Europe Determined To Go to Head of Quantum Computing Pack

(Politico.eu) Europe is determined to be ahead of the pack when it comes to computing power in the 21st century.
Thierry Breton and Margrethe Vestager, two top officials at the European Commission, have thrown their weight behind a push to build new supercomputers and harness the enormous potential of quantum computing.
The European Commission launched its €1 billion Quantum Technologies Flagship program in 2018, which will provide funding for European quantum research over the next 10 years.
The European Commission has proposed to spend €2.4 billion through the Digital Europe program. EU leaders slashed the bloc’s funding for Digital Europe to just under €6.8 billion. Quantum projects will also receive some funding from the EU’s €80.9 billion Horizon Europe research program.
Quantum computing’s processing power, EU leaders hope, will help Europe lead a new technological revolution based on industrial, agricultural or energy data.
However, Europe has some catching up to do. The U.S. and China currently have the most supercomputers, and hold the most patents on quantum computers and technology. (The Chinese government reportedly spends at least $2.5 billion a year on quantum research. In 2018, President Donald Trump signed a law that earmarked $1.2 billion for quantum research, and in February proposed funding quantum information research by $237 million in the 2021 budget.

NOTE:  IQT Europe Online is October 26-30. This conference is a continuation of the IQT European shows and, is run in conjunction with r partner, QuTech (founded by the Technical University Delft and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research). The European orientation of this conference is reflected in many of our speakers who will come from both the leading European multinationals as well as European based quantum startups. There will also be speakers from both the EU and individual European governments.