The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) Annual Policy Conference 2025: 3 Key Insights
By Cyd Cowley, Fusion Solutions Engineer at digiLab
Hundreds of representatives of the fusion industry gathered at Union Station in Washington DC, USA, to reflect on the state of fusion as part of the Fusion Industry Association’s (FIA) Annual Policy Conference on the 25th and 26th February 2025. The conference was packed with panels, networking and announcements. Here are three key insights from the event.
FIA Policy Conference © Fusion Industry Association
1. International collaboration – not competition – was the theme of the conference
It should come as no surprise that China featured in several discussions at the FIA Policy Conference, with a sentiment of competition and working individually. However, the conference also focused heavily on promoting international collaboration between allied countries, such as the US, UK and Japan. In fact, perhaps the main takeaway from the conference was the desire for cooperation and friendly competition between nations.
Attendees at the FIA conference this year came from all over the globe, from Australia to Japan to Germany. And there was not one, but two different panels focusing on UK fusion and an entire panel dedicated to fusion in Japan. A key topic discussed in these panels was how US companies can gain value out of leading institutions like the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), through knowledge sharing, facility use and exchanging of personnel.
On the last day of the conference, the New Zealand Embassy hosted a reception for FIA members to showcase their first and only fusion company OpenStar. And immediately after the conference, select members visited the Japanese Embassy for a discussion on fusion energy in Japan.
Even with countries launching ambitious national fusion programmes in recent years, it seems there is still plenty of room – and desire – for collaboration.
2. Funding for US fusion could be changing – for better or worse
In terms of fusion policy there was certainly one big elephant in the room. Throughout every conversation concerning fusion in the US, there was an underlying question of whether the US fusion landscape would undergo major changes this year considering the change in leadership of the country and a fear for what kind of changes they may be. After all, the newly formed government arm, the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was slashing public sector programmes, with seemingly nobody safe. In fact, not a few weeks before the conference, employees from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were dismissed (although they were promptly rehired due to national security concerns).
With these cuts in mind, everyone at the conference was wondering what this would mean for the US Department of Energy and, specifically, the funding programmes such as INFUSE, FIRE and the incredibly successful milestone-based programmes, all of which have provided significant funding for fusion recently.
Yet, mixed with the fear that fusion would be on the chopping block was an optimism that fusion could be strongly supported by the new administration. And with this optimism was a shift in the way we talk about fusion. The benefits in combatting climate change and being a sustainable energy source were gone. In their place was an unprecedented focus on fusion enabling national energy security, creating high quality jobs and allowing the US to compete – and win – against adversaries like China.
3. Fusion is Coming Out of the Lab
At the conference the makeup of the panelists and attendees seemed more diverse than ever. Rather than several hundred scientists and executives from fusion companies, the halls of Union Station were filled with investors, lawyers and supply chain companies. This evolving makeup of the industry reflected a shift also seen in the panels and discussions: that fusion is coming out of the lab and into the economy.
Perhaps the most prominent newest members to the conference and fusion conversation were energy developers, and they were actively at the forefront of the conversation. There was an entire panel entitled ‘Getting to the Grid’, featuring utility companies such as Dominion Energy, who were partners on Commonwealth Fusion System’s (CFS) construction and grid integration of the ARC powerplant. The topic of building plants and selling energy were topics of many other conversations on and off panels and these conversations also came hot off the heels of both the announcements by CFS and Type One Energy of powerplant site selection.