How Sabine and Philippe mobilize industry

Mission ITER was established in the summer of 2006 to implement France's commitments to ITER. Creating the 106-kilometre-long ITER Itinerary and the International School in Manosque were the two most visible of these commitments, but there were others: ITER-related professional training; industrial mobilization for the ITER project; environmental protection; and land planning and development policies were also among the Mission's responsibilities.

 

These tasks are now accomplished. Mission ITER's personnel have been reintegrated, or reassigned, into various government services and agencies in charge of regional development. In the case of Sabine Portier, the Industry Liaison Officer, and her Deputy Philippe Olivier, they have found a new home in the Agence Iter France premises at CEA-Cadarache.

 

Moving out of Marseille has not fundamentally changed their mission, except for the "added value" that goes with working close to the ITER site. "Our job is to mobilize industry," they explain. "Basically, we're acting as an interface. We help potential contractors to access information, particularly on tenders floated by the ITER Organization or the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy; we also help in facilitating partnerships between French and foreign companies at the European or global level ..."

 

Sabine and Philippe can rely on an efficient structure: the French ITER Industrial Committee (C2I) that was established in 2006 and presently includes some 300 companies—all eager to work for the ITER Project. Companies that participate in business forums, like the one that was organized last December at Aix-en-Provence and Cadarache, are invited to join C2I in order to benefit from a wide range of services.