Academic experts appointed for quantum project
The European Commission has appointed a group of 13 academics to prioritise targets for the forthcoming flagship research effort focused on quantum technology.
Chaired by Professor Dr Jürgen Mlynek of Humboldt University (HU) of Berlin, Germany, the expert committee has a year-long mandate and is preparing for its first meeting in early September, with an interim report expected by December and a plan anticipated for this time next year.
European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther H Oettinger said: “The group will work in an open and transparent way with the wider community of stakeholders from academia and industry, and in close collaboration with member states. It will propose a strategic research agenda with clear and ambitious goals, as well as an efficient approach to its implementation and governance.
“It will serve as input to the preparation of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020. We expect a final report addressing all aspects of the future flagship to be presented in one year’s time.”
Mlynek is an expert in nano-scale light-matter interaction who aims to see HU competing alongside the world’s most prestigious academic institutions such as Stanford, US, and Oxford, UK.
Other members of the quantum project steering committee include Oxford’s Professor Ian Walmsley – a key figure in the UK’s own quantum technologies project; Professor Elisabeth Giacobino of CNRS, Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel, France; and Professor Dr Lluis Torner of the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain.
Professor Dr Maria Chiara Carrozza, an engineer and former Italian minister for education, universities and research, of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Trento, Italy, has agreed to act as the committee’s observer.
