Established in Occitanie Quantum Institute
Established in Occitanie: the Quantum Institute
On 22nd January the Government announced the launch of the « Plan Quantique » that will span 5 years and into which France will invest €1.8 billion.
The Occitanie Region and its academic and industrial partners from Toulouse and Montpellier decided to structure their role in his project in a way that will bring about a new major revolution in the digital sector.
Consolidate academic, industrial and university efforts on quantum technologies
From dream to reality...
It’s been three years now that researchers from Toulouse and Montpellier have been working on this institute project. The idea is to consolidate academic, industrial and university efforts on quantum technologies in order to have more of a bearing in this field
- Xavier Marie, lecturer-researcher at INSA’s physics and chemistry of nano-objects laboratory and Toulouse project leader for the Occitan Quantum Institute project.
Atos, Airbus, IBM and Thales are just some of the major companies involved.
In addition to backing from the Universities of Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier and Montpellier, INSA and the CNRS, the Occitanie Region has decided to support this project by funding the "Quantum Technologies” Key Challenge, led by the CNRS, to the tune of €4 million over the next four years. There is also funding under the State-Regional Plan Contract and ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) funds.
A total of €10 million will therefore be dedicated to regional quantum research. Other funding may also be granted within the framework of the European "Quantum Technologies Flagship" programme.
Why this project of a Quantum Institute in Occitania?
Three major application areas are being targeted: secure communications, sensors and metrology, and quantum simulation.
In broad terms, quantum computing is a new way of making a machine do calculations. A quantum computer would be capable of performing calculations beyond the reach of conventional computers and would make it possible to tackle as yet unresolved problems in a multitude of areas in the longer or shorter term: management of transport flows or stocks in mass retailing, medicine, agriculture, ecology, etc.
In the long term, quantum computers would make it possible to better understand complex chemical reactions.
Quantum computing, with a different architecture and functionality, would complement current computing, which is incapable of performing certain calculations.
It is also worth mentioning the presence in Toulouse of ANITI, the Toulouse Interdisciplinary Institute of Artificial Intelligence, which brings together more than 200 researchers.
aniti.univ-toulouse.fr/#chaires
Further reading:
The Government’s Plan Quantique:
www.gouvernement.fr/18-m-eu-en-faveur-des-technologies-quantiques
The European « Quantum Technologies Flagship » programme:
ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/quantum-technologies-flagship
CRNS online press conference on quantum technologies research:
www.cnrs.fr/fr/la-recherche-sur-les-technologies-quantiques-au-menu
Photo © Elnur - Adobe Stock