Yesterday ExoFusion, a leading innovator in fusion energy, announced a series of groundbreaking developments that could significantly accelerate the path to Commercially Viable Fusion (CVF). The company received the prestigious INFUSE award for their work in partnership with Penn State University, focusing on “Testing Novel Liquid Metal PFC compositions.” This research is crucial for the advancement of Plasma-Facing Components (PFCs), which are vital to achieving the high-confinement regimes necessary for sustained fusion reactions.

ExoFusion’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Mike Kotschenreuther, highlighted the importance of this award, stating that their innovations in PFCs are part of a broader strategy to rethink the industry’s approach to plasma dynamics and confinement. The company has made significant strides in three key areas:

1. Transport Barriers:
   ExoFusion’s research has demonstrated that turbulence, which typically causes heat to leak out from the plasma core, can be prevented under specific conditions. This finding is critical for maintaining the extreme temperatures required for fusion, potentially revolutionizing the way various machine types handle plasma confinement.
2. Confinement Data Analysis:
   The company’s analysis of tokamak data has validated their scientific approach, showing that their patented Super-XT Divertor™ operates effectively under fusion-relevant conditions. This breakthrough supports their thesis that high confinement is the key to achieving CVF.
3. Space Thruster Breakthroughs:
   ExoFusion’s work on liquid metal alloys has not only advanced fusion technology but also holds promise for the next generation of space thrusters. These innovations could extend the lifespan and operational capabilities of satellites and support more ambitious interplanetary missions.

According to ExoFusion CEO Romi Mahajan, these breakthroughs exemplify the company’s leadership in both scientific and business innovation. As they continue to develop solutions that benefit the entire industry, ExoFusion is poised to play a pivotal role in the collective march towards CVF.

At a recent conference run by WPP, I had the unexpected opportunity to lead a discussion on fusion and its relationship to marketing. A strange topic, perhaps, but the discussion was fertile and enlightening. I must thank those in the audience- thank them profusely- for their intelligence, awareness, and curiosity. A few years ago, such a discussion in such a venue would have been impossible. It is therefore encouraging to see fusion make the grade as a topic of interest even at a conference focused on other things.

As we framed the subject, fusion and marketing intersect in four crucial ways-

1. Creating interest for investment.
2. Generating palatability amongst the populace for fusion at scale.
3. Reducing fusion marketing hype.
4. Developing a digestible category and naming conventions for the industry.

A small note on each-

Investor interest– in the absence of a sensible-if-dreamy narrative about what a world of abundant, clean energy could look like, no investors would be interested in funding fusion research, development, and operations. To maintain interest, even through troughs, fusion firms must continue to communicate and frame their excitement. That is the role of marketers.

Palatability– research has indicated that fusion-at-scale will not be popular because of the overhang of negative “nuclear energy” stories in the past- like Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima. In addition, there is very little awareness of fusion’s “lack of” waste as compared to fission’s.  Lastly, there is the conflation of the horrors of nuclear weapons and civilian nuclear power generation. Fusioneers and fusion marketers must collectively launch an education campaign to help allay the fears about anything “nuclear.”

Less hype-There is a fine line between the sort of hype necessary to generate investor and customer interest and the sort of hype that creates a cycle of over-promise/under-deliver that leads to a jaded view of the industry. Already, fusion investors are asking about past declarations that have been unmet.

Category creation– This is the most challenging of the marketing challenges for fusion. For people to latch on and analyze an organization, they need to place it in a category; that is how the human brain works- creating a metaphor that is generalizable to a recognized entity. Put simply, fusion marketers must collectively determine what category will resonate with most with customers, partners, the public, and investors.

As we go down the path, in an accelerated fashion, to Commercially Viable Fusion (CVF), the role of marketing is real. Too much marketing and too much false PR does not help but the right balance will help propel the industry towards its task, which is nothing less than giving the world abundant, clean energy.

A guest blog from Romi Mahajan, CEO ExoFusion

The demand for energy is insatiable as the population grows and consumption continues unabated. Legitimate stresses over anthropogenic global warming, diminishing resources, and energy inequality have governments, social bodies, and scientists searching for solutions and innovating relentlessly to secure a sustainable future. While some damage has already been done, the future is at stake.

Can we usher in a “Fusion Future?”

Nuclear Fusion is the grail of energy. Clean, abundant energy, harnessing the motive force of the stars, is the bogey. While fusion has been understood for eight decades, the rapid pace of change- powered by governments, labs, private fusion companies, and collaborations between all parties—has made the target visible for the first time.

There are still scientific, technical, and capital-based hurdles to Commercially Viable Fusion (CVF) at scale, but the prognosis is good, in fact great.

Keeping our eyes on the ball is necessary now, more than ever. When a critical mass of people, capital, and technology forms, good things happen, but so do bad things. Egos, inertia, competitive siloing, cliques, and rigid orthodoxies start to be “the story.” Public Relations becomes the form of communication versus, say, scientist-scientist communication and collaboration. The “Me first” attitude rears its head.

Some of these tendencies are natural. The animal spirits can animate any field, but they can also retard any field. The Fusion Future depends on us as an industry and community curbing our worst instincts and working openly towards the outcomes we all desire.

