Standards4Quantum : making quantum technology ready for industry : putting science into standards.
Date: 2020-05-07
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: computer systems, industrial policy, information security, information technology, innovation, market access, new technology, research report, scientific research, standardisation, technological change

#Standards4Quantum  

Making Quantum Technology 
Ready for Industry 

Putting Science into 
Standards 

Andreas Jenet, Christian Trefzger, 

Adam Miles Lewis, Fabio Taucer,  

Luc Van Den Berghe, Aisha Tüchler, 
Marius Loeffler, Samira Nik 

2020 

EUR 30196 EN 

 
 
 
This publication is a Conference and Workshop report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European 
Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the 
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delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 

EU Science Hub 
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc 

JRC118197 

EUR 30196 EN 

PDF 

ISBN 978-92-76-18452-2 

ISSN 1831-9424 

doi:10.2760/882029 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 

© European Union, 2020 

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All content © European Union, 2020, except: Page 5, Figure 1. Goldstein, NIST, 2019 Source: Presentation 
during the PSIS workshop 

How to cite this report: Jenet, A., Trefzger, C., Lewis, A.M., Taucer, F., Van Den Berghe, L., Tüchler, A., 
Loeffler, M. and Nik, S., Standards4Quantum: Making Quantum Technology Ready for Industry: Putting Science 
into Standards, EUR 30196 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-
18452-2, doi:10.2760/882029, JRC118197 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents 

Foreword .............................................................................................................. 1 

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 2 

Abstract ............................................................................................................... 3 

1  Putting Science Into Standards ............................................................................ 4 

2  The PSIS Workshop on Quantum Technologies ...................................................... 5 

3  Session 1: A revolution, without standards? .......................................................... 7 

3.1  Quantum race: initiatives in the world ............................................................ 7 

3.2  European quantum fleet ............................................................................... 8 

3.3  Standardisation processes .......................................................................... 10 

3.4  Standardisation lessons learnt from the Graphene flagship ............................. 11 

3.5  Standardisation lessons learnt from the private sector .................................... 12 

4  Session 2: Quantum security meets standardisation ............................................ 14 

4.1  Progress of standardisation activities in quantum security fields ...................... 14 

4.2  Discussion ................................................................................................ 15 

5  Session 3: Quantum metrology, sensing and imaging meets standardisation .......... 17 

5.1  Quantum Metrology, Sensing and Imaging applications .................................. 18 

5.1.1  Nitrogen-vacancy centres in nanodiamonds ........................................... 18 

5.1.2  Atomic vapour cell sensors .................................................................. 18 

5.1.3  Ultra-cold atoms for optical atomic and lattice clocks .............................. 18 

5.1.4  Single-photon sources and detectors .................................................... 19 

5.2  Needs and opportunities for standardisation in metrology, sensing and imaging 19 

5.2.1  What standards and how they benefit? ................................................. 19 

5.2.2  How and where can standardisation be conducted? ................................ 19 

5.3  Discussion ................................................................................................ 20 

6  Session 4: Opportunities for Standardisation in other quantum fields ..................... 22 

6.1  Discussion ................................................................................................ 24 

7  Concluding Remarks and way forward ................................................................ 25 

7.1  General conclusions ................................................................................... 25 

7.2  Next Steps ................................................................................................ 27 

References ......................................................................................................... 28 

List of figures ...................................................................................................... 29 

List of tables ....................................................................................................... 30 

List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................ 31 

Annexes ............................................................................................................. 33 

Annex 1. Workshop programme ........................................................................ 33 

Annex 2. Participants list .................................................................................. 35 

Annex 3. Invited speakers ................................................................................ 37 

i 

 
Foreword 

On  28  March  2019  for  the  first  time  nearly  80  quantum  physicist  and  experts  from 
different European countries working in different quantum disciplines gathered  at the 6th 
‘Putting Science into Standards’ Workshop to discuss how to bring their inventions to the 
market to complete the pathway of innovation.  

More  than  6  years  ago,  the  European  Committee  for  Standardization,  the  European 
Committee  for  Electrotechnical  Standardization  and  the  Joint  Research  Centre  of  the 
European  Commission  initiated  the  Putting-Science-Into-Standards  annual  workshop 
series, bringing the scientific, industrial, and standardisation communities together. 

