The partnership between startups and large companies holds the key to unlocking quantum talent and advancements

Quantum technology startups benefit from a highly educated and cosmopolitan population in the Paris region. The key to unlocking the talent and making the right advancements in quantum depends highly on the partnership between startups and large companies. We caught up with Choose Paris Region’s Thomas Fauvel, Deep Tech Industry Expert to discuss their aims within the quantum landscape and what the key is to achieving success.

Please give us a little introduction on your current role and what you do.

I am the deep tech expert at Choose Paris Region. I support international tech companies willing to set up a subsidiary in our Region. I connect them to the ecosystem (clusters, experts, academics, institutions) by easing their integration and success such as access to public support. I therefore came to Quantum.Tech EU 2023 along with a representative of Paris-Saclay, our leading tech and innovation campus.

What do you consider your biggest professional achievement to date?

I am very proud of helping five foreign companies of the quantum tech industry set up in the Paris Region in the past 2 years.

Quantum ecosystems are developing rapidly, what makes you stand above the noise?

Paris Region is standing at the forefront of the international competition thanks to different factors:

• A centralized R&D ecosystem providing technologies and talents in software and hardware.

• Exceptional infrastructures such as the TGCC (very large computing center) which will be hybridized soon, or the C2N (Centre for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies) cleanrooms next to enabling technologies providers,

• A strong investment capacity merging public and private money, respectively Bpifrance and Quantonation to name the main players.
  

You can find the most impressive concentration of these assets on the Paris-Saclay plateau, one the world’s top 8 innovation campuses.

Find out more in our video: BreakThrough Quantum

What is the most exciting project Paris Region has supported in the past 12 months?

Since 2020, Paris Region has already supported 10 different experimentations named PAck Quantique or PAQ, ranging from EV-charger location optimisation to submarine simulation, for an overall value of €4.4M. The most exciting is probably the one launched at Allianz France recently. Proof of the international openness of this funding, it funds a quantum machine learning technology to detect cyber threats at Allianz France (Germany), using algorithms from Multiverse Computing France (Spain) and the hardware from IQM France (Finland).

Where do you think the ‘quantum advantage’ will appear?

This question is a trap. Who knows!? As far as a territory is concerned, the quantum advantage will come out of the ecosystem which offers the broadest diversity of technological platforms. Paris Region hosts advanced startups that develop 4 different ones: Pasqal with cold atoms, Quandela with single photon sources and photons, C12 with carbon nanotubes electron spins qubits, and Alice & Bob with superconducting effect cat Qubits. To be honest, we can now count up to 5 platforms with the recent development of Crystal Quantum Computing using trapped ions in Rydberg states.

While we wait to achieve the quantum advantage, we can rely on ATOS's QLM (Quantum Learning Machine) to emulate qubits using conventional hardware.

There has been a huge amount of discussion in the first half of the year around generative AI. What do you see as the future relationship between generative AI and quantum computing?

It is all about the success of hybrid quantum-HPC that is starting in Europe. I hope that the exponential energy consumption of LLMs’ training will be lowered by the future capacity of QC. In Paris Region, we rely on the project of PASQAL providing a 100 qubits QC to the TGCC

Do you think the big breakthroughs in quantum will be driven by national governments or multinational enterprises?

I think in France today and for the next 3 years or more, governments and large companies still need to work together closely. The French national quantum plan still supports academic training and the equipment of public research labs. That’s essential. Since 2020, with its PAck Quantique (PAQ) the Paris Region has decided to make large corporations and startups, or public labs work together on concrete problems.

Who is the tech leader of your region?

For me, PASQAL is the most promising QC provider with scalable room-temperature Qubits based on cold atoms that can mimic natural phenomenon. I am also looking forward of seeing the results of the low error cat qubits of Alice & Bob.

How do you source the best talent when looking for the next quantum trailblazers to join your Region?

Quantum technology startups benefit from a highly educated and cosmopolitan population in Paris Region. Having the world’s #1 university in mathematics (Université Paris-Saclay) is a great asset to attract talent. Then, the presence of a dozen of quantum tech startups in Paris Region is retaining them.

Can you tell us what are your key takeaways from our European event at Twickenham Stadium?

As an economic development organisation, I enjoyed meeting quantum tech companies in international expansion phase of course, but also VCs and prescribers. Our panel discussion with EdF, Naval Group, Inria, Alice&Bob and Pasqal was the occasion to show how Paris Region is at the vanguard of experimentation.

Download The Highlights Report

Thomas Fauvel, Deep Tech Industry Expert at Choose Paris Region moderated the panel on day 2 of Quantum.Tech Europe exploring ‘Industrials Unleashing Quantum Potential: Publicly Supported Experimentation Pushing Boundaries in Paris Region. He was joined by Joseph Mikael, Head of Quantum Technologies, EDF, Christophe Legrand, SVP Global Business Development, Pasqal, Romain Kukla, Convener of the Quantum Technologies activities for the Technical and Innovation Directorate, Naval Group and Harold Ollivier, Quantum Information Processing Researcher, Head of QuantumTech, INRIA and the panel looked at:

• How does a public funding initiative foster collaborations between major industrial groups and startups?
• What benefits and issues are arising from these collaborative experiments where established corporations join forces with agile startups?
  
• How are users and startups overcoming unsolvable challenges?
  
• How can international companies leverage this unique public support?

If you missed the panel discussion, you can watch the video on demand here.

You can look ahead to Quantum.Tech Europe 2024 here.