To be fair, they might not be totally independent figures in the sense of, I would be surprised if the cheaper project did not benefit at all from the knowledge created by the larger project.
Help on either project actually flows both ways. If I remember correctly, Wendelstein 7-X provided experience and know-how regarding microwave heating and welding large plasma vessels. In the end they're scientists and engineers and don't seem to see the other project so much as competition than a way to learn more than just with one of them.
They're both riding on the back of the past 70 years of R&D on fabrication, scientific instruments and data acquisition, and plasma physics. My point is what's the marginal research value per euro spent on one vs the other? Tokamaks are sort of a known thing. It's almost pointless to discuss now because the money is spent, but ITER has always felt to me a a very inefficient use scientific funding.
