At the start of June it was announced that the Dutch government, alongside TU Delft, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and six other institutions, have pledged to invest €135 million over the next decade to develop quantum computing.
Over the past few years, scientific efforts worldwide have been increasingly directed towards developing a quantum computer. They are much more powerful and faster than any super-computer and are based on a quantum network which is impervious to hacking or interference – something particularly valuable in today’s climate. While regular computers work with bits, assigned either the state 1 or 0, quantum computers work with qubits which can have both values simultaneously, and are entangled with other neighbouring qubits. The more entanglements, the more powerful the computer according to Anouschka Versleijen, strategy director of QuTech, the Delft based quantum research centre where this funded development will take place.
Although QuTech has been operating since 2014, finishing the first quantum computer will take more than a few years. Versleijen emphasises that they are extremely pleased that the Dutch government and these institutes have committed to the large-scale, long-term investment necessary for this kind of technology. Often grants for scientific research see many interesting questions brought up, but not always solutions. However, with this €135 million over a ten-year period, “it means QuTech is a research institute with a lifespan consistent with a specific long-term research project.” The end goal for QuTech is, of course, to develop a quantum computer, quantum networks or even quantum internet.
There are already a number of TU Delft students working with QuTech. Versleijen told Delta that while they encourage more students to join, they hope to stabilise in the next few years with around 200 researchers, and from there the €135 million will fund their research for the long-haul rather than funding the centre’s growth. She also emphasised the fact that QuTech, a joint venture between the physics and electrical engineering department, has the opportunity to work with TNO, offering a new take on their research. “We are able to do science 2.0; we are able to combine TU Delft science research with applied engineering kind of research into one big melting point.”
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