These workshops aim at facilitating the identification of emerging science and technology 
areas that could benefit from standardisation activities to enable innovation and promote 
industrial competitiveness. Six workshops have been held since 2013 in different fields of 
science,  with  the  most  recent  one  organized  in  Brussels  on  28-29  March  2019  on 
Quantum Technologies.  

This  year’s  Putting-Science-Into-Standards  Workshop  on  Quantum  Technologies 
anticipated  future  standardisation  needs  in  quantum  technologies  and  kick-started  a 
forum  for  the  discussion  of  priorities,  particular  technologies  and  the  drafting  of  a 
potential standardisation roadmap.  

The  Quantum  Technology  Flagship  and  its  sponsor  European  Commission’s  Directorate-
General  Communications  Networks,  Content  and  Technology  profited  from  the  Joint 
Research  Centre’s  unique  position  of  being  on  the  one  side  integrated  in  the  Quantum 
Flagship  science  community,  and  on  the  other  side  active  in  technical  committees  of 
European and International Standardisation Organisations. 

1 

 
Acknowledgements 

The authors would like to thank the speakers Ruggero Lensi (CEN-CENELEC), Maive Rute 
(JRC),  Pascal  Maillot  (DG  CNECT),  Tommaso  Calarco  (QT  Flagship/  Forschungszentrum 
Jülich),  Rogier  Verberk  (Quantum  Flagship/TNO),  Werner  Bergholz  (Graphene 
Flagship/ISC),  Nicolas  Gisin  (University  of  Geneva),  Barbara  Goldstein  (NIST),  Joachim 
Lonien  (DIN),  Sean  Kwak  (IDQ),  Hannes  Hübel  (AIT),  Martin  Ward  (Toshiba),  Miguel 
Bañón  (Epoche  &  Espri),  Thierry  Debuisschert  (Thales  Group),  Jakob  Reichel  (Sorbonne 
University),  Ivo  Pietro  Degiovanni  (INRIM),  Stefan  Kück  (PTB),  Stephanie  Wehner 
(QuTech),  Peter  Müller  (IBM),  Mikael  Hjalmarson  (SIS),  Thomas  Monz  (AQT)  for  their 
presentations, the moderator Alex Puissant and the harvesters Stephanie Wehner, Jonas 
Helsen  (QuTech),  Marco  Gramegna  (INRIM),  Adam  Lewis  (JRC)  for  their  contributions 
and all the participants for their active involvement during the event and validation of the 
report.  

The  workshop  would  not  have  been  a  success  without  the  contribution  of  Christian 
Goroncy (DIN), Daniela Abetung, Angel Alvarez Martinez, Sofia Pereira, Alexandre Gerez 
(all JRC), Ashok Ganesh, Christine Van Vlierden and Els Somers (all CEN-CENELEC). 

The  workshop  participants  validated  the  workshop  report  and  its  conclusions  and 
additional comments were included. 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Abstract 

The Quantum Technologies Flagship, officially launched on 29 October 2018 in Vienna, is 
a  EUR  1  billion  initiative,  supported  by  the  European  Commission  and  Member  States, 
funding over 5,000 of Europe's leading Quantum Technologies researchers over the next 
ten  years  and  aiming  at  placing  Europe  at  the  forefront  of  the  second  quantum 
revolution. Its long-term vision is to develop a quantum web, where quantum computers, 
simulators  and  sensors  are  interconnected  via  quantum  communication  networks.  This 
will  help  kick-starting  a  competitive  European  quantum  industry  transforming  research 
results into commercial applications and disruptive technologies.  

The  Joint  Research  Center  (JRC)  in  cooperation  with  the  European  Committee  for 
Standardization (CEN) and the  European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization 
(CENELEC),  European  Commission’s  Directorate  General  Communications  Networks, 
Content  and  Technology  (DG  CNECT),  and  the  German  Institute  of  Standardisation 
(DIN),  organised  in  Brussels  on  28-29  March  2019  the  Putting-Science-Into-Standards 
(PSIS)  workshop  on  Quantum  Technologies.  The  PSIS  workshops  is  an  initiative  that 
brings  together  researchers,  industry  and  standardisers  with  the  purpose  of  facilitating 
the  identification  and  screening  of  emerging  science  and  technology  areas  that  can  be 
introduced early into the process of standardisation to enable innovation. 

