QuantERA II ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies

Project Information

QuantERA II

Grant agreement ID: 101017733

DOI

10.3030/101017733

EC signature date 18 February 2021

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)

Total cost

€ 45 454 561,25

EU contribution

€ 15 000 000,00

Coordinated by

NARODOWE CENTRUM NAUKI
Poland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - QuantERA II (QuantERA II ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

QuantERA, the European Network of research funding organisations that supports Quantum Technology (QT) research and innovation in Europe, promotes ambitious research and cutting-edge technology development in QT, supports cooperation between researchers and research-funding agencies, maps public QT policies and strategies and drafts responsible research guidelines. “Many research problems cannot be studied or investigated in just one country; to address them, you need the knowledge and experience of multiple teams. QuantERA enables an influx of new ideas within the field of quantum technology”, says prof. Konrad Banaszek, QuantERA Programme’s Scientific Coordinator.
The Network comprises 39 research-funding agencies from 31 countries. As an ERA-NET Co-fund Programme, it is co-financed by the member agencies and the European Commission. QuantERA Network received two ERA-NET co-funds (QuantERA I project in 2016 and QuantERA II project in 2020) from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Thus far, it has launched three calls (2017, 2019, 2021) and funded the total of 77 projects carried out by 400 research teams altogether. Researchers invited to identify most promising research challenges and each QuantERA call text includes a declaration of openness to new directions.
QuantERA II answers the need for collaborative endeavours and common funding schemes in the field of QT research in Europe, which due to their interdisciplinary nature cannot be confined to an individual institution or country. Through cooperation of national and regional research funding initiatives, the Programme avoids the problem of fragmentation of national efforts, encouraging transnational collaborations and leveraging Europe’s competitive advantage in the QT field.
Moreover, Programme helps to unlock the widely-recognised industrial potential of QT in response to current societal needs and for the benefit of the public at large. Such a framework contributes to the development of a coherent EU research strategy in the area of QT together with the Quantum Technologies Flagship and reinforces European leadership on the world stage. QuantERA II finds it crucial to continue the strong cooperation between its partnering countries and regions in Europe. Acknowledgement of openness and a win-win negotiation style remains at the heart of trust and successful collaboration in the consortium.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Since 2016, the QuantERA has been successfully providing the QT research community with a coordinated, Europe-wide approach to supporting cutting-edge research and innovation in QT. The QuantERA II was launched in December 2020. The event brought together representatives of organisations constituting the QuantERA Consortium, EC Project Officer, members of QuantERA’s Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) as well as Quantum Flagship representatives, which enabled the setting of priorities related to the announcement of a new Co-funded Call 2021.
Having received the scientific input from the SAB, the Consortium followed the recommendations and launched the Call 2021 on Quantum Phenomena and Resources and Applied Quantum Science. The defined scope covered following research topics of the Call: Q communication, Q simulation, Q computation, Q information sciences, Q metrology sensing and imaging.
The Call 2021 was officially announced on March 12th 2021 and was widely communicated to the scientific community through national and European channels. Information about the new funding opportunity was disseminated during the webinars organised at the European level as well as at national level.
The Call 2021 consisted of two stages: the 1st stage invited pre-proposals and in the 2nd stage full proposals were reviewed. Pre-proposals had to be submitted within two months from the Call announcement. European research community showed high interest in the Call submitting 128 pre-proposals. Out of them, 91 pre-proposals were invited to the 2nd stage of the evaluation process. Each pre-proposal and full proposal was reviewed, evaluated and ranked by the scientific Evaluation Panel, based on the criteria recommended by the European Commission: Excellence, Impact and Quality and Efficiency of Implementation. Ultimately, 39 full proposal were recommended for funding. The success rate of the Call reaches over 30%.
Programme activities on spreading excellence in the field of QT were supported by the Call 2021 regulations, encouraging the inclusion of teams from “widening countries” into the project research consortia. 85% of successful projects involve research teams from widening countries.
Within the 1st reporting period, the focus was also on communication and dissemination activities that were crucial to the implementation of the QuantERA II. The performed actions were concentrated on transnational collaboration in QT by launching of the Co-funded Call, increasing visibility of the Programme and funded research projects in QT as well as raising awareness of the potential societal impacts of QT among the general public.
QuantERA opened the discussion about the second Call that will not be co-funded under the Programme. The discussions are expected to be concluded by the end of 2022. The Programme also arranged interviews with women coordinators of QuantERA projects to highlight the presence of female researchers in the field and to encourage the projects consortia to target gender equality objectives for QT.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main outcome of the 1st period of the Programme was the preparation and implementation of the Co-funded Call. Its main goal was to strengthen international cooperation between countries in inspiring multidisciplinary research on QT and thus integrate national and regional research communities in Europe. Moreover, QuantERA II has encouraged applied research-oriented projects while continuing to support for basic research. After rigorous evaluation of submitted proposals, 39 projects were recommended for funding of over 43 million Euro, including the contribution allocated by the EC through the ERA-NET Co-fund mechanism. Projects aim, in particular, to develop novel physical platforms for quantum communication, sensing and computing, advance architectures and algorithms for future quantum information processing systems, and push for hardware scalability. The outcomes of the funded projects are expected to address a number of societal challenges, such as cybersecurity and healthcare.
As the widest network of public research funding organisations in QT, QuantERA II is able to efficiently mobilise, coordinate and pool considerable financial resources between regional, national and EU research programmes. The Network forms a sound base for enhancing the alignment of various national and regional research and innovation plans with new ones being launched almost every year.
Calls for proposals are complemented by a range of additional activities. Through mapping of public policies in QT in Europe QuantERA will take a comprehensive look at the rapidly changing landscape of national strategies and joint endeavours. One of objectives is to raise awareness on potential Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) issues among the QT community and the public at large and to develop a framework on RRI implications for this field. Moreover, the Programme aims to stimulate and intensify industry interests in QT and induces researchers to find their way towards commercial applications.

QuantERA goals

QuantERA logo

QuantERA Call 2021 topics

QuantERA Call 2021 key figures