Strategic Industry Roadmap
QuIC, Europe’s Quantum Industry Consortium, has released the latest version of its annual Strategic Industry Roadmap (SIR), addressing 4 quantum verticals:
Drawing on the extensive expertise of QuIC members, the SIR gathers unique insights into the state and evolution of the European and global quantum landscape, enabling policymakers and other active stakeholders to make well-informed decisions that will shape the trajectory of quantum technology in upcoming years.
Europe in the Quantum Ecosystem
As the SIR highlights, Europe is firmly positioned in the growing quantum ecosystem, as the second largest source of public funding ($13B) behind China ($15B). When it comes to private players and funding, and commercial implementation of quantum solutions, it is surpassed by the U.S and China respectively.
Moving forward, Europe will need to keep advancing technologically and developing the necessary skills for managing quantum solutions, in order to maintain and improve its strategic positioning. Equally importantly, it will need to develop a sustainable demand for such solutions, which should be driven by real and measurable value for the industry.
Yet, given the vulnerability of current quantum supply chains, almost entirely dominated by American and Chinese entities, working solely in this direction is unlikely to be enough. Europe needs to guarantee its technological sovereignty, by supporting European quantum suppliers and integrators, starting with key players in existing HPC, semiconductor and ICT supply chains, and later on more specialised industry segments.
Pressing Issues in Quantum
As quantum is developing towards reaching its full potential – or at least what we now view as such, several issues arise, that should be addressed to minimise the unintended yet unavoidable implications of implementing such a ground-breaking technology. Among discussing the technical background of the various quantum technology pillars, the SIR addresses some of these overarching themes, providing spot-on recommendations for policy officers.
The Road ahead
Given the speedy advancements and confident investments, quantum technology is bound to remain a major topic of conversation in global stakeholder communities. However, in order to benefit from this strategic resource in the future, Europe needs to upgrade its plan and intensify its efforts now. Further developing the existing quantum technologies will be necessary to achieve large-scale commercialisation, but other issues like attracting qualified talent and incentivising the application of quantum solutions will also need to be taken into consideration.
