Germany unveils start-up strategy to attract nuclear fusion, battery innovators

Nuclear fusion and innovative battery solutions are among the areas Germany’s government aims to strengthen with a start-up and scale-up strategy. The strategy includes over 150 measures targeted at making it easier to set up businesses in the country by reducing bureaucracy and digitalising processes, accelerating growth by mobilising venture capital, and retaining innovation within Germany. “We want to strengthen access to capital and thereby improve the prospects for growth and ensure that successful start-ups and scale-ups remain in Germany,” said a government spokesperson. The main focus areas are artificial intelligence, and security and defence. However, the strategy also includes measures to support businesses developing fusion technologies. The government plans new funding mechanisms, including for technology proofs of concept, that will complement fusion research funding. Germany aims to build the world’s first viable fusion reactor. The government set out how it intends to do so in its 2025 “High-Tech Agenda”. Fusion technology is still in the experimental stage, and even many proponents say commercial use is at least decades away, meaning that Germany cannot count on the technology in its drive to become climate neutral by 2045.Separately, as part of a “scaling centre”, companies working in the area of sustainable consumption are to be provided support to turn prototypes into marketable products. Existing programmes are also part of the strategy, such as on developing new battery technologies - for example by giving them early access to laboratory and prototyping facilities, scientific and business advice, intellectual property and patent support, as well as investor and industry networks. According to the business think tank Borderstep Institute, green start-ups are an important factor for emissions reductions and the broader economy, given that they are typically characterised by a high patent rate, above-average research intensity, and solutions that reduce carbon emissions by more than 70 percent compared to conventional technologies.The growth of Germany's start-ups with a focus on sustainability slowed considerably in 2025. Meanwhile, the share of green technology start-ups as a proportion of all newly founded start-ups in Germany decreased from 11 percent in 2024 to 9 percent in 2025 (down from a peak of 17% in 2022). The government said it would report annually on the progress made in implementing the strategy's measures.

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