Over nine weeks, from October to December, our Fusion Group members Mervi Mantsinen and Dani Gallart, took part in the Innovation Journey Program at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). This programme, held every two years, is aimed at researchers interested in exploring how their ideas could be translated into market-ready solutions. A team of experts evaluates proposed projects, and those best aligned with the programme’s scope are selected to participate.
Among the selected initiatives was Alya4Fusion, a project being developed within the Fusion Group, which was intensively assessed over these nine weeks from a business and innovation perspective. Alya4Fusion builds on Alya, the department’s high-performance, multiphysics simulation framework designed to tackle massive computational problems with high efficiency. Within Alya, the Fusion Group has developed several modules to model key physical phenomena in fusion devices, including neutronics, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets, MHD equilibrium, and electromagnetic wave propagation in plasmas. Some of these modules have already been coupled with computational fluid dynamics, solid mechanics, and thermal solvers to address fully coupled problems, such as the impact of irradiation on plasma-facing components (PFCs).
The long-term vision of Alya4Fusion is to evolve into a 3D digital twin of a fusion reactor, enabling the assessment of open and critical challenges in fusion design, such as breeding blanket optimisation (tritium breeding ratio) and the interaction between HTS magnets and neutronics.
The programme concluded with a pitch competition before a jury of three investors. A total of 12 teams presented their projects and business models with the aim of transitioning towards a spin-off. We are pleased to announce that Alya4Fusion was awarded second prize, which will allow the project to be showcased at MWC26 and to enter The Collider programme of Mobile World Capital Barcelona.
The Innovation Journey Program provided us with valuable tools to assess the market viability of our project. Equally important was the continuous interaction with key actors in the innovation ecosystem, including investors, mentors, and CEOs, who shared their perspectives and helped clarify doubts and concerns along the way. Overall, this experience offered a complementary view of the project that is not typically part of a researcher’s day-to-day work, yet proved to be of crucial importance for advancing Alya4Fusion towards real-world impact.