Poland’s industry and SMEs declare a strong interest in ITER

The business opportunities stemming from big science projects and the potential contribution of companies with their skills and expertise led Sylwia Wójtowicz, Poland’s Industrial Liaison Officer (ILO), to organise a one day seminar at Wroclaw Technology Park in order to showcase the ITER project together with the European Spallation Source. This was the second awareness day organised in the last three years and it came at the right time. Europe’s ITER procurement strategy has been outlined and contactors are actively looking for suppliers at different levels. The event managed to attract the interest of 30 representatives coming from the fields of services, cabling, IT and offered them information about the upcoming Calls for tender.

The plenary session opened with a presentation from Professor Maciej Chorowski, who highlighted the benefits that large scientific collaborations can yield to the economy and its operators. In this context, the ITER project was described as a true opportunity for fast track learning in new niche technologies with clear financial benefits in the long term. Anthony Courtial, representing F4E’s “Market policies, Analysis and Reporting” team, explained Europe’s contribution to ITER and elaborated on the different procurement packages that were of interest to the audience.

An online guided tour of the Industry and Associations portal was given to all participants focussing mainly on how to register and how to search for other business partners. One of the novelties of the seminar was a session called “Meet the company”, during which Polish companies presented to F4E their area of competence and capabilities in order to explore their potential contribution. The seminar concluded with meetings between different Polish companies exchanging contacts and understanding how they could complement each other’s skills.

To find out more about how your company could get involved in the ITER project, contact your Industrial Liaison Officer and keep checking the F4E website and the Industry and Associations portal for any updates.