Fusion for Energy (F4E), EUROfusion and the European Commission have selected Metromecánica as the winner of the 2025 Fusion Technology Transfer Award. The Spanish SME will receive a 10,000 EUR prize for taking their expertise from fusion to new industrial markets.
The innovation story of Metromecánica, a firm specialising in automated metrology and inspection solutions, started with a contract for ITER. F4E tasked the company with developing a tool to support the production of Europe’s Inner Vertical Targets.
The system was designed in a close collaboration with F4E Metrology and Reverse Engineering Group and monitored by J. Amoros, for the dimensional inspection of the Inner Vertical Target (IVT) of the ITER Divertor, a component requiring thousands of highly accurate measurements with extremely tight tolerances.
Manual inspection methods, while accurate, proved impractical due to the volume of measurements and the associated risk of human error. To meet F4E’s requirements, Metromecánica created a fully automated solution combining a laser profilometer mounted on a collaborative robot with dedicated software for trajectory planning, data processing and reporting. The result was a reliable, repeatable and efficient inspection process capable of handling complex geometries.
The successful application of the tool in ITER revealed broader industrial potential beyond the fusion market. In particular, its capabilities are well suited to the automotive industry. Geometrical precision is key to manufacturing cockpit or infotainment components, where even the smallest dimensional deviations can affect quality and user experience.
Building on its experience, Metromecánica adapted the system to automotive production environments, accounting for different materials, surface properties and high-volume manufacturing constraints. The technology has now been commercially deployed by major suppliers in the industry, demonstrating its scalability and suitability for demanding industrial settings.
Thanks to this out-of-the-box application, the company has strengthened its competitiveness and entered new markets, supporting the creation of skilled jobs in engineering and software development.
These reasons earned Metromecánica the Fusion Technology Transfer Award. The prize recognises its ability to transform an ITER tool into a commercially viable industrial solution, which shows the wider impact of fusion R&D.
