QuantERA II ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies

Project description

Reinforcing European scientific leadership in the quantum technologies domain

The QuantERA II ERA-NET Cofund answers the ever-growing need for collaborative endeavors and common funding schemes within the highly interdisciplinary quantum technology (QT) domain. As the widest European network of research funding organisations in QT, QuantERA II aims to encourage and promote excellent QT research through a coordinated action: directing the transnational calls for proposals, fostering international dialogue and cooperation, and mapping the development of public policies in QT. The calls for proposals continue to reward outstanding ideas, providing a catalyst for new QT research. Recognising the importance of gender balance in research and promoting the inclusion of Widening Countries, QuantERA II continues its mission to spread research excellence across Europe and beyond, aiming to reinforce European scientific leadership.

Objective

Quantum Technologies (QT) is a highly interdisciplinary, paradigm-changing area of research. European researchers have been at the forefront of these developments, delivering many groundbreaking scientific results and advancing technological exploitation. For the past four years, the QuantERA network has been successfully providing the research community with a coordinated Europe-wide approach to support cutting-edge research in QT. Building on this experience, with EU support, the QuantERA consortium (currently present in 30 countries) will continue its activities and develop them even further. The central objective of this proposal is to launch a transnational co-funded call with a planned budget of over €26M of national contributions. €15M of EU contribution is expected to support the co-funded call budget and project tasks. In accordance with the FET Work Programme 2018-2020, the scientific scope of the QuantERA II co-funded call will complement the Quantum Technologies Flagship activities. QuantERA II will seek to effectively liaise with the QT Flagship and other stakeholders in the field of QT research to make the best use of the collective European experience in QT research funding, as well as address the gender imbalance in QT research and spread the research excellence across European Research Area (ERA). A range of additional activities will be integrated into the launch of the co-funded call: strengthening the multilateral dialogue with policy makers regarding the design of future funding instruments, stimulation of networking and exchange of best practices, continuation of mapping of public QT policies in Europe, use of the Guidelines on Responsible Research and Innovation in QT developed in the first QuantERA programme. The QuantERA II proposal conforms to the specific challenges and scope of the Work Programme Horizon 2020-Future and Emerging Technologies by providing a structured framework to coordinate national and regional research programmes in QT.