The Quantum Technol­ogy Alliance Baden-Württemberg, Quantum^BW for short, is an innova­tion initia­tive to promote quantum technol­ogy in the state and is jointly funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministries of Science, Research and the Arts and of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism. The Advisory Board consists of repre­sen­ta­tives from the quantum technol­ogy sector and advises the innita­tive in its actions and the two spokesper­sons, who repre­sent science and indus­try. The spokesper­sons set the frame­work within which Quantum^BW advances the state’s research and devel­op­ment work. The QuantumBW office coordi­nates these activ­i­ties of the innova­tion initia­tive and is the central point of contact for stake­hold­ers and inter­ested parties. It is managed by the IQST of the Univer­sity of Stuttgart and the Univer­sity of Ulm together with the insti­tutes Fraunhofer IAF and Fraunhofer IAO.

Quantum^BW forms a quantum technol­ogy ecosys­tem that consists of strong cross-institutional and inter­dis­ci­pli­nary networks and strength­ens the inter­na­tional compet­i­tive­ness of the location. The focus is on bring­ing together exper­tise, scien­tific discourse across disci­plines and the broad­est possi­ble use of complex infra­struc­tures within the state. To this end, targeted event, network and exchange formats are offered and devel­oped, and location market­ing is being carried out.

Quantum^BW acts as a platform for the coordi­nated devel­op­ment, promo­tion and train­ing of quantum technol­ogy special­ists for science and indus­try and devel­ops concepts for the sustain­able promo­tion of talent by inter­link­ing excel­lent univer­sity teach­ing and business practice. In partic­u­lar, the creation of uniform nation­wide standards for univer­sity educa­tion at Bachelor’s and Master’s level as well as in the area of doctor­ates offers the oppor­tu­nity to train highly quali­fied quantum special­ists as a resource for the local economy in the long term. In addition, application-oriented train­ing programs provide unique oppor­tu­ni­ties for further train­ing. The integra­tion and, if neces­sary, targeted expan­sion of exist­ing support formats and incuba­tors is to promote science-driven spin-off activ­i­ties and inspire young talent to imple­ment innov­a­tive ideas in entre­pre­neur­ial independence.

Quantum^BW will make the complex and capital-intensive infra­struc­tures, such as clean and grey room capac­i­ties or special­ized research labora­to­ries, avail­able to its partners for a more efficient use of the resources avail­able in the state. These infra­struc­tures are further­more to be expanded accord­ing to the require­ments of the Quantum^BW rodmap. One focus here is on the infra­struc­ture for quantum enabling technolo­gies, which currently repre­sent a major bottle­neck for the large-scale indus­trial use of quantum systems.

Baden-Württemberg is leading in the devel­op­ment of quantum comput­ing software and the use of quantum comput­ers in today’s NISQ era (“noisy inter­mi­date scale systems”—medium-sized systems that are prone to hardware-related errors). In addition, research insti­tu­tions and compa­nies are pursu­ing various approaches in the devel­op­ment of quantum comput­ing hardware, primar­ily based on nitro­gen vacan­cies (NV centers) in diamond. In a ten-year roadmap, Quantum^BW supports pre-competitive research and the trans­fer of knowl­edge on quantum comput­ing with a focus on appli­ca­tions of relevant and confirmed use cases and algorithms. To this end, the creation of techno­log­i­cal founda­tions with access to quantum comput­ing hardware for network partners is being pursued.

Baden-Württemberg is world-class in the devel­op­ment of quantum sensors with technol­ogy platforms that have a high technol­ogy readi­ness level and are close to be intro­duced to the market. In order to promote this trans­fer, pre-competitive research and the trans­fer of knowl­edge in the field of quantum sensor technol­ogy are being promoted in Quantum^BW with a focus on future key appli­ca­tions. The neces­sary integra­tion technolo­gies for quantum sensor technol­ogy (enabling technolo­gies) are specif­i­cally supported for the indus­tri­al­iza­tion of the research results. These goals are set out in a ten-year roadmap.