Quantum Technology

ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences is a research center located in a specially designed, 14.000 m2-building situated in the Mediterranean Technology Park in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. It currently hosts more than 300 researchers, including research group leaders, post-doctoral researchers, PhD students, research engineers, and staff, organized in 26 research groups working in 60 state-of-the-art research laboratories, equipped with the latest experimental facilities and supported by a range of cutting-edge facilities for nanofabrication, characterization, imaging and engineering. ICFOnians have been awarded 15 ICREA Professorships, 27 European Research Council grants and 7 Fundació Cellex Barcelona Nest Fellowships, and the institute consistently appears in top worldwide positions in international rankings measuring research excellence. On the industrial side, ICFO participates actively in the European Technological Platform Photonics21 and is also very proactive in fostering entrepreneurial activities and spin-off creation. The center participates in incubator activities and seeks to attract venture capital investment. ICFO hosts an active Corporate Liaison Program that aims at creating collaborations and links between industry and ICFO researchers. To date, ICFO has helped create 6 start-up companies.
At ICFO, there is a very strong focus on quantum activities, with over half of the centre’s groups participating in research related to quantum technologies. Our theories, discoveries and experiments often represent essential technological elements in today’s cutting edge applications and are also setting the theoretical foundations of future quantum solutions.