Europe launches Quantum Industry Consortium

Business news | April 19, 2021

By Nick Flaherty

The launch of an industrial consortium for European companies working on quantum technologies is a key, and long awaited, step forward for the technology in the region.

The community building process started in June 2020, with the organisation of a teleconference that gathered around 300 participants. This follows a €615m from the Dutch government to boost quantum startups.

The Netherlands invests 615 million euros in technology

“The Quantum Community network and Jülich Forschungszentrum are especially happy to have witnessed, after almost two years of hard work, the birth of the European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC). By coherently bringing forward the voice of industrial stakeholders of quantum technology, QuIC will join forces with all other European quantum initiatives to overcome any possible quantum winter and make the European digital decade into a quantum decade,” said Prof. Dr. Tommaso Calarco.

The QuIC has officially appointed its Governing Board as well as elected Ms. Laure Le Bars of SAP as President, Benno Broer of Qu&Co and Thomas Strohm of Bosch as Vice-Presidents and Mr. Enrique Lizaso (Multiverse Computing) as its Treasurer. Additionally, all chairs of the nine working groups have presented their objectives, milestones and deliverables, with an outlook on the future tasks.

“The second quantum revolution will bring transformative advances to science, industry and society. I am convinced that Europe can lead in research, innovation and development of Quantum Technologies. Establishing QuIC as the collaborative hub throughout Europe, building a strong and vibrant ecosystem between SMEs, large industry and investors, together with leading-edge researchers, can only boost European industry competitiveness. Together we are developing together strategic roadmaps, engaging in pre-standardisation activities, developing IP strategies, determining needs in education and skills, and we are looking forward to collaborating with the European Commission and other stakeholders,” said Laure Le Bars.

The European Commission supported the industrial partnership alongside the Quantum flagship research project.

“The establishment of the QUIC consortium comes at a time when the Union has ambitious plans for quantum research and technology deployment in Europe, in order to make the digital decade a reality. The association will be a precious partner in contributing to these aims and in developing a thriving quantum industrial ecosystem in Europe,” said Thomas Skordas, Director of Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure of DG CONNECT.

The Netherlands’ division of QuiC will be led by Benno Broer of Amsterdam-based company Qu&Co (also QuiC’s Vice-President) and Jelmer Renema of Twente-based company Quix.

“There is no doubt that quantum technologies will have a profound impact on the world, transforming information and communication technology systems to deliver benefits for all of society. This investment in Quantum Delta NL’s ambitious program signifies the Netherlands’ long-term commitment to advancing the technology,” said Ronald Hanson, chairman of the Supervisory Board Quantum Delta NL.

The €615m Dutch project run by Quantum Delta NL is expected to create 30,000 high-tech jobs and have a cumulative economic impact of €5bn to €7bn.

“An ecosystem approach was activated where the academic, public, private and government sectors work symbiotically to drive the initiative forward. While the Netherlands has already matured from strategy to the execution phase of the NAQT, this critical funding is needed to scale the ecosystem in all its facets: people, facilities and capital,” said Freeke Heijman, Director of Quantum Delta NL.

qt.eu

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