The Autonomous Province of Trento, HIT and Q@TN organized an online event, on 15 June ("Tecnologie quantistiche: dalla scienza all’impresa"), to present the potential of quantum technologies and discuss their technological development, from science to possible industrial applications. An opportunity to disseminate knowledge to a non-academic audience and local companies which may be interested in innovating by taking advantage of the new technologies made available by the Trentino research system. Lorenzo Pavesi, professor of UniTrento and director of Q@TN, was among the speakers
Quantum technologies involve different research areas which exploit different aspects of quantum mechanics to solve a range of problems. These technologies can drive a new industrial revolution and enable huge progress in the coming years in cryptography, computing, communication and security.
However, the physical phenomena that provide the foundations of these technologies, like the quantum entanglement and the quantum superposition, are not so easy to understand out of the research world.
To inform citizens and businesses about the real impact that these technologies can have on society and industrial development, the Autonomous Province of Trento, Fondazione HIT, and the Q@TN lab organized an event named "Tecnologie Quantistiche: dalla scienza all’impresa".
The local ecosystem of quantum sciences and technology is vibrant and lively, future-oriented, and ready to disseminate knowledge, from research to the market, through entities dedicated to technology transfer, like Fondazione HIT.
A lot of basic research is conducted in Trentino, and the sector includes prototyping and small scale manufacturing; the main actors in the field are the University of Trento and Fondazione Bruno Kessler which, with their research projects, have attracted the attention of the international scientific community and received significant European funding.
Q@TN, for example, is a joint laboratory – established by the University of Trento, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, the National Research Council (CNR) and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) – that promotes basic and applied research for the second quantum revolution. In only 4 years, Q@TN managed to involve more than 110 researchers, scientists and PhD students, attract more than 4.5 million euro from international competitive projects (H2020, ERC, Google) and author more than 50 scientific publications.
The 15 June event wrapped up with a speech by Lorenzo Pavesi, professor of UniTrento and director of Q@TN, who said: "Our goal with Q@T is to take advantage of the opportunities made available by quantum technologies thanks to the alliance between the world of research and the local business sector to develop new knowledge, innovative products, and new skills. That is why we are open to collaborations with organizations that work in our region".
Fondazione HIT will soon set out to learn the needs of local companies, organizing meetings with local experts in quantum science and technologies. These meetings, which should take place in the fall, aim to examine the application potential of technologies in specific business and industrial sectors.