How lessons from biotechnology can help unlock the future of fusion energy

Drawing parallels with the rise of the biotech industry, MIT faculty propose strategic initiatives and a practical roadmap to propel fusion energy towards commercialization

Cambridge, MA, Nov. 04, 2024 — Recent advances in fusion energy research have sparked renewed excitement and a surge in investment, but significant hurdles remain in making fusion a practical reality. 

In their research paper “What Fusion Energy Can Learn From Biotechnology,” MIT professors Andrew W. Lo and Dennis G. Whyte propose five initiatives for accelerating progress in fusion based on lessons learned from the last 50 years of  biotechnology industry history. Their insights provide a practical roadmap for stakeholders in the fusion energy sector. 

According to Lo, the MIT Sloan Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor and director of the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering, and Whyte, the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering at MIT and former director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, fusion today stands where the biotechnology industry stood five decades ago. 

“We’re at an inflection point—similar to when scientists first developed recombinant DNA in the 1970s—where we’re now asking ourselves, ‘Can we actually adapt the fusion process into a new source of energy?’ which would completely transform the energy landscape,” said Whyte. 

Although starkly different fields, fusion and biotech share many of the same obstacles to commercialization, including unresolved scientific and technological questions requiring significant upfront capital to answer, the need for new regulatory and investment environments, and a skeptical public, according to Lo and White. To address these challenges facing the advancement of fusion, they emphasize the importance of reducing the risk and uncertainty of developing such “deep technologies” by creating a robust investment ecosystem, much like what the biotech industry has developed over the past several decades. 

“By reducing risk and uncertainty, we can attract the necessary capital to drive innovation and bring fusion technology to market,” said Lo.

Inspired by the lessons learned in the rise of the biotechnology sector, Lo and Whyte have proposed five key initiatives to accelerate fusion’s progress:

1. Standardize fusion energy milestones along with fusion rating agencies to certify their achievement. Similar to the clinical trials process in biotech, establish a set of milestones—agreed upon by all key stakeholders including regulators, researchers, and fusion companies—for achieving commercially relevant fusion.
2. Create a university intellectual-property consortium. Incentivize a virtuous cycle of progress and develop stronger ties between academia and industry by streamlining the commercialization of fusion-related university intellectual property, providing opportunities for academics to learn more about establishing a startup and building a company, and create new dedicated fusion investment funds focused on business ideas coming out of a consortium of universities and research labs.
3. Develop new financing and business models to fund the various stages of fusion progress. Develop a commercialization ecosystem and foster collaboration by aligning the interests of investors, policymakers and regulators, fusion and fusion-supporting startups, and “Big Energy” through securitization, structured financing, new derivatives markets, and other financial incentives tailored to the risk–reward profile of each stakeholder community.
4. Create a coordinated plan for two-sided outreach, education, and engagement at all levels from K–12 to policymakers and the general public. Promote open communication and collaboration among scientists, policymakers, and the public to build trust, share knowledge, and address societal concerns about fusion energy.
5. Manage fusion initiatives as part of a broader ecosystem. Recognize that commercially viable fusion power will be the product of multiple stakeholders in an ecosystem that promotes adaptation and resilience through environmental stability, biodiversity, and sufficient external “energy”—in this case, human and financial resources—to support population growth and innovation.

“Applying these historical lessons today can accelerate the development of fusion towards the same level of commercial success and human impact that biotech has achieved,” Lo said. 

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