Launch of QEC4QEA: Building a One-Stop Shop for Quantum Solutions and Expertise
QEC4QEA, a European research project funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) with approximately €4.8 million, has kicked off to establish a European Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Enhanced Applications. Over its four-year duration, the project, coordinated by the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, brings together 19 industrial and academic partners from Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania and Turkey to create a one-stop shop for quantum solutions, support services and educational programmes.
A Synergistic Platform for Comprehensive Support
Although the development of quantum computers is associated with major transformations in cryptography, financial modelling, data security and pharmaceutical research, the deployment of quantum technologies still faces significant challenges. A lack of standardised tools, specialised training, shared access to technological infrastructure, and limited interaction between scientists and industrial partners remain key barriers. QEC4QEA aims to address this situation. The one-stop shop, conceived as a synergistic platform, will accelerate exchange between developers, quantum computing experts, infrastructure providers and end-users. It will offer a comprehensive service portfolio, ranging from a hardware-independent application library and benchmarking tools to curated access to high-performance computing (HPC) and quantum infrastructures across Europe. In addition, a help desk and tailored educational programmes will provide the expertise needed to cultivate a new generation of application-oriented scientists specialised in quantum-enhanced applications.
Unifying Expertise in Quantum and High-Performance Computing
QEC4QEA envisions the close integration of quantum functionalities into classical high-performance computing (HPC) applications, as well as the support of genuinely quantum–classical algorithms to advance HPC applications by transforming them into quantum-enhanced applications. To this end, the project will foster the co-design of quantum architectures by establishing and maintaining close collaboration between developers and users. Particular focus will be placed on applications such as cryptography, quantum-enhanced machine learning, image analysis and financial crash prediction in order to showcase the real-world applicability of quantum technologies. By accelerating capacity building in quantum technologies across Europe and enabling federated access to quantum resources and infrastructures, QEC4QEA will contribute to ongoing efforts to establish a strong European ecosystem for quantum computing and quantum simulation.
Close Connection to European Quantum Initiatives
The partners involved in QEC4QEA maintain strong links to major European quantum initiatives. All participating supercomputing centres are EuroHPC hosting entities, and several partners have contributed to large-scale initiatives such as the Quantum Flagship. Together with these initiatives, QEC4QEA shares the ambition of promoting scientific excellence while strengthening Europe’s technological competitiveness.
