With its strategic research agenda, the Quantum Flagship leads the way ahead for quantum research and technologies in Europe for the next up to ten years.
In a ceremony in Brussels on 3 March, the Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) of the Quantum Flagship, Prof. Jürgen Mlynek officially presented its strategic research agenda (SRA) to the European Commission (EC). He handed the document directly to Roberto Viola, Director General of the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT).
The SRA presents a review on the vision and goals of the Quantum Flagship in quantum technology research, innovation and development and provides insights into the expected achievements for the coming 3 years as well as an outlook on the six to ten next years for a long-term perspective. The document covers the four areas of communication, computing, simulation and sensing and metrology and is, according to Prof. Mlinek, a great achievement and a milestone in the history of the Quantum Flagship. The four main areas anchor on a common ground of basic science, which delivers the ideas, tools, methods and processes. The SRA also describes crosscutting areas including Engineering and Control, Software and Theory, and Education and Training and contains strategies for Innovation, International Cooperation and Gender Equality.
Director-General Viola highlighted in his talk that quantum is a strategic research area for Europe and that it can deliver life-changing benefits for European citizens in health, energy and cybersecurity. He considers the Quantum Flagship’s SRA crucial in shaping the work of quantum researchers throughout Europe over the next five years. Calls for projects are issued based on the newly presented SRA.
The Quantum Flagship is the third European Flagship Programme in Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) after ‘Graphene’ and ‘the Human Brain Project’. All three will continue to be supported during the upcoming Horizon Europe Programme 2021-2027 through thematic calls for proposals. The Quantum Flagship is a large-scale research and innovation initiative, which started in 2018 and receives €1 billion funding from the EC through Horizon 2020 (H2020), the current Research and Innovation Framework programme on a ten-year time scale. The flagship will contribute to consolidating and expanding the European scientific leadership in quantum and help to kick-start a competitive European industry in the area. It involves more than 5’000 researchers in all EU and H2020 associated countries including from several Swiss institutions. The flagship reaches out to the community through a Quantum Community Network (QCN), with anchors in each of the participating countries. In Switzerland, this anchor is at ETH Zurich. The Quantum Flagship Coordination and Support Action (CSA) ‘QFlag’ is providing the central support services for the flagship and is acting as a single entry point to the European Quantum Flagship initiative. The consortium is composed of several renowned institutions among them also the University of Geneva.