10/7/2026
GERMANY'S NEXT STEP TOWARD FUSION POWER PLANT
SPRIND Launches a Milestone Program for Nuclear Fusion
The Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND) is launching a milestone-based fusion program on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). As part of the High-Tech Agenda Germany (HTAD), this initiative provides financial support, particularly to startups and young companies, through a competitive process to help them advance toward a fusion power plant in Germany.
Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space Dorothee Bär said: Fusion has achieved significant scientific breakthroughs in recent years and is on the verge of transitioning from basic research to industrial and commercial applications. Around the world, private entities and government institutions are investing heavily in bringing the first fusion power plants to reality. Germany is in an excellent position in this regard, and we intend to build on this position further. The Milestone Program is a new and important pillar of our strategy for building a fusion power plant in Germany. The Milestone Program is intended to leverage private investment.
It serves as a close-to-market complement to existing funding measures and strengthens Germany as a location for science and technology.”
Rafael Laguna de la Vera, Director of the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND), added: With this program, we are deliberately taking a new and bolder approach: We don't just fund technologies, we support the development of strong companies. What matters most is measurable progress, rapid learning and a willingness to consistently reallocate resources when our own results or external developments show that our assumptions were wrong. That is why we are pursuing several approaches in parallel – knowing that not all of them will ultimately succeed. Even discontinued approaches can yield valuable technologies, insights and experience.
That's exactly how innovation happens: through competition between ideas, speed and a relentless focus on what actually works.”
Background
To strengthen Germany’s position as a location for business , science and technology in international competition, the BMFTR’s traditional research funding is being supplemented by a new pillar: a milestone-based program that specifically supports participating companies as system integrators and technology drivers. The overarching goal is to enable private companies to realize Germany's first fusion power plant as quickly as possible. The final milestone is the submission of a Technical Design Report, which is essentially a blueprint for a fusion demonstration power plant. Technology demonstrators can also be developed and implemented as intermediate technological steps.
The Milestone Program is designed to bridge the gap between traditional research funding and close-to-market private-sector financing. It supports participants through technical and financial milestones along their own corporate roadmaps, which set out the technological path toward a demonstration power plant. The program is designed to operate on a competitive basis. Progress toward each milestone is evaluated by independent external experts. If a participant fails to reach a milestone, they leave the program and funding ends.
As part of the program's implementation, the instruments described in the SPRIND Freedom Act (SPRINDFG) will be used. The combination of performance-based funding, targeted leverage of private capital, as well as rigorous evaluation of technological and economic progress, will provide the necessary speed, dynamism and proximity to the market.
The Milestone Program is part of the Fusion Action Plan, which was adopted on October 1, 2025, as a flagship measure of the High-Tech Agenda for Germany (HTAD). The program complements existing funding initiatives, in particular, the collaborative research program called Fusion 2040
and the Hubs for the Fusion.
As part of the program, the technology demonstrators announced in the HTAD and the Fusion Action Plan will be implemented as intermediate technological steps toward a fusion power plant. Funding will come from the Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality (SVIK). A total sum of EUR 500 million will be made available by 2029. In the longer term, total public funding is to be increased to as much as EUR 2.5 billion.
More about this topic
Pages
More Magazine Articles
