Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on Sym­po­si­um Ger­ma­ny 2024

With the aim of uniting the wide-ran­ging Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on Eco­sys­tem in Ger­ma­ny, the Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on Sym­po­si­um Ger­ma­ny 2024 (QCSG24) took place from 12 to 14 Novem­ber 2024 as a forum for all stake­hol­ders in Qcom. The hybrid event, which was acces­si­ble both on the cam­pus of the Phy­si­ka­lisch-Tech­ni­sche Bun­des­an­stalt (PTB) in Braun­schweig and via an online stream, offe­red experts, young sci­en­tists, and inte­res­ted par­ties from indus­try, rese­arch, and poli­tics the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pre­sent and dis­cuss the latest deve­lo­p­ments in Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on and deve­lop joint stra­te­gies for the future.

At the begin­ning of the event, Prof. Dr. Cor­ne­lia Denz, Pre­si­dent of PTB, wel­co­med the more than 180 par­ti­ci­pan­ts and empha­zi­sed the rele­van­ce of joint efforts: “Only tog­e­ther we can get into action.” After a wel­co­ming speech by Dani­el Beh­rendt from the Bun­des­mi­nis­te­ri­um für Bil­dung und For­schung (BMBF), Prof. Dr. Die­ter Mesche­de (Uni­ver­si­ty of Bonn) gave a brief over­view of the cur­rent sta­te of Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, with an empha­sis on its importance for digi­tal secu­ri­ty. The first day was also cha­rac­te­ri­sed by a lively panel dis­cus­sion and other insightful pre­sen­ta­ti­ons focu­sing on the Euro­pean Qcom eco­sys­tem.

The second day of QCSG24 was dedi­ca­ted to the use cases of Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on. In the first ses­si­on, part­ners from the umbrel­la pro­ject and rela­ted are­as pre­sen­ted their acti­vi­ties, focu­sing on topics such as the net­wor­king plat­form (Quan­tum Busi­ness Net­work (QBN)), moni­to­ring and road­map­ping (Fraun­ho­fer-Insti­tut für Sys­tem- und Inno­va­ti­ons­for­schung (ISI)) and stan­dar­diza­ti­on (Phy­si­ka­lisch-Tech­ni­sche Bun­des­an­stalt (PTB) and Deut­sches Insti­tut für Nor­mung (DIN)). Fur­ther­mo­re, the chal­lenges and poten­ti­als in the field of tech­no­lo­gy trans­fer were dis­cus­sed in detail. In the second ses­si­on, valuable insights into tech­no­lo­gy trans­fer were pro­vi­ded and examp­les of start-ups and fun­ding oppor­tu­ni­ties were pre­sen­ted. In the after­noon, the focus was on ‘QKD in Space’. Spe­ci­fic pro­jects and appli­ca­ti­ons for satel­li­te-based Quan­tum Key Dis­tri­bu­ti­on (QKD) offe­red exci­ting per­spec­ti­ves on this pio­nee­ring tech­no­lo­gy. The day was roun­ded off with an equal­ly inte­res­t­ing pre­sen­ta­ti­on on the topic of time. During the cof­fee breaks, par­ti­ci­pan­ts took the oppor­tu­ni­ty to exch­an­ge ide­as bey­ond the pre­sen­ta­ti­ons and pit­ches, make new cont­acts and visit the stands of indus­tri­al com­pa­nies and start-ups from the Qcom sec­tor, inclu­ding ADVA Net­work Secu­ri­ty GmbH, Bea­ring­Point, KEE­Quant GmbH, Mon­ta­na Instru­ments, and Quan­tum Optics Jena (QOJ), as part of the indus­try exhi­bi­ti­on.

On the last day, fun­da­men­tal rese­arch into Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on was on the agen­da. After an intro­duc­tion to the latest rese­arch results, pre­sen­ta­ti­ons on mul­ti-par­ty net­works and the resi­li­ence of Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on Sys­tems con­cluded the event. At the end, the par­ti­ci­pan­ts were able to take a lab tour and take a clo­ser look at the PTB faci­li­ties. After three eventful days, the Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on Sym­po­si­um Ger­ma­ny 2024 final­ly ended as a com­ple­te suc­cess and left num­e­rous valuable impres­si­ons, new oppor­tu­ni­ties for coope­ra­ti­on, and con­cre­te per­spec­ti­ves for the future of Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on in Ger­ma­ny and Euro­pe.

In order to car­ry out tar­ge­ted stan­dar­diza­ti­on acti­vi­ties and iden­ti­fy the most urgent need for action, DIN is con­duc­ting a sur­vey as part of SQuaD until 30 Novem­ber 2024. Now it’s your turn: your par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on is cru­cial to dri­ve stan­dar­diza­ti­on in the field of Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on for­ward. Plea­se get invol­ved!

Pho­to: The par­ti­ci­pan­ts of the Quan­tum Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on Sym­po­si­um Ger­ma­ny 2024.

Aut­hor of the pho­to: © PTB