QUROPE Quantum Information Processing and Communication in Europe

The QIPC community realises the importance of developing and maintaining links between existing R&D and industry. We have had a dedicated team working on this throughout the last few years, through projects such as QUROPE and QUIE2T and now within QUTE-Europe. The objective is simple -  to enhance research and development links with existing R&D and industry and promote the emerging quantum technology industry. The quantum technology industry has been building up slowly over the last decade, the swiss company ID Quantique, who recently celebrated 10 years of operation in September 2011, providing a leading light, however, there are more and more start-ups emerging and maturing. If we consider only the companies truly based on Quantum Information Technologies then we have already at least eight active enterprises: 

This is without counting quite a few specialising in single photon detection and associated technologies, which is expanding rapidly. However, if we look at the companies that are becoming interested in this field, then this is certainly much larger and some of these can be found in our database. Arising from these efforts we have been able to gain the support and commitment from some of the leading figures in technology throughout Europe: IBM; Microsoft; Intel; Siemens; Oclaro; STMicroelectronics; Thales, Telefonica, Toshiba and ID Quantique as well as NTT in Japan and Telcordia in the USA.

One of the central, and more high profile initiatives, of this effort have been the Industry Sessions at the bi-annual QIPC conferences. These events started in Barcelona, Spain in 2007 and continued in Rome, Italy in 2009 and in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2011, with the last taking place in Florence, Italy in 2013.  There was a special Quantum Communication Session at the ECOC conference in Geneva on the 18th of September 2011, addressing a range of issues for the industrialisation, short-term and long-term for the commercialisation of these technologies. 2011 also saw the launch of a new series of conferences on quantum cryptogrpahy with a “Venture Session” at the QCRYPT conference, also in Zurich, that showcased many of these Quantum Technology start-up companies. This has subsequently been followed up with Industry events  in Singapore in 2012 and Waterloo, Canada in 2013. 

In our Industry database you can find a collection of companies and industries that are interested in QIPC.

Please browse the database here.