The  experience  with  the  innovation  impact  pathway  of  the  Graphene  Flagship  that 
combined  technology  push  and  market  pull  by  working  with  industry  stakeholders  was 
used  to  demonstrate  the  benefit  of  a  strategic  use  of  standardisation  to  increase 
technology readiness levels and reach the market. 

identified  aspects  that  would  benefit 

from 
The  participants  of  the  workshop 
standardisation  activities  in  three  main  areas:  (i)  Quantum  Key  Distribution  and 
quantum-safe security, (ii) Quantum metrology, sensing and imaging, (iii) and Quantum 
computing and internet. Several existing standardisation activities focussing on quantum 
enabled security techniques, quantum computing and communication were also mapped. 
With  the  direct  involvement  of  the  participants,  the  workshop  prepared  the  ground 
towards  a  roadmap  of  additional  pressing  technology  fields  where  standardisation  could 
add  value  to  the  deployment  of  Quantum  Technologies  in  industrial  applications, 
including security, sensing, imaging and measurement.  

An active dialogue between the communities of researchers and standardisers as well as 
a continuous interchange with the Quantum Technologies Flagship would be beneficial for 
future  interactions  and  cooperation.  The  Standards,  Innovation  and  Research  Platform 
(STAIR / CEN and CENELEC) methodology could constitute a straightforward approach to 
host interactions between the communities of researchers and standardisers. 

Next  steps  would  be  to  start  an  interaction  (e.g.  a  cooperation  agreement)  with  the 
Quantum Flagship and in particular with the recently (April 2019) launched Coordination 
and Support Action of the Quantum Flagship. As concrete actions for standardisation, the 
workshop  suggested  to  focus  on  the  standardisation  of  a  quantum  technology 
terminology  and  on  the  development  of  an  EU  standardisation  roadmap  for  Quantum 
Technologies.  These  could  be  addressed  by  a  European  Committee  for  Standardization 
workshop or by a focus group.  

3 

 
1  Putting Science Into Standards 

The ‘Putting Science into Standards’ (PSIS) workshop initiative was launched by the Joint 
Research Centre (JRC) together with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) 
and  the  European  Committee  for  Electrotechnical  Standardization  (CENELEC),  and 
organised  with  the  contribution  of  relevant  services  of  the  European  Commission  and 
National Standardisation Bodies. These workshops bring the scientific and standardisation 
communities closer together by anticipating and bringing new issues requiring standards 
to the standardisation community. 

The initiative is in line with article 9 of the Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, which states 
that  the  Commission’s  research  facilities  shall  '[…]  provide  European  standardisation 
organisations  with  scientific  input,  in  their  areas  of  expertise,  to  ensure  that  European 
standards  take  into  account  economic  competitiveness  and  societal  needs  such  as 
environmental  sustainability  and  safety  and  security  concerns'.  Five  workshops  have 
been organised between 2013 and 2018: 

  Eco-Innovation:  bringing  together  the  scientific,  business  and  standardisation 

communities (Brussels, 24-25 April 2013) 

  Power-to-Hydrogen  and  Hydrogen  enriched  compressed  natural  gas  (Petten,  21-22 

October 2014) 

  Evidence-based  quality  assurance  -  an  example  for  breast  cancer  (Ispra,  20-21 

October 2015) 

  Driving  towards  decarbonisation  of  transport:  Safety,  performance,  second  life  and 

recycling of automotive batteries for e-vehicles (Petten, 22-23 September 2016) 

  Railways of the Future (Brussels, 25 October, 2017) 

These  workshops  are  framed  within  Action  2:  'Linking  Research  and  Innovation  with 
Standardisation',  as  part  of  the  Joint  Initiative  on  Standardisation  (JIS)1,  signed  on  13 
June  2016  in  Amsterdam  between  the  European  Commission,  the  industry  concerned, 
European  Standardization  Organisations  and  the  standardisation  community  in  general, 
with the aim at speeding up and better prioritising standard setting across the board, as 
well as modernising the existing partnership among these actors.   

