French National Quantum Update February 2023
Executive Summary
February is a short month, but the companies in France’s quantum ecosystem made good work of the time available. Welinq, which just announced its seed funding, is already making strides. The company was mentioned as a finalist in the Hello Tomorrow global challenge. Government initiatives are also supporting the ecosystem. Efforts are particularly being aimed at growing France’s quantum startup community. An array of government programs – from programs to support quantum sensor industry to ones that aim to boost equity investments – is a sign of the government’s financial and morale support of quantum.
Policy
New Call for Proposal on Quantum Sensors
As part of the national quantum strategy, launched in 2021, the ANR is launching a call for research projects in the field of quantum sensors and metrology. The roadmap of the national quantum strategy includes in particular a response to metrology needs that appear in the context of the development of quantum technologies.
Capital
The European Union is setting up an initiative to boost equity investments and prevent its most promising high-tech companies from being bought out by foreign investors once they become successful. The signature ceremony for the European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI) took place on Monday (13 February) on the sidelines of a meeting of the Eurogroup, an informal body that gathers the economy ministers of eurozone countries.
Business
First Archiving Service with PQC protection from La Poste Group
The quantum computer makes it possible, in the long term, to break these algorithms. It is therefore appropriate, as Anssi does, to anticipate the migration to post-quantum cryptography. As for archiving players, we are also preparing for future quantum attacks.
Welinq, Wainvam and Mag4health awarded from France2030 plan
Welinq has been selected as a Finalist of the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge! From more than 4000 applications, the company is one of the 6 finalists of the “Advanced Computing & Electronics” track supported by Murata, Infineon Technologies and imec. Read more in the LinkedIn post.
WAINVAM-E is Laureate of the Techinnov France 2030 competition. The project presented for this competition is WELFA, our Lateral Flow Test (LFA) system based on functionalized fluorescent nanodiamonds, for diagnostic assistance and treatment follow-up. Read more in the LinkedIn post.
Mag4Health was supported by the French government program France 2030 ! The company’s mission is to valorize a technology resulting from the research and development at CEA and LETI to put it at the service of the patients and medicine. Read more in the LinkedIn post.
A plug-and-play integration between Quantinuum and Thales allows businesses to greatly enhance cryptographic key generation without requiring any modifications to existing infrastructure or applications from the end user. The collaboration combines the cutting-edge key generation technology of Quantum Origin with the peace of mind of Thales Luna HSMs.
LeMonde Reviews The Potential of Quantum Technology
A LeMonde article discusses the technological revolutions that have followed the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics and the promises of quantum mechanics. While quantum computing and ultra-secure communications have been the focus of attention, there is another area of innovation that is rapidly growing – quantum sensors. These sensors can record, analyze, and utilize signals from a variety of sources, including magnetic fields, radio frequencies, and gravity. French Nobel laureate Alain Aspect refers to this as the “second revolution” of quantum mechanics.
Between War and Research: Mastering Critical Technologies in Reconstruction
The French Institute of International Relations — IFRI — published an article discussing geopolitics of quantum technologies. The study is part of the series “Political capitalisms at war” and will be discussed by the author in the Senate.
Research
Are We Entering The Era of Quantum Computing
Researchers believe that quantum technology can be used to develop next-generation telescopes. One team proposing quantum telescopes includes scientists from the University of Oregon, Michigan, and the quantum computer developer PASQAL, who developed a similar table-top interferometry experiment that relied on two entangled field modes.
French Researcher Reports on Noisy intermediate-scale Quantum Computing Algorithm
Marko J. Rančić, of TotalEnergies, Nano-INNOV in Palaiseau, France, reports on a novel quantum optimization algorithm, which uses exponentially less qubits as compared to the QAOA while requiring a significantly reduced number of quantum operations to solve the MaxCut problem.
Education
Universities Named to List of Best Universities in France for Quantum and Particle Physics
Edurank released the list of best universities in France for Quantum and particle physics. The organization ranked the universities based on their research performance. The site includes a graph of 1.31 million citations received by 18,200 academic papers made by 38 universities in France.
Events
Le Lab Quantique Pulls Together Quantum Ecosystem
An international group of quantum experts met at Le Lab Quantique and reviewed important events of 2022. The event highlighted the educational and training officials in the quantum ecosystem, including Eleni Diamanti, Nicolas Treps, and Frédéric Grosshans-André from CNRS, who coordinate French efforts to teach and raise awareness about quantum computing. Additionally, international organizations such as QuantumBasel, Chicago Quantum Exchange, and Quantum Delta NL present their efforts to create the next generation of workforce in quantum computing.
EDF and Teratec Hold Conference on Hybrid Quantum Computing
A conference on hybrid computing was co-organized by EDF and Teratec in Palaiseau in the TQCI series (Teratec Quantum Computing Initiative). Speakers included Jacques-Charles La Foucrière from the CEA, Scott Pakin from the DoE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (remotely), Alexia Auffèves, Olivier and Théau Peronnin, whoc provide an update on the Quantum Energy Initiative, as well as Amazon (Sebastian Stern, Specialist Solution Architect Quantum Computing, AWS), IBM (Ismael Faro, Chief Architect Quantum Computing Cloud and Software) and Microsoft (Vivien Londe, Microsoft France).
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