Investment in Science-based Sectors and European Competitiveness: the Role of the Italian Fusion Supply Chain

Energy is a sector that has always played a role of strategic importance all over the world. An energy policy ensuring a balanced mix of energy sources is in fact an essential condition for guaranteeing development and prosperity. For the European Union, this means drastically transforming the energy system to achieve greater energy self-sufficiency and progressive de-carbonisation of the economy. Renewable sources will play a key role in the energy mix in Europe in the (near) future, but they cannot satisfy all the demand for energy. This means it is very important to work on other frontier areas as well, especially those in which the European Union holds a position of scientific and technological leadership. This is the case of nuclear fusion, an area in which Europe has played a leading role for more than 60 years, thanks to major investment on the part of Euratom ever since it was established in the ’50s. Thanks to this leadership, the European Union hosts the largest Big Science project, ITER, for the construction of an experimental fusion reactor and Italy is among the countries that are receiving more orders as part of the project’s realization. The objective of the research presented here is to shed light on the Italian fusion supply chain. The research involved 49 subjects (of which 80% enterprises, 67% of which SMEs, 10% research centres and 10% universities) in a quantitative survey and the creation of 6 case histories through in-depth interviews. The analysis highlights how investment, employment, innovation, skills and partnerships are the drivers that characterize this supply chain, which can be a reference for fertilizing other knoweldge-driven areas. The experience of the Italian fusion supply chain represents a national excellence that needs to be known in order to allow policy makers to identify measures and incentives that support enterprises to seize the opportunities offered by scientific progress and Big Science projects.