- The Quantum Flagship, a 1b€ and 10yr initiative will be launched in Vienna, Austria on October 29th
- The overall initiative will involve the quantum community at large, with over 5000 European researchers in academia and industry searching to place Europe at the forefront of Quantum innovation.
- 20 projects have been selected out of 140 submitted proposals for the ramp-up phase of the initiative.
- Link to the Streaming of the Kick-off event (Monday): https://bit.ly/2R65bNV
Vienna, October 29, 2018: On October 29th, Europe will witness the start of a new and promising initiative known as the Quantum Flagship. This initiative is already positioning itself as one of the most ambitious of the European Union with a 1b€ budget funded by the European Commission. It will support large-scale and long-term research and innovation projects that will have the main goal of transferring quantum physics research from the lab to the market by means of commercial applications.
Over these next 10 years, the initiative intends on placing Europe at the forefront of the second quantum revolution, which is now unfolding worldwide. It aims to bring disruptive quantum technologies to the scientific arena and to society in general by bringing forward new commercial opportunities addressing global challenges, providing strategic capabilities for security and seeding yet unimagined applications for the future. It will build a network of European Quantum Technologies programs that will foster an ecosystem capable of delivering the knowledge, technologies and open research infrastructures and testbeds necessary for the development of a world-leading knowledge-based industry in Europe.
Prof. Tommaso Calarco, from the Institute for Quantum Control of Forschungszentrum Jülich and coordinator of the Quantum Coordination and Support Action in charge of successfully launching the Quantum Flagship mentions, "The European Quantum Technologies community has worked long and hard towards realizing this initiative. We are very happy that the first research and innovation actions are now ready to start with high momentum. Together, we will further strengthen Europe's leading role in quantum research and transfer the insights from this into relevant applications for the benefit of all European citizens."
The kick-off meeting of this initiative will take place in Vienna on October 29th, 2018 and will summon many of the most relevant quantum physicists and technologists in Europe. The European quantum community is very large and diverse, and throughout its 10-year lifespan, the Flagship will count with the commitment and involvement of over 5000 researchers from the academia and industry communities.
The initiative has divided all topics in five main areas of study: Quantum Communication (QComm), Quantum Computing (QComp), Quantum Simulation (QSim), Quantum Metrology and Sensing (QMS), and finally, Basic Science (BSci). The first 3-year phase of the Quantum Flagship, named the ramp-up phase, will run through October 2018 – September 2021. It will fund projects with an overall budget of 132 million euros with the goal of pushing the field to its farthest frontiers. From the 140 submitted proposals, 10 were for QComm, 11 for QComp, 6 for QSim, 22 for QMS, 90 for BSci, and one for a Coordination and Support Action. After a thorough peer-review evaluation, 20 projects, involving over 500 researchers, have been selected to be executed during these first three years.
Additional Information
- Link to the Streaming of the Kick-off event (Monday): https://bit.ly/2R65bNV
Institutional launch in Vienna on 29th 2018
The launch of the Quantum Flagship will take place in the historical site of the Hofburg in Vienna, and will combine institutional sessions in which the initiative will be presented, with networking and technical sessions, to help network the different parties, including researchers from academia and industry, educators and decision makers.
Different segments of the quantum community will be present:
- Policy makers
- Researchers in quantum technologies
- Educators in quantum technologies
- Representatives of industry related to the quantum flagship
- Members of governing bodies
The event is organized by the Quantum Support Action (QSA) on behalf of the European Commission and the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Professor Frank Wilhelm-Mauch of Saarland University is the head of the organizing committee. The core event has been divided in two distinct sessions; the morning one will be devoted to project presentations and networking, and in the afternoon, the institutional will entail the Festive opening of the Quantum Flagship, where distinguished academic, industrial, and political leaders will talk about the vision and the potential of quantum technologies.
It is expected that several Ministries, State Secretaries or other representatives related to research, science, innovation areas from different countries will participate in the event.
Satellite events on 30 October will take place in the Austrian Academy of Sciences devoted to working sessions to further the foreseen agenda for the Flagship and constitute the SEB and the SRA and Innovation working groups.