The JIS is part of the Standardisation package adopted by the European Commission on 
1 June 2016 with the chapeau Communication 'European standards for the 21st century', 
expressing its views on a better coherence of the  EU standardisation policy, the level of 
engagement  of  the  European  Commission  on  the  JIS,  and  the  link  between  the  overall 
standardisation  policy  and  other  standardisation  activities  such  as  ICT  priorities  for 
standards and services standards. 

Action  2  was  led  by  the  JRC.  The  main  objective  of  the  action  was  to  establish  a 
sustainable  system  that  encourages  the  natural  collaboration  between  researchers, 
innovators  and  standardisers  (including  European  Standardisation  Organisations)  and 
allowing for the smooth uptake of research and innovation outputs into standardisation.  

1  The 

JIS 

is  an 

Internal  Market, 
https://ec.europa.eu/growth/content/joint-initiative-standardisation-responding-changing-marketplace-
0_en  

Industry,  Entrepreneurship  and  SMEs: 

initiative  of  DG 

4 

 
                                           
2  The PSIS Workshop on Quantum Technologies 

The  'Putting  Science  into  Standards'  workshop  on  Quantum  Technologies  took  place  in 
Brussels  on  28-29  March  2019.  It  adopted  the  structure  of  the  Quantum  Technology 
Flagship  around  its  mission-driven  research  and  innovation  domains,  representing  four 
major  applied  areas  in  the  fields  of:  Communication,  Computation,  Simulation,  Sensing 
and Metrology. 

For the first time, more than 80 Quantum physicist and experts from different European 
countries  working  in  different  quantum  disciplines  gathered  to  discuss  how  to  bring 
inventions  to  the  market,  thus  completing  the  pathway  of  innovation.  Planning  at  an 
early  state  and  incorporating  standardisation  can  be  crucial  for  accelerating  market 
uptake of research findings. 

The  workshop  set  the  ground  for  bringing  together  the  relevant  stakeholders  in  the 
quantum  technology  standardisation  value  chain  –  research,  standardisation,  industry 
and public administrations/institutions – and provided a timely opportunity for a balanced 
and representative overview on the status quo in Quantum Technologies, and for drawing 
informed conclusions on a strategic way forward. 

Technologies built on the basics of quantum mechanics, occurring on an atomic scale, are 
approaching  markets  with  the  promise  to  create  many  new  businesses  and  help  solve 
many of today’s global challenges. These applications will be a pivotal factor for success 
in many industries and markets. Some of these applications are  of strategic importance 
to  Europe’s  independence  and  safety,  i.e.  in  the  field  of  secure  information  storage  and 
transmission or in creating new materials for energy solutions and medicine. 

CEN  and  CENELEC  recognized  that  in  their  ranks  no  Technical  Committee  or  Working 
Group  follows  a  Quantum  technology  specialisation.  The  Standards  Organisation 
expressed  concerns  about  a  potential  lack  of  standardisation  activities  around  industrial 
products  that  are  based  on  Quantum  technology.  In  order  to  accelerate  the  market 
uptake  of  technologies  that  arise  from  Quantum  physics  and  to  create  the  expertise  in 
the  organisational  structure  in  CEN  and  CENELEC,  the  European  Quantum  Technology 
Flagship was approached for potential collaboration.  

The  Quantum  Technology  Flagship2  sees  its  beginning  in  the  2016  published  Quantum 
Manifesto,  signed  by  3,400  scientists  calling  for  a  quantum  technology  initiative 
coordinated  between  academia  and  industry  to  move  quantum  technologies  from 
laboratory to industry and to educate quantum technology professionals in a combination 
of  science,  engineering  and  business  (de  Touzalin,  Heijman,  Cirac,  Murray,  &  Calarco, 
2016). With the launch in October 2018, the Flagship funds research and innovation. 

The concept of  'Putting Science  into Standards' on Quantum Technologies was launched 
at  the  Quantum  Flagship  Kickoff  Conference  in  Vienna  on  29-30  October  2018  and  first 
contacts were established. This led to a JRC-led special session on standardisation during 
the  first  European  Quantum  Technologies  Conference  2019  in  Grenoble  (France)  on  18-
22  February,  with  contributions  from  CEN  and  CENELEC,  and  Deutsches  Institut  fuer 
Normung (DIN).  

