Flagship program kick-starts quantum industry in Europe

Edwin Cartlidge

SPIE

Martijn Boerkamp

Europe is leading the race to implement quantum-based technologies, according to a new report from the European Commission.

Max F. Riedel, Matyas Kovacs, P. Zoller +2 more

As the first applications leap out of research laboratories toward commercialization, the global race for dominance in the maturing field of quantum technologies is becoming ever fiercer. To retain its historical lead and kick-start a continent-wide quantum-driven industry and accelerate market take-up, Europe has launched the Quantum Flagship, an ambitious €1 billion, 10 year endeavor. This article provides an overview of the underlying considerations and the current state of the initiative. Furthermore, it briefly presents the 20 projects selected to be at the core of the ramp-up phase of the initiative, which will address core applications of quantum technologies such as communications, computing, simulation, as well as sensing and metrology, all of which are supported by basic science. Finally, we present the broader ecosystem of European funding instruments and institutions which aim to create the next generation of disruptive technologies within quantum sciences, placing Europe as a worldwide knowledge-based industrial and technological leader in this innovative field.

Andreas Jenet, C. Trefzger, Lewis Adam +5 more

The Quantum Technologies Flagship, officially launched on 29 October 2018 in Vienna, is a EUR 1 billion initiative, supported by the European Commission and Member States, funding over 5,000 of Europe's leading Quantum Technologies researchers over the next ten years and aiming at placing Europe at the forefront of the second quantum revolution. Its long-term vision is to develop a quantum web, where quantum computers, simulators and sensors are interconnected via quantum communication networks. This will help kick-starting a competitive European quantum industry transforming research results into commercial applications and disruptive technologies. \nThe Joint Research Center (JRC) in cooperation with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), European Commission’s Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT), and the German Institute of Standardisation (DIN), organised in Brussels on 28-29 March 2019 the Putting-Science-Into-Standards (PSIS) workshop on Quantum Technologies. The PSIS workshops is an initiative that brings together researchers, industry and standardisers with the purpose of facilitating the identification and screening of emerging science and technology areas that can be introduced early into the process of standardisation to enable innovation.\nThe experience with the innovation impact pathway of the Graphene Flagship that combined technology push and market pull by working with industry stakeholders was used to demonstrate the benefit of a strategic use of standardisation to increase technology readiness levels and reach the market.\nThe participants of the workshop identified aspects that would benefit from standardisation activities in three main areas: (i) Quantum Key Distribution and quantum-safe security, (ii) Quantum metrology, sensing and imaging, (iii) and Quantum computing and internet. Several existing standardisation activities focussing on quantum enabled security techniques, quantum computing and communication were also mapped. With the direct involvement of the participants, the workshop prepared the ground towards a roadmap of additional pressing technology fields where standardisation could add value to the deployment of Quantum Technologies in industrial applications, including security, sensing, imaging and measurement. \nAn active dialogue between the communities of researchers and standardisers as well as a continuous interchange with the Quantum Technologies Flagship would be beneficial for future interactions and cooperation. The Standards, Innovation and Research Platform (STAIR / CEN and CENELEC) methodology could constitute a straightforward approach to host interactions between the communities of researchers and standardisers.\nNext steps would be to start an interaction (e.g. a cooperation agreement) with the Quantum Flagship and in particular with the recently (April 2019) launched Coordination and Support Action of the Quantum Flagship. As concrete actions for standardisation, the workshop suggested to focus on the standardisation of a quantum technology terminology and on the development of an EU standardisation roadmap for Quantum Technologies. These could be addressed by a European Committee for Standardization workshop or by a focus group.

J. Mlynek