A Billion Euros for Quantum Research

06
February 2019

A Billion Euros for Quantum Research

A program to support the development of the quantum technology industry in Europe has been approved. A billion euros for 10 years will help the laboratories of the Old World to maintain their leading position in the most promising research area. Only 20 projects in both basic and applied research categories received funding out of the 140 applications selected by experts. They included projects related to the creation of a pan-European protected quantum network, the construction of the world's first advanced quantum computer, the development of unmanned transport system navigation, and the production of ultrasensitive medical diagnostics equipment.

The head of the selection committee, Jürgen Mlynek, former President of the German Research Centers Association, said the program is designed to support promising scientific ideas and attract private investment. He noted that in the US, companies such as Google and Microsoft spend hundreds of millions of dollars on quantum computing, while in Europe there is no such large-scale cooperation and therefore we are forced to take a different route.

Today, quantum physicists keep correcting and even refuting traditional ideas about the structure of our world. For example, from the point of view of common sense, an object at a clearly defined point in time can only be in one particular place. The chronology of events is then built in a logical chain. For example, first a chicken hatched from an egg, then it grew and began to lay eggs from which...

Not correct! 10 years ago, Oxford University scientists formulated the concept of a quantum switch that can jumble a sequence of two events on Earth. Last year, Australian scientists put this theory into practice by experimenting with rays of light passing through various gaps at the quantum level. So now the answer to the classical chicken-and-egg question turned out to be very simple: the chicken appeared before the egg, and the egg before the chicken. What’s so difficult?

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