CENs  President  Technical  Ruggero  Lensi  and  JRC's  Deputy  Director  General  Maive  Rute, 
laid out how standardization can be useful to the quantum innovation process and what 
standardisers can do for the quantum science community. 

The program of the 'Putting Science into Standards' Workshop on Quantum Technologies 
is  given  in  Annex  1.  Session  1  recapitulates  the  political  and  industrial  priorities  of  the 
Quantum  Flagship,  and  of  how  standards  contribute  to  the  market  uptake  of  research 
and innovation. Sessions 2, 3 and 4 focus on: quantum security and safe communication; 

2  The Quantum  Technology  Flagship  (QT  Flagship), €1  Billion, 10-year  long-term research  initiative  funded by 

Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship programme 

5 

 
                                           
metrology,  sensing  and  imaging;  and  opportunities  in  other  quantum  fields,  such  as 
quantum internet, computing and ion trapping. These three sessions aimed at preparing 
the  ground  towards  a  roadmap  addressing  the  most  pressing  technology  fields  where 
standardisation  can  support  the  deployment  of  quantum  technologies  in  industrial 
applications including those for security, sensing, imaging and measurement. 

6 

 
3  Session 1: A revolution, without standards? 

This  chapter  summarises  the  key  messages  and  outcomes  of  the  first  day  of  the 
workshop that provided the political background and the views of industry, and more in 
general of the standardisation sector.  

Since many quantum technology areas are advancing on the Technology Readiness Level 
scale,  it  was  considered  important  to  prepare  the  field  for  standardization  activities,  to 
facilitate  and  accelerate  market  uptake  of  quantum  technology.  Quantum  technology  is 
entering  the  political  arena  of  various  economies  around  the  world,  with  private  and 
public initiatives entering into the Quantum race.  

In  the  following  sub-sections  are  reported  the  lessons  learnt  and  successes  from  the 
Graphene  Flagship,  showing  how  pre-normative  research  and  standardisation  activities 
can lead to the  smooth innovation process of  a new technology to positively impact the 
industrial sector in Europe. 

3.1  Quantum race: initiatives in the world 

After  two  decades  of  work  on  inventions in the  laboratory,  quantum  science  is  about  to 
become  a  technology  that  will  impact  our  everyday  life.  Governments  and  companies 
worldwide,  including  Google,  Microsoft,  Intel,  Toshiba,  Thales,  ID-Quantique,  Oxford 
Instruments, Alpine Quantum Technologies (AQT) and IBM are investing substantially to 
unleash  this  potential.  Several  countries  have  positioned  themselves  to  enter  into  the 
quantum  race  to  be  leaders  in  areas  such  as  computing,  communications,  sensing  and 
imaging.  

In order to continue at the forefront of this emerging technology and to participate in a 
global quantum industry, Europe has committed in making the best use of its excellence 
in science and engineering. The European Commission launched in October 2018 its EUR 
1  billion  Quantum  Technology  Flagship  on  a  10  year  timescale.  It  consists  of  a  set  of 
research and innovation projects selected through a peer-review process.  

EU Member States have also set aside individual public funding for research in quantum 
technology.  For  example,  in  September  2018,  the  German  federal  government 
announced  a  EUR  650  million  four  years  programme  for  quantum  technology.  The 
German  strategy  targets  several  aspects  of  quantum  computing  beyond  fundamental 
science,  from  basic  R&D  to  real-world  commercialisation.  The  UK  government  launched 
already in 2013 a GBP 270 million five-year investment on quantum technology. Further 
funding of GBP 80 million was allocated in 2018. A key feature of the UK strategy is the 
establishment  of  four  'hubs'  for  computing,  communications,  imaging  and  sensing, 
including the National Quantum Computing Centre, with the goal of  building the world’s 
first universal quantum computer. The Netherlands invested EUR 135 million in QuTech, 
the quantum technology institute which aims to develop the building blocks for the first 
quantum computer in the coming 10 years. Italy, Austria and France initiated substantial 
national Quantum initiatives. 

