Given the growing hype and investment in quantum technology, it is important to understand its current landscape and how best to catalyze progress in QIS towards the eventual goal of societally-relevant innovation in materials, pharmaceuticals, industrial processes, cybersecurity and myriad other areas. We give a brief overview of the policy landscape of the emerging QIS innovation system. The most important requirement for steady progress in QIS is a robust workforce. Here, we focus on one key slice of workforce development: the training of adaptable quantum scientists and engineers.
Given the growing hype and investment in quantum technology, it is important to understand its current landscape and how best to catalyze progress in QIS towards the eventual goal of societally-relevant innovation in materials, pharmaceuticals, industrial processes, cybersecurity and myriad other areas. We give a brief overview of the policy landscape of the emerging QIS innovation system. The most important requirement for steady progress in QIS is a robust workforce. Here, we focus on one key slice of workforce development: the training of adaptable quantum scientists and engineers.
Given the growing hype and investment in quantum technology, it is important to understand its current landscape and how best to catalyze progress in QIS towards the eventual goal of societally-relevant innovation in materials, pharmaceuticals, industrial processes, cybersecurity and myriad other areas. We give a brief overview of the policy landscape of the emerging QIS innovation system. The most important requirement for steady progress in QIS is a robust workforce. Here, we focus on one key slice of workforce development: the training of adaptable quantum scientists and engineers.
It was the middle of the pandemic when I wrote a special quantum focus article for PhotonicsViews.At that point, my goal was to provide an overview of the technology, the public investment up to that date, how the start-ups landscape was booming all over the world, and the job market forecast.The terms 'education' and 'workforce' were just starting to be two important topics in most quantum conversations.Now, two years later, global investment has increased by almost 10 billion dollars, and start-ups continue to appear and grow worldwide.It is difficult not to find a discussion panel or hear the importance of 'quantum skills and the global quantum workforce' at any quantum event or interview.How to have a pipeline ready to join an emerging workforce goes back to how 'educated' that workforce is.If you are not aware that your skills could be applied in quantum technologies, or even about that emerging market, how can we expect the workforce to be ready?Every year, there are more undergraduate and postgraduate programs on quantum technology being launched all around the world, either from an optics and photonics perspective, or with a focus on quantum computing programming.Either way, the creation of those curricula should be done in parallel with analyzing industry needs.And there comes the next challenge: the specification of those needs.In our role as service providers, we have seen the whole spectrum of industry 'maturity' with respect to quantum technologies.There are the newcomers looking for insights into the field to understand how they could fit in the landscape.Then we have corporations who started to include quantum in their innovation roadmap -some are even working on specific use cases -and are now looking for partners and new opportunities.And finally we can see a few industry actors already having a quantum strategy and team in place.It is a marathon, not a sprint, as a new language takes time to learn.Understanding your role and position in the quantum journey is the first step in learning this new language.You are all invited to join!
Abstract The transition of second-generation quantum technologies from a research topic to a topic of industrial relevance has led to a growing number of quantum companies and businesses that are exploring quantum technologies. Examples would include a start-up building a quantum key distribution device, a large company working on integrating a quantum sensing core into a product, or a company providing quantum computing consultancy. They all face different challenges and needs in terms of building their quantum workforce and training in quantum concepts, technologies and how to derive value from them. With the study documented in this paper, we aim to identify these needs and provide a picture of the industry’s requirements in terms of workforce development and (external) training and materials. We discuss, for example, the shortage of engineers and jobs relevant to the quantum industry, the challenge of getting people interested in quantum, and the need for training at different levels and in different formats – from awareness raising and self-learning materials to university courses in quantum systems engineering. The findings are based on 34 semi-structured interviews with industry representatives and a follow-up questionnaire to validate some of the issues raised in the interviews. These results have influenced activities in EU projects, including an update of the European Competence Framework for Quantum Technologies.
Rapid advances in quantum technology have exacerbated the shortage of a diverse, inclusive, and sustainable quantum workforce. National governments and industries are developing strategies for education, training, and workforce development to accelerate the commercialization of quantum technologies. We report the existing state of the quantum workforce as well as several learning pathways to nurture the talent pipeline between academia and industry. We provide a comprehensive guide to various educational initiatives accessible throughout the world, such as online courses, conferences, seminars, games, and community-focused networks, that facilitate quantum training and upskill the talent needed to develop a better quantum future.
Over the past century, quantum theory has taken flight from conceptual breakthroughs, such as wave–particle duality, quantisation of energy, and the uncertainty principle, to practical tools that are the backbone of modern electronics, lasers, semiconductors, and precision measurement systems. In the twenty-first century, this progress under the regime of the second quantum revolution has acquired the ability to directly control, manipulate, and engineer individual quantum systems.Quantum technologies found their pillars in quantum properties, such as superposition, entanglement, and coherence and have exceeded the boundaries of classical physics. The steady theoretical advances, combined with experimental progress, have brought quantum concepts closer to real-life use. Significant progress has made in filed of computation, communication, sensing, navigation, medicine, cyber security, and national defense undr the guidance of quantum technology.This book chapter presents a comprehensive and pedagogical overview of quantum technologies. It highlights quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing and metrology. The shift of quantum mechanics into practical applications is discussed. Current research trends are reviewed alongside the technological and engineering challenges. The critical issues, such as decoherence, scalability, error correction, standardisation, and workforce development, are discussed, which further highlights the need for global collaboration. Both National governments and the private sector are investing heavily in quantum research. This will act as a booster for quantum technologies to revolutionise information processing, secure communications, and precision measurements. Consequently and will significantly impact the scientific and technological landscape.