Quantum technologies are called upon, in the years to come, to transform the IT industry and semiconductors in depth (with the creation of quantum chips). In the health field, quantum technology should allow an earlier diagnosis thanks to imaging sensors and accelerate the development of drugs. It should also advance cryptography for data security and ultra-secure communications. And these are only a few examples.
Many advantages and weaknesses
It is to play a leading role in this quantum revolution that the European Commission adopted on Wednesday, the “Quantum Europe” strategy. His ambition? Position Europe as a world leader in the area of ​​quantum by 2030.
Europe already has many advantages. It ranks, for example, in the first world rank for the number of scientific publications in the field of quantum technologies. It also houses a third of global quantum start-ups.
“However, our industrial ecosystem remains fragile due to the fragmented support between the Member States and more limited access to private funding compared to the United States and China”explained Henna Virkkunen, vice-president of the European Commission responsible for technological sovereignty. Currently, European companies only capture 5 % of global private investments (compared to 50 % for the United States). “”This makes it difficult to transition from research to industry, and increases the risk of seeing European start-ups disappear, being bought by foreign companies or settling in regions where funding is better “.
Enormous potential
The “Quantum Europe” strategy adopted Wednesday therefore aims to strengthen coordination between the Member States, to promote the creation of a European quantum ecosystem “resilient and sovereign “, to stimulate private investments and the growth of start-ups.
“By 2040, the quantum technology sector should create thousands of highly qualified jobs throughout the EU and exceed a global value of 155 billion euros.”
More than 11 billion euros in public funding (European and national) have already been engaged in the past five years in quantum technologies, said Henna Virkkunen, adding that, by 2040, the quantum technology sector should create thousands of highly qualified jobs throughout the EU and exceed a global value of 155 billion euros.
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The “Quantum Europe” strategy targets five areas: research and innovation, quantum infrastructure, strengthening of ecosystem, spatial and double -use technologies, and quantum skills.
Among the first measures announced, we can pin a joint initiative to support research and development in key sectors, as well as the creation of a design infrastructure and pilot lines for quantum chips “in order to transform scientific prototypes into marketable products “.
New legislation on quantum technologies (Quantum ACT) will be proposed in 2026 to supervise and support the committee’s strategy.
