Unconventional, promising approaches to inertial fusion energy (IFE) proposed and studied in the framework of IFE keep-in-touch activity at Frascati EURATOM-ENEA Association will be reconsidered for the present more advanced technological context associated to a planned large installations scenario. Then the possibility to generate laser-produced fast heavy-ion sources (e.g., Bi ions, tens GeV) will be explored taking as reference results obtained in the FIGEX experiment scaled toward thermonuclear regimes. A possible dimensioning of such sources will be also given as well as the associated laser requirements.