Fusion for Energy

On 19 October, the French Federation of Engineering Firms (Syntec- Engineering) celebrated the 11^th edition of the national engineering awards in partnership with France’s Ministry of Ecology (Ministère de la Transition écologique et solidaire), the Directorate General for Enterprise, under the authority of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the group Moniteur.

Nearly 400 companies and 11 regional delegations are members of Syntec- Engineering. All in all, they employ approximately 300 000 people and generate a turnover of 49 billion EUR annually. The figures are impressive and the competition for the annual awards is fierce. Those receiving them need to demonstrate that their work is beyond the state of art and pushes the frontiers of engineering further.

The ground-breaking nature of ITER, referred to as the most ambitious energy project in history, its potential to influence the way we produce and consume power, and the wide range of technologies it relies on, where some of the elements that impressed the jury. Alain Baudry and his team from the Engage consortium, counting 230 people from 15 countries, working for Egis, Assystem, Atkins, and Empresarios Agrupados, received the prestigious “Industry and Technologies Consulting” award. In 2010 F4E entrusted Engage with ITER’s Architect Engineer works for the elaboration and design of the buildings on-site. At the time, it was considered as one of the biggest contracts in the field of civil engineering. To respond to the needs of this gigantic project, the team of engineers had to develop a 3D numerical model of all buildings identifying all interfaces; a one-of-a-kind anti-seismic system consisting of 493 plinths; thousands of heavy embedded plates positioned with millimetric accuracy in the buildings; a special type of concrete to be poured in some of the main facilities. Engage has built a common database accessible to all parties of the consortium in order to trace the progress of the project, generate indicators and download detailed documentation. Every month more than 70 000 connections to the database are recorded and more than 10 000 documents are published.

Gregoire Postal- Vinay, handing the award on behalf of the Directorate General for Enterprise of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, congratulated the winners for their courage, patience, multi-disciplinary spirit, and above all vision. Gilles Schartle, receiving the award on behalf of Engage, thanked the jury for this honour and took the opportunity to thank all parties for their collaboration.