Commissioner Oettinger, in charge of the Digital Economy and Society, was this morning at the Quantum Europe 2016 conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Quantum technologies will have a huge impact on society and economy. They are notably expected to boost the capacities of computers on an unprecedented scale.
During the conference, a ‘Quantum Manifesto’ was presented to Commissioner Oettinger and to Henk Kamp, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs. The “Quantum Manifesto” identifies future priorities in quantum technologies and was endorsed by over 3400 leading European representatives from the fields of science, industry and governmental organisations. It lays the ground for a €1 billion flagship initiative for Europe.
Commissioner Oettinger said: “Building on the strong support to the Quantum Manifesto, we aim to launch an ambitious large-scale flagship initiative to unlock the full potential of quantum technologies, accelerate their development and bring commercial products to public and private users. It should place Europe in the driving seat for the global race to develop quantum technologies and to foster their take-up by industry. No single country can make it on its own, cooperation is essential to succeed. Now it is time to act together at European level to prepare this major European initiative“.
The Commission highlighted the need for Europe to make the most of quantum technologies as part of its European Cloud Initiative presented in April.