This doesn’t mean we have to do away with competition, IP, or closed-garden innovation. What it means is we must do so in a manner that builds the entire ecosystem and doesn’t create a single point of monopoly or failure. The daisy chain required to get to CVF is delicate and we must understand that and tiptoe around it so as not to hurt the enterprise as a whole. Relatedly, in a game of limited capital, it is important that money is divided across bets and not concentrated too deeply. Similarly, fusion “machine” companies must get enough funding but not to the exclusion of supply-chain or enabling-technology plays.

The Fusion Future is in sight. It is our choice whether we optimize and accelerate the path to CVF or if we let the worst tendencies of pure capitalism take over. A balance is needed and if we strike it right, we’ll be able to usher in truly a new world.

Seattle, WA and Austin, TX- July 19, 2023—  ExoFusion, a startup focused on the shortest path to Commercially Viable Fusion (CVF) announces seed funding and ambitious plans for the “Super XT Divertor.”  Based in Seattle, WA and Austin, TX, the company will be expanding its focus on IP, licensing, and simulation in the hot area of Fusion.  ExoFusion believes that confinement is key to CVF.

ExoFusion was founded by Dr. Michael Kotschenreuther, Dr. Swadesh Mahajan, Dr. David, Hatch—all renowned physicists- and Romi Mahajan, a technology marketer and commercialization expert.  Doctors Kotschenreuther and Mahajan invented the Super X Divertor.  The company has a series of patents and a strong IP pipeline across divertor technologies, new materials, novel neutron sources, and a variety of other fundamental, fusion-related areas.

“Our company was founded on the notion that plasma confinement is key to CVF and our innovations have advanced the understanding of confinement a great deal,” said Chief Science Officer Mike Kotschenreuther.  “Our portfolio of patents, our roadmap, and our focus on simulation and licensing are the underpinnings of a powerful business model that will advance the fusion ecosystem and accelerate the path to CVF,” added CEO Romi Mahajan.

Asset Manager Russ Brown, a seed investor in ExoFusion, said “There are many promising fusion concepts out there, but cost-effective confinement remains a primary roadblock to commercial viability across the industry. ExoFusion’s patented “XF” technologies along with its Super XT Divertor will dramatically increase confinement for multiple concepts, enabling them to be smaller and more affordable—exactly what is needed to make fusion commercially viable.”

The private fusion space has garnered over $6 billion in investment over the past few years as the community seeks a way to provide a low-cost, carbon-mitigating, and relatively unlimited source of baseload power for the energy-hungry planet.  ExoFusion welcomes private partnerships and collaboration with public institutions as the path to CVF gets increasingly critical for humanity.

 “The team at ExoFusion created the Super X Divertor which we used for the MAST-Upgrade — this creative solution will be an integral part of future fusion plants,” said Dr. Steven Cowley, Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and former Head of the UKAEA.

The amount of the seed round remains undisclosed; ExoFusion will be moving towards a larger funding round over the next 12 months.

More about ExoFusion

ExoFusion accelerates the path to Commercially Viable Fusion. With the latest science and proprietary innovation in confinement, ExoFusion’s design, and simulations backed by IP, significantly reduces the cost, time, and scale to achieve CVF.

Led by world-renowned physicists, technology commercializers, marketers and
finance experts, ExoFusion is making significant breakthroughs in the goal to realize CVF.

A guest blog by Romi Mahajan

In her path breaking book “The Entrepreneurial State”, Marianna Mazzucato argues cogently, and with plenty of evidence, that the State is the key actor in technology innovation and development. We use the words “the” and “key” purposely- for four reasons:

1. The State creates and/or underwrites new technologies with a long-term view.
2. The State’s investment and ongoing incentives limit private risk.
3. There is no private investor that can compete with the State with regard to pool of available capital.
4. The State’s investments are not measured with the same ROI calculations and over the same periods.

One can go-on (and on) but these four parameters themselves make the case. Mazzucato isn’t alone in her analysis- most scholars agree- though her ideas might seem anathema to those in the technology sector who like to excessively laud private “innovation” and simultaneously lambast “government.” We can discuss this victory of Public Relations later. Here, we are interested more in understanding this idea as it pertains to the march to Commercially Viable Fusion (CVF).

Fusion has been underwritten almost exclusively the State. For seven decades, the quest for CVF has been ongoing. The carriage of Fusion has been characterized by fits and starts, but the overall vector has been positive. For many, the quest for CVF is seen as a bottomless pit of investment, but others see this as the standard manner in which science progresses- a sort of punctuated equilibrium of change. Each success and each failure begets something better.

While the State might be the key actor, there is no suggestion that private investment and innovation is unnecessary; it is in fact crucial. Private investment typically comes later in the game, when the infrastructure and basic science undergirding technology innovation has been developed. So too with CVF.

At some point in the innovation and development cycle, a sufficient critical mass of knowledge, talent, and advanced methods generates interest in the private sector and propels investment in the space. At this point, the punctuation can begin in earnest, as a variety of both competing and collaborative players strive to push the industry forward rapidly and with hope of private profit as well as public benefit. That’s where we are with CVF today. It’s indeed a heady era.

At this stage, with the efflorescence of interest and investment, firms in the CVF space must be willing to share, collaborate, and enhance each other. The stakes are high. An ecosystem must be built with intention.

Clearly, there are competing ideas, some more solid than others (forgive the pun.) Clearly, there are companies that will fail and some that will succeed. But, as with science, both successes and failures advance the industry.

It is our time.