Democratic Engagement in Sustainable Energy Innovation: Applying the Quintuple Innovation Helix to Manage Accelerating Fusion Energy Through an IEA-Backed Global Commission

Fusion energy could be a part of sustainable energy development from approximately 2050. However, the international community does not possess a coherent global roadmap for managing fusion's global development from the science-oriented ITER phase, the 2020s–2030s, into the energy-oriented demonstration power plant (DEMO) phase of demonstration fusion pilot plants (FPPs), the 2030s–2040s, nor a plan to scale up from the first working FPPs to second-generation fleets of devices. In this article, we propose an existing mechanism, an International Energy Agency-Backed North–South Global Commission, as a management-focusing device. It suggests that, in addition to incorporating practices in commission design that facilitate them in producing useful evidence and recommending actions, commission construction should reflect the analytic power of the quintuple innovation helix model to arm it with deep democratic engagement across different domains. This ensures that the commission's design, including membership and staffing, will facilitate the multistakeholder participation and deliberation needed to both form a management environment for fusion development and for supporting and accelerating the financial, technological, and other intersectoral and inter-regional (North/South) commitments. These are essential to incorporate fusion into a sustainable global energy future by 2100, significantly contributing to the energy transition. This approach also offers recommendations for future international commission design across different management domains.