The CERN’s projects, HL-LHC and FCC, will create a big push in the state of the art of High-Field Superconducting magnets in the ten coming years. The performance of superconducting materials such as Nb3Sn and HTS will be developed to yield higher performance at lower costs and the construction materials and techniques will be advanced.
At the same time, in the context of Energy’s savings, Industry is experiencing a renewed interest in the domain of industrial superconductivity with fault current limiters, wind generators, electric energy storage, etc. Besides, Medical Research shows a strong interest in High-Field MRI, especially for the brain observation. Considering the social impact of the investment of the HL-LHC project and FCC study, CERN and CEA have established a Working Group on Future Superconducting Magnet Technology (FuSuMaTech).
The FuSuMatech Initiative is a dedicated and large scale silo breaking programme which will create a sustainable European Cluster in applied Superconductivity, initiated by 12 academic and industrial partners. It will enlarge the innovative potential especially in High Field NMR and MRI, opening future breakthroughs in the brain observation
The Working Group has explored a large spectrum of possible synergies with Industry, and has proposed a set of relevant R&D&I projects to be conducted between Academia and industry. To keep the leading position of Europe in the domain, the most efficient way is to support joint activities of Industry and academic partners on the common concerns in view of overcoming the technological barriers.
FuSuMaTech in two phases
The FuSuMaTech initiative consists out of two phases. Phase 1 is a preliminary stage within the global FuSuMaTech Initiative. As an overall ambition it intends to secure the future operations of a sustainable European Cluster. FuSuMaTech Phase 1 will consist of preparing the administrative and legal conditions according to which the European Cluster will operate. Also it will identifying appropriate instruments and funding schemes for the future R&D&I activities providing detailed descriptions of generic R&D&I actions and of the technology pilots.
After the completion of FuSuMaTech Phase 1, the European Cluster will exist and will make use of all the other EU programmes and their instruments. It will be the Phase 2 of the FuSuMaTech Initiative.