Periodic Reporting for period 1 - QSA (Quantum Coordination and Support Action)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2017-12-01 al 2019-03-31
Europe is at the forefront of research in Quantum Technologies (QT), thanks to a major extent to the strong funding support for this field by the European Commission (EC), and to efficient coordination of all efforts in this area over the past two decades. Now, Quantum Technologies are entering a new phase, as some of these technologies have achieved not only validation in the laboratory but also demonstration in real life situations (e.g. in commercially available quantum key distribution systems, in sensing applications for healthcare or in first demonstrations of quantum computing for real-life problems). The immense potential of this interdisciplinary field has lead the EC to announce, as part of the European Cloud Initiative, the launch of a FET Flagship on Quantum Technologies (“Quantum Flagship”) in 2018. This coordination action was an important and necessary preparatory step to make sure the full potential of the Quantum Flagship could be attained right from its first day.
The QSA overall objectives were to:
1. Facilitate a goal-driven, federated effort
2. Increase awareness of QT in Europe
3. Support detailing and implementing the Flagship’s organisational structure
The QSA overall objectives were to:
1. Facilitate a goal-driven, federated effort
2. Increase awareness of QT in Europe
3. Support detailing and implementing the Flagship’s organisational structure
As far as Objective 1 is concerned, what we meant by a federated effort is that key stakeholders from policy, academia and industry, as well as the relevant European QT initiatives agreed on common goals and a common strategy to advance the field of QT and are thus fully committed to the Flagship. To support this, we have driven a constructive dialogue between representatives of the national initiatives, the EC and the QT community, by adhering to the guiding principles of transparency and inclusiveness. The Flagship’s Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) is central to the Flagship’s success, as it will serve as a focal point to create the goal-driven effort towards a challenging scientific and technological vision that is supported by all stakeholders. Thus, we have established (in WP1) a Working Group to continuously update this SRA, taking into account the progress made in the Flagship and also outside of Europe. Involving the QT community in the entire Flagship building process was again essential, as broad expertise is needed to define specific and ambitious yet achievable milestones. Also, it guarantees buy-in to the technical goals of the Flagship, thus preventing a disconnection between the Quantum Flagship and the QT community. This has been achieved by establishing the Quantum Community Network (QCN) as an official Flagship governing body. Last but not least, to realise the enormous but underexploited potential for longer term technological innovation and economic exploitation, it was crucial that academia and industry work hand in hand. The connections between these two complementary domains have been strengthened by bringing together researchers and decision makers in an Innovation Working Group (in WP2) which facilitate the exchange of technology needs and offers, the identification of use-cases for QT, foster the founding of QT start-ups and develop recommendations on innovation for the Quantum Flagship.
Considering now Objective 2, while the existing QT community and member states, at the level of national science ministries, were well aware of the Quantum Flagship, there were several adjacent research fields, public bodies and a great number of companies and professional organisations that are not yet aware of the potential of QT but which might become relevant stakeholders in the Flagship initiative in the future. Most of these potential stakeholders are now aware of the current state and potential of QT and specifically the European activities in QT (WP3). The measures to support this claim are both direct, such as the QSA website qt.eu the organization of several high profile event (the QSA kick-off at the Zeiss center in Oberchoken, the QT Flagship kick-off in the Vienna Hoofburg, and the EQTC19 conference in Grenoble), and the QT Flagship presence at trade shows (ITC18 and MWC19), as well as indirect, such as our collection of outreach material and speaker database. Closely related to this has been reaching out to a future European quantum-aware workforce through education. QT is a cross-disciplinary field with elements not only of physics, but also other subject areas, among them informatics, chemistry and engineering. Training of future “Quantum Technologists” will have to include material from all these fields and we need to increase the awareness of QT across all of them. To foster this cross-disciplinary effort, we have run the first workshop on QT education programs. This was so successful that the European Commission is planning an additional Flagship call for a coordination action on the subject.
Finally Objective 3. For a smooth Flagship launch, it was required that all relevant organisational structures and processes were defined and implemented at day one. To this end, the QSA has supported (in WP4) the formulation of the Flagship’s detailed terms of reference that included all relevant stakeholders’ input, proposed adequate organisational structures and processes and ensured timely adoption.
The smooth operation of the QSA project was ensured by WP5.
Considering now Objective 2, while the existing QT community and member states, at the level of national science ministries, were well aware of the Quantum Flagship, there were several adjacent research fields, public bodies and a great number of companies and professional organisations that are not yet aware of the potential of QT but which might become relevant stakeholders in the Flagship initiative in the future. Most of these potential stakeholders are now aware of the current state and potential of QT and specifically the European activities in QT (WP3). The measures to support this claim are both direct, such as the QSA website qt.eu the organization of several high profile event (the QSA kick-off at the Zeiss center in Oberchoken, the QT Flagship kick-off in the Vienna Hoofburg, and the EQTC19 conference in Grenoble), and the QT Flagship presence at trade shows (ITC18 and MWC19), as well as indirect, such as our collection of outreach material and speaker database. Closely related to this has been reaching out to a future European quantum-aware workforce through education. QT is a cross-disciplinary field with elements not only of physics, but also other subject areas, among them informatics, chemistry and engineering. Training of future “Quantum Technologists” will have to include material from all these fields and we need to increase the awareness of QT across all of them. To foster this cross-disciplinary effort, we have run the first workshop on QT education programs. This was so successful that the European Commission is planning an additional Flagship call for a coordination action on the subject.
Finally Objective 3. For a smooth Flagship launch, it was required that all relevant organisational structures and processes were defined and implemented at day one. To this end, the QSA has supported (in WP4) the formulation of the Flagship’s detailed terms of reference that included all relevant stakeholders’ input, proposed adequate organisational structures and processes and ensured timely adoption.
The smooth operation of the QSA project was ensured by WP5.
The results delivered by the QSA will constitute a solid basis on which the next CSA QFLAG can build its foundations to ensure that the QT Flagship will turn in the successful endeavour it promised to be.