The  upcoming  national  quantum  plan  for  China  will  be  at  least  of  the  same  order  of 
magnitude  as  the  European  Commission's  Flagship.  China  is  building  the  National 
Laboratory  for  Quantum  Information  Sciences  in  Hefei,  with  over  USD  1  billion  in  initial 
funding (Kania, 2018). Chinese companies, including Baidu and Alibaba, have established 
their  own  initiatives  in  quantum  computing,  attracting  top  researchers  to  their  teams. 
Alibaba  plans  to  invest  USD  15  billion  into  disruptive  technologies  in  the  years  to  come 
(Kania, 2018b). 

In December 2018, the United States’ President signed a bill into law that devotes more 
than  USD  1.2  billion  to  a  national  effort  dedicated  to  quantum  information  science  over 
the next 10 years. The National Quantum Initiative Act represents a push to keep up with 
China  and  other  countries  in  developing  technologies  such  as  quantum  computing, 

7 

 
quantum  cryptography  and  quantum  communication.  A  great  advantage  in  the  U.S.  is 
the  capacity  of  the  private  sector  to  complement  publicly  funded  efforts  in  quantum 
information  science.  There  is  a  growing  industrial  interest  in  quantum  information 
technology,  including  efforts  at  Google,  Honeywell,  Hughes  Research,  IBM,  Intel, 
Microsoft and Northrop-Grumman. Several start-up companies, funded by venture capital 
and other equity sources have been established (Monroe, 2017). 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a call for standards 
in Post Quantum Cryptography, for which 69 algorithms were received in the first call for 
proposals,  and  26  algorithms  remained  after  the  second  call.  These  algorithms  should 
replace  most  vulnerable  current  standards  and  establish  keys  used  in  public-key 
cryptography. 

Two standard setting activities in NIST are the superconducting photon detectors and the 
miniature  initiative  'NIST  on  a  Chip',  which  integrates  a  chip-scale  radiometer,  a 
quantum-based ampere and a high power laser metrology sensor. 

Figure 1 Impact pathway of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium of the Physical 
Measurement Laboratory of NIST presented during the workshop (Barbara Goldstein presentation) 

The  Quantum  Economic  Development  Consortium,  a  partnership  associated  to  NIST 
Physical Measurement Laboratory, uses a theoretical framework (Figure 1) to enable the 
development  of  technologies,  based  on  standards  established  at  different  Technology 
Readiness Levels of the technology. 

3.2  European quantum fleet 

The EU’s long-term vision is the development of the Quantum  Internet, where quantum 
computers, simulators and sensors are interconnected via quantum networks distributing 
information and quantum resources. The Quantum  Technologies (QT) Flagship is the EU 
instrument  to  achieve  this.  It  is  a  large-scale,  long-term  research  initiative pooling 
resources in support of a commonly agreed science and technology roadmap, aiming to 
foster world-leading knowledge, technologies, and open research facilities for quantum in 
Europe.  To  unlock  the  full  potential  of  QT,  accelerate  their  development,  and  bring 
commercial products to the market, three goals underlie the QT Flagship’s vision: 

8 

 
 
 
  Consolidate  and  expand  European  scientific  leadership  and  excellence  in  quantum 

research; 

  Kick-start a competitive European industry in Quantum Technologies to make Europe 

a leader in the future global industrial landscape; 

  Make  Europe  a  dynamic  and  attractive  region  for  innovative  research,  business  and 
investments  in  Quantum  Technologies,  accelerating  their  development  and  take-up 
by the market. 

To  prepare  the  QT  Flagship,  the  European  Commission  appointed  an  independent 
committee  consisting  of  12  distinguished  academic  members  and  12  high-ranking 
industry  members  (from  both  large  multi-nationals  and  Small  and  Medium  Sized 
Enterprises  (SMEs)),  as  well  as  one  observer.  In  September  2017,  the  committee 
delivered a final report3 proposing a strategic research agenda  setting the ambitious but 
achievable  goals  for  the  Flagship’s  ten-year  lifetime,  and  detailing  them  for  the  initial 
three-year ramp-up phase.  Figure 2  shows the  structure  of the agenda, identifying four 
major applied areas in the field (vertical):  Communication, Computation, Simulation, as 
well  as  Sensing  and  Metrology,  which  should  build  on  a  common  basis  of  Basic  Science 
(horizontal).  

