INFUSE — Innovation Network for Fusion Energy

INFUSE RFA Cycle

Supports private fusion companies through annual partnerships with national laboratories.

The Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) is a DOE Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program that provides private fusion companies with access to the technical expertise and capabilities of DOE national laboratories and accredited U.S. universities through funded public-private partnerships. INFUSE is co-led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The FY2026 RFA cycle is active as of early 2026, following a FAQ Webinar held December 4, 2025. In FY2025, DOE awarded $6.1 million across 20 projects in the most recent completed cycle. The program targets six topic areas: enabling technologies, materials science, diagnostic development, modeling and simulation, unique fusion experimental capabilities, and paths to commercialization.

In the majority of cases, INFUSE awards are single-year, $100,000 to $500,000, with a 12-month duration. For work deemed of critical value to the applicant company, DOE-FES will consider requests up to 24 months. Companies must provide 20% cost share, calculated on the full project cost (the sum of the government share and the company's private share). Importantly, funding flows directly to the national laboratory or university partner — not to the company. A CRADA must be signed between the company and the national lab before work begins; university partnerships use an Intellectual Property Management Plan (IPMP). A single company may submit up to five separate RFAs per award cycle, spanning one or multiple topic areas. Only U.S. companies are eligible to apply; companies with majority foreign ownership are eligible but must demonstrate economic advantage to the U.S. economy and comply with export control rules.

Private fusion developers in plasma confinement, inertial fusion, or enabling-technology subsystems with specific technical gaps addressable by national lab capabilities are the strongest INFUSE applicants. The program is explicitly designed to accelerate private-sector fusion timelines by granting access to DOE's one-of-a-kind diagnostic equipment, computational tools, and plasma physics expertise. Contact for program inquiries is infuse@ornl.gov.