2023-11-24 12:30:04
The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, through the State Research Agency (AEI) and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), the Ministry of Digital Transformation, European projects Quantum Flagship y QUANTERA and the Ramón Areces Foundation, held this week in Madrid the conference ‘Quantum Technologies In Europe‘, within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The conference has brought together expert voices from the European scientific scene to address and respond to the challenges faced by quantum technologies in Spain and the rest of Europe.
He Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universitiesthrough the AEI, has financed different research groups related to quantum technologies in Quantera, for a value of 3.7 million euros and plans to invest 45 million of euros for calls for human resources and projects that will finance actions related to these technologies.
The Ministry of Science plans to invest 45 million euros for projects related to quantum technologies
For his part, the Ministry of Digital Transformation has launched the program Quantum Spain for, among others, the creation of two quantum computers in Spain, as well as the revitalization of the ecosystem of startups y scaleups [negocios con un cierto rodaje que buscan escalar su modelo] in deeptech [soluciones tecnológicas basadas en desafíos científicos o de ingeniería significativos]including quantum technologies, through Fondo NextTechwhich has up to 8 billion euros to develop innovative high-impact digital projects, including those in quantum computing.
These data have been recalled by some of the political authorities of the sector present at the conference, such as the Secretary General of Research of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Rachel Yotti; the general director of the AEI, Domènec Espriu, who served as host; and the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Carmen Artigas.
Master lectures by Cirac and two Nobel Prize winners
The event has brought together more than 200 participants of the highest European level, among which the keynote presentations given by the 2012 and 2022 Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Professors Serge Haroche (France) and Anton Zeilinger (Austria), respectively, as well as the 2006 Prince of Asturias Prize, stand out. , the Spanish professor Juan Ignacio Cirac, from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (Germany).
The first of these presentations was offered by Ignacio Ciracrecognized among the scientific community for his research in the area of quantum computing and quantum optics, framed in quantum theory and theoretical physics.
In his exhibition Simulation of quantum physics with quantum computers, has highlighted that, when we have a perfect quantum computing “We will be able to solve important scientific problems (in materials science, physics, chemistry, pharmacology…, also in better cryptography)”, which cannot be solved with classical supercomputers.
Cirac concluded with these words: “We have entered the area of prototyping of everything quantum, although in the scalable part we still have a lot to learn. Simulation is within our reach. We know that although simulators are not perfect, they can surprise us with an approach to solving things that classical computing cannot, but the best is yet to come.”
Although quantum simulators are not perfect, they can surprise us with an approach to problem solving that classical computing cannot. The best is yet to come
Ignacio Cirac (Prince of Asturias 2006)
The second keynote conference was given by Serge Haroche, who received the Nobel Prize in 2012 along with David Wineland for the “measurement and manipulation of individual quantum systems.” Since 2001 he has been a professor of quantum physics at the Collège de France and the École Normale Supérieure, both in Paris.
In his presentation Superpositions, quantum interference and entanglement in qubit systems, Haroche has expressed that research must benefit from a open competition and emulation between laboratories in all countries of the world, including China.
“Curiosity-driven basic research remains essential in quantum information science. We do not know what the future will bring us and we can expect many surprises,” he noted.
Curiosity-driven basic research remains essential in quantum information science
Serge Haroche (Nobel Prize in Physics 2012)
The third talk was given by the professor Anton ZeillingerNobel Prize in Physics in 2022 along with Alain Aspect and John Clauser for their experiments with entangled photonsabout which he spoke during his speech.
This veteran professor, who has worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Technical University of Munich, the Technical University of Vienna, the University of Innsbruck and the Collège de France in Paris, began by remembering and recommending the visit of telescope in La Palma (Canary Islands) for long-distance quantum communication experiments with a station in Tenerife.
Quantum teleportation experiment in the Canary Islands. / IQOQI Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Nobel Prize winner Anton Zeillinger has recalled the telescope in La Palma (Canary Islands) for long-distance quantum communication with a station in Tenerife
He also mentioned a quote from the writer Arthur Charles Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odysseywhich is not far off the mark quantum world: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
In his exhibition Quantum fundamentals: from curiosity to quantum information and again to curiosity has shown different experiments and tests carried out thanks to quantum technologies, and has highlighted the capacity that will allow us to solve all types of problems “in just a few seconds.”
Subsequently, the proposals and ideas of the European Commission to convert Europe as a key global player of quantum technologies. The participants have presented their various positions on the social and industrial challenges of this technology and how to address them.
Within the framework of the conference, the scientific challenges of the four areas of quantum technologies have also been analyzed: quantum computing, communication, simulation and sensor-metrology, in addition to discussing the role that the European scientific community and industry should play in this field over the next few years.
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