Figure 2 Structure of the Strategic Research Agenda3 

Figure  3  illustrates  the  corresponding  time  scale  towards  a  European  Quantum 
Technology  ecosystem,  which  includes  preparatory  steps  (before  2018),  the  ramp  up 
phase  (between  2018  and  2020),  and  the  full  implementation  phase  (after  2020) 
together with the corresponding actions and call for proposals in each phase. 

In the ramp up phase, an additional call focusing on semi-conductor quantum computing 
and  quantum  software  development  (EUR  19.70  million),  plus  a  call  for  a  Coordination 
and  Support  Action  on  international  cooperation  (EUR  0.5  million)  are  under  discussion 
for the Work Programme 2020.   

Key  to  the  QT  Flagship  initiative's  added  value  is  its  pan-European  dimension  that  will 
allow  to,  inter  alia,  integrate  national  and  European  metrological  and  standardisation 
institutes  in  developing  quantum-based  standards  for  the  most  mature  technologies.  In 
this context, the project Coordination and Support Action4 (EUR 2.7 million) is the central 
Coordination  and  Support  project  of  the  QT  Flagship,  responsible  to  identify  and 
coordinate the relevant standardisation and intellectual property protection actions. 

Within  the  European  QT  ecosystem,  other  investment  efforts  exist,  notably  at  the 
national  level.  A  prominent  example  is  the  European  Research  Area  Cofund  Action  in 

3   https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/quantum-flagship-high-level-expert-group-publishes-

final-report    

4   See https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/content/qflag-quantum-technology-flagship-

coordination-and-support-action  

9 

 
 
                                           
Quantum Technologies (QuantERA) initiative, bringing together 31 organisations from 26 
countries  together  with  the  European  Commission  supporting  international  research 
projects in the field of Quantum Technologies, with EUR 36 million invested so far. 

Figure 3 Time scale towards a European Quantum Technology ecosystem 

Currently  under  discussion,  the  next  multi-annual  financial  framework  for  the  period 
2021 to 2027  will have a place for QT, and the  QT Flagship will continue under  Horizon 
Europe5, the next research and innovation framework programme. In addition, the Digital 
Europe Programme6, the first ever proposed digital capability building programme of the 
Union  for  the  period  2021  to  2027,  will  support  the  development  of  first  quantum 
computers  and  their  integration  with  high  performance  computers,  as  well  as  the 
development of a pan-European quantum communication infrastructure guaranteeing full 
security of communications and critical infrastructures. 

3.3  Standardisation processes 

Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 defines a  ‘standard’ as a technical specification, adopted 
by  a  recognised  standardisation  body,  for  repeated  or  continuous  application,  for  which 
compliance  is  not  compulsory.  A  standard  can  be  an  ‘international  standard’  (when 
adopted by an international standardisation body7), a ‘European standard’ (when adopted 
by  a  European  standardisation  organisation8),  but  also  a  ‘national  standard’  (when 

5 See https://ec.europa.eu/info/designing-next-research-and-innovation-framework-programme/what-shapes-

next-framework-programme_en  

6 See https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/commission-welcomes-agreement-digital-europe-

programme-2021-2027  

7 International Standardization Organisation (ISO); International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC); 

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 

8 European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation 

(CENELEC), and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) 

10 

 
 
                                           
adopted by a national standardisation body). As stated by DIN’s Innovation Department, 
standards exist in many forms and shapes.9 

Standards  bring  a  number  of  benefits  with  them.  They  enable  to  reduce  costs  and 
improve  efficiency,  ensure  the  quality  and  safety  of  products  and/or  services,  comply 
with  relevant  legislation  including  EU  Regulations,  satisfy  customers’  expectations  and 
requirements, enable to access markets and sell to customers in other countries, achieve 
compatibility/interoperability  between  products  and/or  components  and  gain  knowledge 
about new technologies and innovations. 

CEN  and  CENELEC  have  agreements  with  ISO  and  IEC,  respectively,  which  common 
European  and  international  standards  can  be  developed  in  parallel,  thereby  avoiding 
duplication of work. 

