Danish as well as other European SMEs must take advantage of the valuable business opportunities that the ITER project offers – this was the message that F4E Director, Henrik Bindslev, made during his intervention at the Big Science Secretariat Network meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Danish Research and Higher Education Minister Sofie Carsten Nielsen also attended the event and spoke strongly in support of fusion energy to the audience of ninety participants who were mainly from the Danish business and research community. As well as the F4E Director and representatives from ITER IO, a delegation made up of technical and business experts from F4E were on hand to provide an overview of ITER technical tasks and future Calls for tender whilst also explaining the procurement and quality assurance procedures. Indeed, the presentations highlighted a number of upcoming F4E contracts to be placed in the areas of instrumentation, electronics, machinery, and several research and development activities which require agile and flexible companies. Individual business-to-business meetings were held for especially interested companies in order to discuss specific topics with F4E experts and in the days directly after the Big Science Secretariat Network meeting, F4E experts made a number of on-site visits to relevant companies within the Copenhagen area in order to better understand the technical expertise available within Danish industry.
“While ITER was previously not very well known by industry here, we are delighted that Danish companies are so enthusiastic in offering their technical expertise in areas such as diagnostics, cabling and engineering consultancy services. Our F4E Network in Denmark has increased by over 300% – a clear sign that Danish industry is very eager to do business with F4E”, said Anthony Courtial, F4E Market Intelligence Officer.
Interested SMEs are encouraged to follow the tenders, contracts and arrangements via F4E’s Industry and Fusion Laboratories Portal.
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