New frontiers for Europe with Quantum Technologies
The increasing ability to manipulate quantum effects in customised systems and materials is leading to devices with fundamentally superior performance and capabilities for communication, metrology, sensing, simulation and computing. Data security and safety will also be dramatically impacted by quantum technologies. Therefore, mastering quantum technologies is of strategic importance for Europe's enterprises, governments and citizens. Europe has a well acknowledged world-class scientific and technical expertise in Quantum Technologies thanks to almost 20 years of research, and the investment of around EUR 550 million in EU funding (with more than EUR 300 million of support via the http://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/future-emerging-technologies-fet (Future and Emerging Technologies) -FET- scheme). There is also a growing interest from European companies in concrete applications for quantum technologies, as expressed in the 'Quantum Manifesto', published in spring 2016, with the support of academic and industrial stakeholders. However, more has to be done to successfully transform the research advances made possible through EU support into tangible market solutions. Endorsing a strategy for quantum, the European Commission launches an ambitious, long-term and large-scale flagship initiative to unlock the full potential of quantum technologies and accelerate their development and take-up into commercial products in Europe. This is part of the European Cloud Initiative, which objective is to fully unlock the value of big data by providing world-class supercomputing capability, high-speed connectivity and leading-edge data and software services for science, the industry and the public sector. The initiative is part of the digitisation of the industry package that ambitions to maintain Europe's leading position in data-driven innovation, improve its competitiveness and cohesion and help create a Digital Single Market in Europe. This CORDIS Results Pack highlights some of the most innovative EU-funded projects in the field of Quantum Technologies. Some of these projects notably cover the development of cutting-edge optics and matter-wave technology, new devices to improve the accuracy of underground and seismic activity measurements, and a new class of Bose Einstein Condensates (BECs)-based quantum interferometers. These projects lead the way in the Quantum Technologies revolution.