European Quantum Act | Updates
What is the European Quantum Act?
The proposed European Quantum Act is a bold initiative aimed at establishing Europe as a global leader in quantum technology while addressing economic, ethical, and security challenges in a rapidly evolving quantum-powered future.
According to the European Commission, to unlock the transformative power of quantum, the EU needs to develop a fully-fledged European quantum ecosystem that builds on its tradition of excellence in quantum research.
During her confirmation hearing before the European Parliament on November 12, 2024, Henna Virkkunen, the Commissioner-designate for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, emphasized the critical role of quantum technologies in bolstering Europe's technological independence and competitiveness. She highlighted that while Europe possesses top-tier quantum researchers and research, the market remains fragmented due to different national strategies. To address this, Virkkunen proposed developing a comprehensive EU quantum strategy, aimed at unifying efforts, pooling resources, and coordinating investments across member states. This initiative seeks to position Europe as a global leader in quantum innovation, ensuring strategic autonomy in this pivotal field.
Henna Virkkunen’s confirmation hearing, and the European Quantum Act.
A confirmation hearing is a formal procedure in which a nominated candidate for a high-level public position is questioned by a legislative body before being approved for the role. These hearings are commonly used to ensure that nominees are qualified, competent, and aligned with the policies and goals of the organization they will serve.
In the European Union, nominees for the Commission, including Executive Vice-Presidents and Commissioners, must be vetted by the European Parliament to assess their ability to perform their roles. Each nominee presents their vision and policy priorities during a public hearing. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) ask questions about their policy focus, potential conflicts of interest, and strategy for implementing EU goals. A vote of confidence follows, determining whether the nominee can take office.
Henna Virkkunen’s confirmation hearing was an opportunity for MEPs to evaluate her qualifications, policies on AI, quantum technology, and cybersecurity, and her overall fitness for the role.
As of February 21, 2025, Henna Virkkunen serves as the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy in the European Commission. She assumed this role on December 1, 2024, under the leadership of President Ursula von der Leyen.
In this capacity, Virkkunen is responsible for enhancing the European Union's technological independence, securing critical digital infrastructure, and promoting democratic values in the digital realm. Her portfolio includes overseeing digital and frontier technologies, implementing strategies to achieve Europe's 2030 Digital Decade targets, and developing initiatives such as the EU Cloud and AI Development Act.
The rapidly evolving quantum-powered future.
The First Quantum Revolution took place in the early 20th century, fundamentally changing our understanding of nature at the atomic and subatomic levels. This period saw the development of quantum mechanics, a revolutionary framework that explained phenomena that classical physics (Newtonian mechanics and Maxwell’s electromagnetism) could not.
By the late 19th century, classical physics was considered nearly complete, but certain experimental observations could not be explained, leading to the development of quantum theory.
One of the key "cracks" in classical physics is the "Ultraviolet Catastrophe". According to classical theory, a perfect blackbody (an object that absorbs and emits all electromagnetic radiation perfectly, regardless of wavelength) should emit infinite energy as the frequency of radiation increases. This was clearly incorrect, as experimental data showed that real blackbodies emitted a finite amount of energy and followed a specific curve. This paradox led to the birth of quantum mechanics, when Max Planck introduced the revolutionary idea that energy is quantized, meaning that energy is not continuous but exists in discrete packets called "quanta" (singular: quantum).
Another key "crack" in classical physics is determinism. In Newtonian mechanics, objects have definite positions and velocities at all times. In principle, if we had perfect measuring instruments, we could determine the exact position and momentum of a particle simultaneously. This assumption is the foundation of determinism, the idea that knowing the present state allows us to predict the future.
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics stating that it is impossible to simultaneously determine both the exact position and the exact momentum of a particle with perfect accuracy. This principle, formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, challenges classical physics, which assumes that both properties can be known precisely at the same time.
The uncertainty principle has far-reaching consequences in quantum mechanics and modern physics. For example, according to the classical view of atoms, electrons should orbit the nucleus like planets around the sun. After the uncertainty principle, we know that electrons do not follow precise orbits but exist in probability clouds (orbitals).
The First Quantum Revolution gave us quantum mechanics (Planck, Einstein, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Dirac), semiconductors (basis for transistors, microchips, and modern electronics), lasers (used in fiber-optic communication, medicine, and industry), and nuclear energy (from atomic physics to power plants and nuclear weapons).
The Second Quantum Revolution is giving us quantum computing, quantum communication (secure communication with quantum encryption), qantum sensing (ultra-precise measurement tools), and quantum simulation (mimicking complex molecules and materials).
The Second Quantum Revolution is currently underway, transforming how we use quantum systems to develop groundbreaking technologies. It focuses on harnessing quantum effects for practical applications, including quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing. This revolution is not theoretical, it is actively driving new industries, economic growth, and national security strategies worldwide.
Quantum computing in the EU.
The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is a joint initiative between the EU, European countries and private partners to develop a world-class supercomputing ecosystem in Europe.
The EuroHPC JU aims to improve quality of life of European citizens, advance science, boost industrial competitiveness, and ensure Europe’s technological autonomy. It is a legal and funding entity, created in 2018 and located in Luxembourg. It pools together the resources of the European Union, 32 European countries and three private partners with the ambition of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing.
As part of the EuroHPC JU, the European Commission is working to build state-of-the-art pilot quantum computers. In October 2022, the EuroHPC JU announced the selection of six sites across the EU to host the first European quantum computers, which will be integrated into EuroHPC supercomputers. These newly acquired quantum computers will be based on purely state-of-the-art European technology and will be located at sites in Czechia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Poland.
This will be the first step towards the deployment of a European quantum computing infrastructure, which will be accessible to European users from science and industry via the cloud on a non-commercial basis. This infrastructure will be dedicated to accelerating the creation of new knowledge and solutions to global societal challenges. Thanks to its massive computing capacity, it will address complex simulation and optimisation problems, especially in materials development, drug discovery, weather forecasting, transportation and other real-world problems of high importance to industry and society.
On December 5, 2023, the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU introduced a declaration, which EU Member States sign to affirm their recognition of the strategic importance of quantum technologies for the EU’s scientific and industrial competitiveness. By endorsing this declaration, Member States commit to fostering collaboration in the development of a world-class quantum technology ecosystem across Europe. The ultimate objective is to establish Europe as the global leader in quantum excellence and innovation—positioning it as the ‘quantum valley’ of the world.
Twenty-six Member States have signed the Declaration: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden.
The European Declaration on Quantum Technologies
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