14 September 2020

Bavaria takes a Quantum Leap

The Bavarian State Government has laid an important foundation stone for future quantum sciences and technologies in Bavaria by allocating a budget of about 120 million euros for the next two years, as announced after today’s cabinet meeting. The field of Quantum Science and Technology (QST) harnesses the properties of quantum physics in order to generate new applications in information and communication technology, sensor technology, materials science, and basic research, as well as to open up new branches of technology in the long term.

The funding support program will decisively strengthen this important future-oriented field, in wich Bavaria holds a leading position worldwide, thus placing it excellently for international competition. The aim is to build on the highly successful basic research in QST, which has also led to the establishment of the Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST) cluster of excellence funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

In a partnership between research and industry, the current program is intended to cover all aspects from basic research to application in order to position Bavaria at the forefront in this economically important field of technology. An alliance of non-university research institutes of the Max Planck Society (MPG), the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (FHG), the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (BAdW), together with Germany's leading universities, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), is working to establish a Munich-based center in QST.This that would provide a particularly high international visibility in all Bavaria-wide activities.
Munich and Bavaria as a whole could thus be developed into a leading international center with the potential to attract the best researchers and open up new opportunities for Bavaria as a business location in this innovative field. The cabinet decision of the State of Bavaria presented today is a significant and forward-looking step in this direction.

Contact

Tatjana Wilk
MCQST General Manager
tatjana.wilk[at]mcqst.de

Anca Ionescu
MCQST Public Outreach
anca.ionescu[at]mcqst.de