European Quantum Flagship: The Quantum Pioneer Austria scores strongly

Austrian institutions are represented in almost one third of approved projects – FFG offers a comprehensive range of information and consultancy services

"Austria is one of the quantum pioneers and is continuously expanding its international visibility in this field of its strength", said Henrietta Egerth and Klaus Pseiner, Managing Directors of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. The most recent example is the European Quantum Flagship initiated as part of "Horizon 2020": On 29 october 2018, the results of the call for proposals were announced by the European Commission at a kick-off event during the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU. OF 20 successful projects, six are with Austrian participation, and two are coordinated by Austrian institutions (University of Innsbruck, Austrian Institute of Technology). The 20 projects have a budget of 130 million euros for the ramp-up phase over the next three years. In total, the Quantum Flagship launched this year is scheduled to run for ten years and will amount to around one billion euros.
 

As the National Contact Point for the EU Research Framework Programme "Horizon 2020", FFG offers a comprehensive range of information and consultancy services and has also provided targeted advice with regard to the Quantum Flagship and initiated the necessary networking ahead of the call with two tailor-made stakeholder events. "With programmes at national level, we are also creating the necessary conditions for successful participation at European level", Egerth and Pseiner refer to the funds approved by the National Foundation (Nationalstiftung) for the quantum computer (5 million euros) and the "Quantum Research and Technology programme” (QFTE; 5.5 million euros) jointly implemented with the Austrian Sience Fund FWF.