Nova Fusion and Fuyao University of Science and Technology Jointly Established Fusion Innovation Research Institute and Innovation Laboratory Unveiled

On September 22, 2026, the Fuyao UST·Nova Fusion Innovation Research Institute and the Fuyao University of Science and Technology·Nova Fusion Innovation Laboratory were officially unveiled and established. Wang Shuguo, President of Fujian Fuyao University of Science and Technology, Guo Houyang, founder of Nova Fusion Energy Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Nova Fusion”), and personnel from relevant departments including the Fujian Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Department of Education, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Industry and Information Technology attended the unveiling ceremony. Zhang Fuli, Executive Vice President of Fuyao University of Science and Technology, presided over the ceremony.

The Fuyao UST·Nova Fusion Innovation Research Institute and the Fuyao University of Science and Technology·Nova Fusion Innovation Laboratory established this time are jointly built by Fuyao UST and Nova Fusion, dedicated to promoting fusion energy technology from the laboratory to commercial application.

The Dean of the Innovation Research Institute and the Director of the Innovation Laboratory is Guo Houyang, Distinguished Professor of Fuyao University of Science and Technology and founder of Nova Fusion.

I. Complementary Advantages, a Two-Way Journey

Fuyao University of Science and Technology adheres to the positioning of “high starting point, small and refined, research-oriented, and internationalized,” focuses on the “Four Orientations,” pursues both “top-tier” exploration and “grounded” application, and promotes the translation of scientific research achievements into practical applications. President Wang Shuguo stated at the unveiling ceremony that this cooperation with Nova Fusion is an important exploration by the university to serve the national energy strategy and advance the deep integration of industry, academia, and research, and is also a measure for both sides to complement each other's advantages and collaboratively tackle key core technologies in fusion energy.

Nova Fusion is the first domestic fusion energy enterprise focused on the commercialization of field-reversed configuration small modular fusion reactors (FRC-SMR). It upholds the vision of “Fusion for AI & Beyond” and is committed to providing efficient, clean, and sustainable energy solutions for AI computing power and future industries through fusion energy. On this path, what has always been most lacking is never papers, but engineering talent capable of pushing technology to pilot testing and then to power plants. Dean Guo Houyang stated at the unveiling ceremony that he looks forward to joining hands with Fuyao University of Science and Technology to leverage the enterprise's engineering and industrialization advantages, draw on the university's research capabilities and talent cultivation strength, and accelerate the transition of fusion energy technology from the laboratory to application.

II. Attack the Source of Fusion, Cultivate Fusion Talent, Achieve the Fusion Enterprise

As a frontier fusion research platform, the Innovation Research Institute focuses on research into key scientific and technological issues of FRC small modular fusion reactors. Nova Fusion leads the effort, with Fuyao UST participating in the institute's preparation and subsequent management. This means that Fuyao UST's scientific research resources and Nova's engineering capabilities will be deeply integrated on this platform to solve key scientific and technological problems in fusion from the source. At the same time as the establishment of the research institute, the Fuyao University of Science and Technology·Nova Fusion Innovation Laboratory was also unveiled and established, creating a comprehensive innovation platform integrating technical tackling, pilot verification, and achievement transformation. The two sides will combine “one laboratory, one research institute” to build an overall industry-academia-research-application architecture, and actively apply for a Fujian Provincial Innovation Laboratory, a National Key Laboratory, and a National Engineering Research Center. This is not merely university-enterprise cooperation, but a layout oriented toward national strategy. The two form a two-way synergy and a closed loop——the research institute's frontier discoveries are rapidly transformed into engineering results through the laboratory; the laboratory's engineering needs, in turn, drive the research institute's frontier directions. Frontier scientific research and engineering transformation form a complete innovation chain here.

Dean Guo said: “What we unveil today is not just a research institute and a laboratory, but a complete university-enterprise co-built platform for the transformation of fusion energy achievements. The research institute focuses on frontier scientific research; the laboratory focuses on technical tackling, pilot verification, and achievement transformation, and actively applies for national-level platforms. The two collaborate in innovation and together form a complete piece of China's fusion energy puzzle.

III. Use “Nova Speed” to Win the Fusion Window

The explosive growth of AI computing demand has compressed the industrial window for nuclear fusion from “thirty to fifty years” to five to ten years. For Nova, the research institute's pace is not set independently, but reverse-engineered from the industrialization timetable: from the sprint toward demonstrating fusion power generation in 2030, working backward, site selection, engineering design, pilot verification, and talent pipeline must all be prepared quickly.

U.S. companies on the same technical route are already building the world's first commercial fusion power plant and have obtained the world's first nuclear fusion power plant operating license. What does this mean? Fusion is no longer a scientific problem in the laboratory, but has already entered the stage of commercial power supply. Once the first fusion power plant is successfully connected to the grid, the first mover will dominate global fusion technology standards, equipment supply chains, and energy pricing power. By then, latecomers trying to catch up will face a passive situation of being “controlled by others in three ways”: standards, supply chains, and pricing power. Therefore, China's fusion industry is in a critical strategic window period, and university-enterprise collaboration and industry-academia-research integration are the only way to accelerate the breakthrough. This is also the significance of the research institute jointly built by Fuyao UST and Nova Fusion.

The national “15th Five-Year Plan” clearly proposes promoting nuclear fusion energy into a new growth point for the economy, and projects related to controllable nuclear fusion have been selected among the 109 major engineering projects of the “15th Five-Year Plan.” Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Promoting University Reform by Category,” proposing to “strengthen the mechanism for matching talent supply and demand, and improve the mechanism for adjusting disciplines and majors and the talent cultivation model driven by national strategic needs.” This joint establishment is precisely the first precise response to and implementation of the above national strategic requirements. The spark of talent ignited by Nova by the Min River will surely illuminate China's nuclear fusion sky.