The European Commission is preparing a Quantum Act to boost the development of quantum technologies, although not in the same way as the EU CHIPS Act for semiconductors.
www.eenewseurope.com/, Jul. 02, 2025 –
The Act is being prepared for 2026 and follows the publication of the Quantum Strategy to make Europe a leader in the technology by 2030. This will see six pilot lines and a Quantum design centre.
More than €11 billion in public funding (EU and national) has already been committed over the last five years, with nearly €2 billion from the EU alone invested in quantum technologies.
The Quantum Flagship has been running since 2018 with a €1bn budget, but there is acknowledgement that, while it is a leader in research, the region lags behind in commercialisation.
To expand access to testing facilities, dedicated equipment, and experimentation possibilities, the existing pilot facilities of the Quantum Flagship will be converted into a Europe-wide, centralised network of open-access quantum testbeds. They will provide access for testing, validating and benchmarking of quantum devices, particularly for startups and SMEs, to help accelerate the transition from prototype to market.
The commitment to make Europe ‘a’ leader rather than ‘the’ leader avoids a direct clash with the US, which has been investing heavily in quantum companies over the last two years to catch up with Europe and China.
The European Quantum Strategy aims to create a resilient, sovereign quantum ecosystem that fuels startups and creates commercial opportunities. However the region, including the UK< has been losing startups to US companies, as highlighted by the recent acquisition of Oxford Ionics by IonQ, with strategic implications.
However the Commission has recognised the need to have sovereign capability, with strong dual-use potential for defence and security. By 2040, the sector is expected to create thousands of highly skilled jobs across the EU and exceed a global value of €155 billion.
“We now need to ensure that we coordinate investments even more effectively to stay ahead of the curve in quantum technologies,” said the Commission.
The Strategy targets five areas: research and innovation, quantum infrastructures, ecosystem strengthening, space and dual-use technologies, and quantum skills:
The Strategy aims to boost the share of global private funding that European quantum companies receive, currently at around 5%, to stimulate the growth of European startups and scaleups and promote the uptake of European quantum solutions by European industries.
A High-Level Advisory Board will bring together leading European quantum scientists and technology experts, including European Nobel Prize Laureates in quantum. It will provide independent strategic guidance on the implementation of the Quantum Europe Strategy.
This is different from the CHIPS Act, which has been criticised for a lack of strategic oversight.
A key change in direction in the strategy is to address the need for more hybrid quantum computing with supercomputers in the region. Since 2023, the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has signed hosting agreements with eight sites across the EU to host the first European quantum computers, which will be integrated with EuroHPC supercomputers.
These new quantum computers, based on cutting-edge European technology, will be in Czechia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The investment totals €140 million, with 50% from the EU and 50% from 17 of the EuroHPC JU participating countries.
These eight quantum computers come on top of two analogue quantum simulators also procured under the EuroHPC JU, installed in the Très Grand Centre de Calcul in France and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre in Germany.