In the first 18 months of the project, Qu-Test partners made significant steps towards the objective of the projects. Specifically, the research organization in the network upgraded their facilities and processes and published an online service catalogue to make those capabilities known by the community. The execution of 10 industrial use cases has started as part of WP5. Moreover, the project has set-up a process to engage with additional industrial players through the so-called open call process. The four following underlying objectives are core to the project.
1. To create an inclusive and federalized network of quantum technology testing and experimentation service providers answering the needs of the industry.
We consider the objective partially achieved.
The Project includes 12 companies and aims at connecting to at least 14 other companies during the project to maintain a continuous feedback loop with the needs of the industry. 11 new companies are expected to join the network with the first open call for use cases. Start of the use cases is expected by month 22). We consider the objective will be achieved at the second cut-off of the Open Call with the deadline in March 2025 (month 23).
2. To upgrade, upscale and integrate the testing and experimentation infrastructures and associated processes for quantum technologies.
The Project will integrate infrastructures of its service providers into 3 distributed testbeds (for Communication, Computing and Sensing). We consider the objective not yet achieved but in good progress since 2 out of 9 KPIs are reached, and the other KPIs are mostly under good progress with details for each KPI provided in the technical report.
3. To set-up an open-access distributed testing and experimentation infrastructure to make quantum technology facilities and associated services available to clients in all 27 EU countries.
The objective has been achieved. The network has established a service catalogue with 65 services that can be accessed by users in all 27 EU countries.
4. To validate the relevance of the testbed service offering and robustness of the Single-Entry-Point processes through implementation of industrial use cases
The objective has been achieved. We have set up an open call structure where users can apply for testing services of the network and those are selected after evaluation from a pool of internal reviewers. We have received 20 intake forms that translated into 14 industrial applications.
