Europe has to face strong competitive challenges in the field of QIT from other regions of the world. The tools for the effective implementation of the challenges related to the start, we hope, of building a quantum civilization are both common and individual in particular European countries. Joint projects in the field of QIT, usually narrowly focused, are announced by large European Agencies and are related to their activities. Large-scale collaborative projects are of course the domain of the EC. National projects depend heavily on the capabilities of individual countries and vary greatly in size. The most technologically advanced European countries invest hundreds of millions of Euros in national QIT projects annually. The largest European FET class project currently being implemented is the Quantum Flagship. Although the EQF is basically just one of the elements of a large and complicated European scene of development of quantum technologies, it becomes the most important element and, in a sense, a dominant one, also supported from the political level. There are complex connections and feedbacks between the elements of this quantum scene. National projects try to link to the EQF. Here we are interested in such connections and their impact on the effectiveness of QIT development in Europe, and especially in Poland.
Europe has to face strong competitive challenges in the field of QIT from other regions of the world. The tools for the effective implementation of the challenges related to the start, we hope, of building a quantum civilization are both common and individual in particular European countries. Joint projects in the field of QIT, usually narrowly focused, are announced by large European Agencies and are related to their activities. Large-scale collaborative projects are of course the domain of the EC. National projects depend heavily on the capabilities of individual countries and vary greatly in size. The most technologically advanced European countries invest hundreds of millions of Euros in national QIT projects annually. The largest European FET class project currently being implemented is the Quantum Flagship. Although the EQF is basically just one of the elements of a large and complicated European scene of development of quantum technologies, it becomes the most important element and, in a sense, a dominant one, also supported from the political level. There are complex connections and feedbacks between the elements of this quantum scene. National projects try to link to the EQF. Here we are interested in such connections and their impact on the effectiveness of QIT development in Europe, and especially in Poland.
Over the past two years, a comprehensive strategy for quantum technology in Europe has been created by the joint effort of academia and the business sector with community support from all over the continent.By building on that, Europe is making the next big leap with the first wave of pioneering projects launched in October 2018, sending a clear global signal that we will do our very best to retain the historic lead in quantum sciences.Building on Europe's rich scientific heritage and the strong quantum community, the Quantum Technology Flagship was launched by the European Commission with a €1 billion budget.The ambitious initiative will support over 5,000 of Europe's leading researchers over the next ten years.As announced during the official kick-off in October 2018, 20 projects worth €132 million will be funded in the initial 3-year phase via the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme.A solid indicator of success is the staggering number of proposals submitted for the first Flagship call: 140 consortia have requested almost five times the available budget.Over the decade-long course of the Flagship, over 150 projects are expected to be realised.The total €1 billion funding will foster the entire quantum value chain from basic research to industrialisation, thus bringing together researchers and the business sector.Four research and innovation domains will simultaneously be the focus of the European efforts: Communication, Computation, Simulation, as well as Sensing and Metrology represent the major applied areas in the field, which will also be advanced by breakthrough discoveries in the fifth, underlying domain of Basic Science.The Communication domain will foster the development of cheap, compact, faster and more secure random number generators, as well as components and systems for continuous variable quantum communication.Parallel to these, a blueprint for the pan-European Quantum Internet shall be created by developing all essential subsystems and giving the first experimental demonstration.Within Computing, two projects aim to develop quantum computers that are competitive with today's state-of-the-art supercomputers, either by realising a fully-automated ion-trap quantum computer or by building a machine with up to 100 superconducting qubits.The Simulation domain will push the already well-advanced neutral atom and ion-based quantum simulation platforms and address quantum annealing or optimization problems through full programmability.Parallel to that a quantum simulator platform made of ultracold atoms will be created, engineering a new generation of quantum cascade laser frequency combs characterized by non-classical emission and entanglement among the comb nodes.The Sensing domain will see the development of novel and compact atomic clocks, as well as the exploitation of atom-like defects in diamond to develop a variety of sensors and in magnetic resonance imaging to improve the detection of cardiovascular diseases.Furthermore, it will support combining state-of-the-art quantum sensor physics with MEMS atomic vapor cells, allowing for high-volume, high-reliability, low-cost deployment.Finally, within the domain of Basic Science, seven projects will investigate a variety of topics and technologies, with a focus on microfabricated devices and photonic systems.Enhancing capabilities in quantum technologies will help create a lucrative knowledge-based industry, leading to long-term economic, scientific and societal benefits, while delivering novel ideas, tools, components, materials, methods and processes.By funding ground-breaking projects, the Flagship will enable "quantum leaps" in technology development over the next decade, which in turn will lead to establishing markets within and wealth creation even beyond the European quantum ecosystem.Currently Europe is still at the leading edge of quantum technologies worldwide.However, this might rapidly change, as the demand for technology and talent is increasing at an unprecedented pace around the globe due to the promising future of quantum applications.Governments of industry powerhouse nations like the USA or China, as well as corporations such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Tencent are already investing substantial amounts to unleash quantum technologies' potential.
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.
QIT–Quantum Information Technologies promises are very serious, greatly exceeding only technical and market levels. Development of QIT in Europe, treated as building a new infrastructural civilization level, requires a broader view of coordination, funding and priority-setting policy. Simple measures used in the case of the development of new technologies, but not creating a significant ecosystem, are insufficient in this case. Quantum technologies are poised to create a new information layer of knowledge-based society. In this essay, the author subjectively addresses some of the issues such as: what we already know and what we don't know, and what efforts are being made in Europe. Polish version of this paper was published in Przegl.Telekom.2.23.
Recently, the European Commission supported by many European countries has announced large investments towards the commercialization of quantum technology (QT) to address and mitigate some of the biggest challenges facing today's digital era - e.g. secure communication and computing power. For more than two decades the QT community has been working on the development of QTs, which promise landmark breakthroughs leading to commercialization in various areas. The ambitious goals of the QT community and expectations of EU authorities cannot be met solely by individual initiatives of single countries, and therefore, require a combined European effort of large and unprecedented dimensions comparable only to the Galileo or Copernicus programs. Strong international competition calls for a coordinated European effort towards the development of QT in and for space, including research and development of technology in the areas of communication and sensing. Here, we aim at summarizing the state of the art in the development of quantum technologies which have an impact in the field of space applications. Our goal is to outline a complete framework for the design, development, implementation, and exploitation of quantum technology in space.
Quantum information technologies QIT have two separate but entangled layers – material and ideological. Material layer embraces algorithms, physical devices and systems. Cognitive layer is related to the boundaries and structure of our knowledge, including the magic of nonlocal interactions and subtleties of contextuality. The paradox is that QIT should use quantum magic as a resource to turn into functional utility. The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology is celebrated in Europe, Poland and elsewhere. Opening conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris was attended by representatives of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and some quantum science groups. Several scientific conferences organized in Poland were announced to the IYQ25 calendar, including: May Symposia of Information and Quantum Horizons in Gdańsk, August Max Born Optical Symposium in Wrocław, September Congress of the Polish Physicists in Katowice. Quantum research projects are realized in Poland, QuantERA, tasks included in the European Quantum Flagship EQF, construction of quantum equipment by university consortia MIKOK, quantum networks and others.