EuroHPC Joint Undertaking announced the selection of the six sites that will host the first European quantum computers. Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, of all the states that participated in the Expression of Interest (EOI) published in March 2022, passed the selections to become hosting entities.
This selection is part of the EuroQCI (European Quantum Communication Infrastructure) initiative, which aims to build a secure quantum communication infrastructure across Europe, and of the Quantum Technology Flagship, a long-term research and innovation initiative with the aim to put the European Union at the forefront of the second quantum revolution.
The quantum computers will be integrated on site into existing supercomputers, and will form a wide network across Europe. The total planned investment is over €100 million, half of which comes from the EU and the other half from the 17 countries participating in the EuroHPC JU. Academic researchers and the industry, no matter where in Europe they are located, will be able to access these six quantum computers based on state-of-the-art European technology.
For Italy, the EuroQCS-Italy project was selected. EuroQCS-Italy is an Italian-led consortium formed by Italy (CINECA, hosting entity), Slovenia (ARNES) and Germany (FZJ). The chosen quantum computer is a "neutral atoms" qubit technology computer, capable of operate both in analog than in digital mode. The new machine will be installed at the Tecnopolo of Bologna, to be integrated with Leonardo which, thanks to its particular and futuristic architecture, lends itself extraordinarily well to the purpose.
The Italian strategy for the development of quantum computing passes through a close link with the world of HPC. The newborn National Center of HPC, Big Data and Quantum Computing, financied by the Italian government and led by INFN (with the participation, especially at the infrastructural level, of CINECA) aims at the creation of a national network of supercomputers connected to various types of accelerators, including quantum accelerators.
More Information on the EuroHPC JU website, and on the announce on the website of the European Commission and on the joint press release.
