Working with UKAEA: Commercial

Find opportunities to work with UKAEA

For information on UKAEA opportunities, routes to market, upcoming work and more, please visit our Procurement page on GOV.UK. In addition, please find useful resources below:

At UKAEA, delivering meaningful social value is a core part of how we work. For more information on our commitment to social value, sustainability, and modern slavery, please visit our Procurement page on GOV.UK.

Collaborating for impact

UKAEA believes that collaboration is essential to accelerating progress in fusion energy and creating shared value. By working together with a range of partners – from academic institutions to industry leaders and international organisations – we combine expertise, resources and innovation to drive forward fusion research and development.

Each collaboration is built on mutual benefit, where different parties contribute their unique strengths – whether that’s technical expertise, infrastructure, or new ideas – to achieve greater outcomes than any of us could alone.

We welcome collaboration opportunities that support our mission and contribute to wider societal and environmental goals. Through these partnerships, we aim to foster innovation, deliver impactful results, and help our supply chain grow alongside us.

You can also discover real examples of successful partnerships in our Supply Chain Newsletter, where we regularly share stories highlighting the value of collaboration across the UKAEA network in our “Supplier Spotlight” Segment.

Help shape the future of fusion skills in the UK

We are inviting expressions of interest to help design, develop, deliver, or govern a new National Fusion Skills Hub.

Supporting SMEs in the Fusion Supply Chain

At UKAEA, we recognise that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are vital to building a strong and innovative UK fusion industry. Our SME Action Plan is designed to increase engagement, unlock new opportunities, and ensure that SMEs can play a central role in the development of future fusion technologies. View more information on what our SME Action Plan entails .

Annual SME collaborative event

We are excited to introduce our new SME Collaborative Event, designed to bring together SMEs, UKAEA teams and industry partners to share opportunities, explore collaboration models and build meaningful relationships across the fusion supply chain. This annual event will be a key fixture in our engagement calendar.

Bi-Monthly SME surgeries

UKAEA now hosts bi-monthly SME Surgeries to offer direct, informal access to our teams ad provide a platform for discussion, support, and collaboration. These sessions are open to SMEs looking to better understand how to work with us, ask questions, and receive tailored advice on becoming part of the fusion supply chain.

SME working group

We are developing a new SME Working Group – a dedicated forum designed to foster ongoing collaboration and provide a structured platform for SMEs to share insights, raise challenges, and contribute directly to shaping how UKAEA engages with the supply chain. This group will play a key role in ensuring SME voices are heard as we develop future programmes and initiatives. If you are interested in joining the SME Working Group, please fill out this form.

Market engagement

UKAEA recognises the pivotal role that market engagement plays in delivering sustainable fusion energy and maximising its economic benefit. We have adopted a continuous and consistent market engagement strategy from the earliest stages to strengthen relationships, encourage collaboration and grow the fusion industry.

As part of this approach, we host a series of scheduled events throughout the year to keep engaging with the supply chain and provide regular updates.

For general UKAEA updates, we have developed an annual schedule of suppliers’ events that we host, focusing on various aspects of UKAEA activities. These include an executive overview, a commercial overview, and an SME focused event each year.

We schedule programme-specific events when necessary to share updates or notify of increased activity in a specific area of UKAEA. These could be linked to sharing information on large packages of upcoming work or sharing changes and announcements as our programmes continue to evolve.

To make sure the supply chain stays up to date with our supplier events, there is an option to join UKAEA’s supplier mailing list. To find potential collaborators, consider registering to our Fusion Energy Industry Directory and our Supplier’s Network LinkedIn Group. Suppliers can also check our procurement portals for information on market engagement activities.

UKAEA also host regular preliminary market engagement activities and industry days linked with specific Invitations to Tender and projects. This activity will always be advertised through Preliminary Market Engagement Notices on the Central Digital Platform via EU Supply.

UKAEA’s supply chain newsletter is published quarterly to provide updates on the organisation and its supply chain activities.