The call focuses on cooperative research projects that aim to further develop findings from basic and preliminary research in the field of quantum technologies with a view to practical application and to make them usable for industry. The projects are aimed at an intensive use of the capacities of the Competence Center Quantum Computing Baden-Württemberg.

“The Competence Center Quantum Computing in Baden-Württemberg is a lighthouse project with international appeal. With this funding, we are further expanding the competencies for tapping the innovation potential of quantum computing for economic and scientific applications in Baden-Württemberg,” said Economics Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut. “We want to harness the enormous innovation potential of quantum computing for economic and scientific applications in the state and thus gain an important locational advantage. With this funding call, we want to further expand our ecosystem on quantum technologies consisting of universities, research institutes, start-ups and companies in Baden-Württemberg and increase its international visibility. I cordially invite all interested universities, non-university research institutions and companies to become actively involved in the work of the competence center as partners and to help shape the future in Baden-Württemberg together,” the minister continued.

The funding call focuses on the collaboration of leading scientists from university and non-university research institutions in Baden-Württemberg in application-oriented collaborative research projects on quantum hardware and software. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, together with partners from the scientific institutions and industry, will further develop the knowledge required for this and transfer it into practice. Funding will be provided primarily for cross-disciplinary and cross-location collaborative projects that make a significant contribution to strengthening research and development in the field of quantum computing in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The state will provide up to 12.25 million euros in funding for selected collaborative projects in the first round of calls for proposals in 2023 and 2024.

The Competence Center Quantum Computing Baden-Württemberg

Computational methods based on quantum effects, also known as quantum computing, offer the prospect of entirely new solutions in the treatment of complex systems and are becoming increasingly important for economically relevant issues.

The Competence Center Quantum Computing Baden-Württemberg operated by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the first of its kind in a Germany-wide network of competence centers on quantum computing operated by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The state government of Baden-Württemberg is providing a total of up to 40 million euros for the establishment and collaborative projects within the framework of the Competence Center Quantum Computing Baden-Württemberg over the period 2020 to 2024. The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, based in Freiburg, is the coordinating lead for the competence center together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, based in Stuttgart. Currently, six collaborative projects on quantum computing from the first round of calls for proposals are being funded by the state in the period 2021 and 2022.

The cooperation between the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the company IBM has enabled the first installation in Europe of an “IBM Quantum System One” of the latest generation, currently the most commercially powerful quantum computer in Baden-Württemberg, at the headquarters of IBM Deutschland GmbH in Ehningen. Since the beginning of 2021, the new quantum computer will be used exclusively for research and development projects of science and industry within the competence center and network of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and its partners.

With the internationally visible research and development center, the state is pursuing the goal of stimulating a new quantum hardware and software industry in the country and strengthening start-ups and companies in the fields of micro- and nanoelectronics, photonics as well as quantum information technology.

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