On August 16, 2025, the Institute of Energy, together with China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. and the State Key Laboratory of Rare Metal Special Materials of China Nonferrous East, successfully held the 2nd Working Meeting of the “Joint Laboratory for R&D of High-End Fusion Metal Materials” and the High-End Academic Forum on Superconducting Materials in Shizuishan, Ningxia.

Five academicians — Zhao Zhongxian, He Jilin, Zhou Youhe, Li Jiangang, and Zhao Hongwei — were invited to attend the meeting. More than 150 representatives from 8 central state-owned enterprises, 19 universities and research institutes, and 18 companies also participated. The meeting was chaired by Researcher Li Laifeng, Director of the Joint Laboratory.

At the meeting, representatives of the Joint Laboratory reported the latest research progress and outlined the next-step research plan. Participants listened to high-level expert presentations and engaged in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge technologies, latest research achievements, and industrial trends in the fields of high-end fusion metal materials and superconducting materials.

The meeting successfully achieved its goals of pooling the strengths of industry, academia, research, and application, deepening collaborative cooperation, promoting iterative upgrades of high-strength metal materials for fusion reactors and high-temperature superconducting technologies, and accelerating the commercialization of controllable nuclear fusion.

At the meeting, as the initiating institution of the Joint Laboratory, the Institute of Energy signed an agreement with Wuxi Parker New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. to officially admit the company as a member of the Joint Laboratory.