One of the most promising lines of research into a viable thermonuclear fusion reactor relies on the development of the so-called Advanced Tokamak (AT) scenarios, thermally well insulated, robust to plasma micro-instabilities and approaching steady-state conditions. The current driven inductively, peaking close to the plasma magnetic axis, is not well adapted to create and sustain AT scenarios and a significant fraction of non-inductive current should be driven at locations further off-axis. The capability to drive such non-inductive current in the high density conditions typical of fusion reactors is, therefore, one of the crucial issues to be studied starting from present day devices.