On January 4, 2022, three ministers of the French government have announcement the launch of a national quantum computing platform as part of the “France 2030” plan. Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces, Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and Cédric O, Secretary of State in charge of the Digital Transition unveil France’s quantum strategy.
16,000 new jobs in the sector by 2030
During a conference attended by Secretary General for Investment Guillaume Boudy, the three French ministers lifted the veil on the national strategy for quantum computing. As announced by Emmanuel Macron in October 2021, France intends to bet on tech players to respond to the great of our societies. It is within the framework of the “France 2030” strategy that the three ministers announced funding of 1.8 billion euros (including 1 billion by the State), for the development of quantum technologies over the period 2021- 2025.
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This strategy should allow the creation of 16,000 jobs in the quantum sector by 2030. As we know, quantum computing could be the key to solving many of the problems we face today. As stated in the government’s press release, “Quantum computation is based on properties of matter which exist only on the scale of the infinitely small. At full maturity, it would make it possible to perform certain calculations up to 1 billion times faster than conventional computing technology ”.
Quantum computing: a priority for the French Ministry of the Armed Forces
Current supercomputers, such as the Japanese Fugaku, currently considered the most powerful computer in the world, could quickly be obsolete next to quantum computers. The new computing platform unveiled by Florence Parly, Frédérique Vidal, and Cédric O, should precisely allow the interconnection of classical systems with quantum computers. With this strategy, the French government hopes pave the way for solving a series of problems “Currently not soluble in human time”.
The new quantum computing platform will be available to an international community (researchers, manufacturers, startups). Thus, the government wishes to facilitate access to quantum computing capacities, so that these actors can “Identify, develop and test new use cases”. Militarily, there is no doubt that quantum technologies could become a tool of strategic superiority. The Minister of the Armed Forces specifies that this technology could allow “To improve the detection performance of armaments and navigation”.
Launch of the new national quantum computing platform with @VidalFrederique and @cedric_o as part of France’s quantum strategy launched by @EmmanuelMacron in January 2021 ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/U5nO9LbIeI
– Florence Parly (@florence_parly) January 4, 2022