian Energy Company, ENI. “Today is a very important day for us,” said ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi at the signing. “Thanks to this agreement, Eni takes a sig- nificant steop forward toward the develop- ment of alternative energy sources with an ever-lower environmental impact. Fusion is the true energy source of the future.” Mumgaard received his Ph.D at MIT. Advances in superconducting magnets have put fusion energy potentially within reach, offering the prospect of a safe, car- bon-free energy future,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. CLASS OF 2019 BERNARD BIGOT DIRECTOR-GENERAL INTERNATIONAL THERMONUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR (ITER) AHMED DIALLO DEPUTY DIRECTOR, INFUSE BOB MUMGAARD CEO,COMMONWEATLH FUSION SYSTEMS