Quantum CARLA attracts a record number of over 400 participants

The third edition of Quantum CARLA: The Quantum Careers Symposium took place at La Pedrera, the iconic landmark by Antoni Gaudí, in Barcelona on 22 March 2024.  

The third edition of Quantum CARLA, the quantum careers symposium, inspired by CARLA, was organised by ICFO on behalf of the Quantum Flagship, in collaboration with the European project  Digitally Enhanced Quantum Technology (DigiQ) Master and the Master in Quantum Science and Technology Barcelona. The main sessions were streamed live via ICFO's YouTube channel. The symposium was sponsored by Fujitsu, GMV, IBM Quantum, Ideaded, LuxQuanta, Pasqal, Qilimanjaro, Quandela, Quside, and Xanadu.  

Following a warm welcome, the symposium kicked-off with a keynote lecture on the landscape of quantum technologies, followed by panel sessions dedicated to various aspects of career development in the field. The invited speakers who represented academia, spin-off companies and larger corporations shared insights into their career paths and perspectives on recruiting employees within their companies. In addition, an informative session on national and international quantum initiatives demonstrated the efforts of quantum European projects such as QSNP, EuroQCI, DigiQ, Pasquans2, QIA and Quantum Spain, were presented. The symposium finished with testimonials from current Ph.D candidates and postdoctoral researchers. The Q&A sessions initiated interesting discussions where the participants actively engaged with the panellists and continued their conversations during the networking sessions. You may find further information about the speakers and programme here.

Representatives from these companies were available during networking sessions, highlighting the valuable opportunities for engagement and collaboration for academic and business organisations to attract talent and promote careers in quantum sciences. Participants expressed their appreciation for these connections, as they were able to better understand the professional opportunities in the field of quantum technologies and connect with the representatives in a casual environment.  

With over 400 attendees from 44 countries and 26 speakers from academia and industry, the event sparked insightful conversations and connections. According to the feedback collected anonymously through an online form and responded by 99 participants, the event obtained an overall rating of 4.5/5, and 98% of participants would recommend the Quantum CARLA symposium to friends. Here is what some participants had to say:  

• Networking session was awesome. Also, the PhD candidates shared a lot of useful advices for undergraduates and MSc students.  
• Thank you for giving us the opportunity to expand our knowledge and curiosity while presenting plausible career paths.  
• Thank you for organising such a great activity!  
• I found it quite illustrating!  
• It was an amazing event that enlarged my view about the current and future opportunities and ongoing works around quantum technologies from a variety of factors.  
• Being in Peru, this quantum workforce events are a good way to democratize the knowledge.  

The CARLA events are now expanded with the 360 CARLA, a new EU Horizon Europe project coordinated by ICFO that hopes to reach an even broader audience of university students and early-stage researchers. 360 CARLA focuses on creating career development programmes in four photonics application verticals: health, quantum technologies, energy, environment and sustainability, and manufacturing/industry 4.0.