Standards  are  developed  through  a  process  based  on  important  principles  such  as 
transparency, openness, consensus and application, as well as independence from special 
interests. Unlike laws, standards are not legally binding. Their use only becomes binding 
when this is stipulated in legislation or in a contract. 

However, the market may be more liberal in its use  of the term standard and may also 
refer  to  the  specifications  produced  by  the  thousands  of  industry-  or  sector-based 
standards  organisations  as  standards.  The  organizations  that  develop  these  are 
commonly called Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs).   

Recognised standardisation bodies may also publish specifications that are not standards, 
because they cannot claim to represent the full consensus of all interested parties, such 
as Technical Specifications.  

For  experimental  areas,  where  a  standard  would  be  premature,  the  standardisation 
bodies  have  extended  their  portfolio  of  deliverables  to  offer  a  low  threshold  entry  into 
their  system  such  as  DIN  SPECs,  European  Telecommunications  Standards  Institute 
(ETSI)  Group  Specifications,  and  CEN-CENELEC  Workshop  Agreements.  A  key 
characteristic of all of these is that the development time of the resulting specification is 
much  faster.  While  the  standardisation  processes  in  CEN  or  CENELEC  are  organized 
based  on  the  national  delegation  principle,  the  CEN-CENELEC  Workshop  Agreements 
(CWAs)  are  developed  through  direct  participation  of  the  interested  companies  or 
technology  organizations.  The  CWAs (other examples are the  pre-standard in DIN SPEC 
and the ETSI  Group Specification) can be used as a basis for developing a full standard 
when the technology matures. 

3.4   Standardisation lessons learnt from the Graphene flagship 

The  Graphene  Flagship10  was  launched  in  2013  to  support  the  industrialization  of 
graphene technologies. The Graphene Flagship has been widely recognised for its success 
in  integrating  an  innovation  plan  within  the  strategy  of  the  Flagship.    Standardisation 
activities were initiated following the open competitive call 'Standardisation'11.  

In 2014 the Graphene Flagship Standardization Committee had its kick-off. A formal so-
called  cooperation  between  the  Flagship  and  the  International  Electrotechnical 
Commission  (IEC)  Technical  Committee  (TC)  113  was  established,  offering  the  Flagship 
the right to initiate and lead projects in the Technical Committee. 

9 Note: In the world of metrologists, standards are fundamental references for a system of weights and 

measures, against which all other measuring devices are compared. To avoid confusion, the community of 
metrologists therefore talks about documentary standards. 

10 Graphene Flagship is a Future and Emerging Technology Flagship by the European Commission with a budget 

of €1 billion 

11 http://www.graphenecall.esf.org/about-the-call/gf01-standardisation.html  

11 

 
                                           
While  in  the  beginning the  Flagship  project  structure  was  centred  on  graphene  material 
science,  with  standardisation  as  a  later  'add-on',  standardisation  has  now  become  an 
integral part. 

Within  IEC/TC  113,  the  work  is  taking  place  in  Working  Group  8  “Graphene  related 
materials/carbon  nanotube  materials”,  with  96  technical  experts  from  11  countries 
including  USA,  Canada,  China,  Japan,  Korea  and  more  than  30  current  standardisation 
projects. 

Comparing  the  state  of  maturity  of  graphene  Nano  electronics  at  the  launch  of  the 
Graphene  flagship  with  Quantum  Technologies  today,  there  are  a  number  of 
commonalities such as the Low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and the cross sectorial 
character.  Future  standards  expected  within  the  scope  of  international  standard 
organisations  and  the  presence  of  strong  players  from  East  Asia  in  international 
standardization efforts, demand Europe to maintain a strong influence in these technical 
committees, in order to ensure that resulting standards support the accelerated uptake of 
Europe’s  new  developed  technologies  into  the  global  market.  In  other  words,  those 
stakeholders that are active in standardization may, depending on the circumstances and 
competence, influence the standard development process such that their technologies or 
products are favoured by the developed standard.  

It  was  suggested  to  establish  a  standardisation  activity inside  the  Flagship  with  an  own 
standardisation  strategy  (for  which  support  by  the  Flagship  management  and  the  EC 
administration  would  be  essential)  and  to  cooperate  with  international  standard 
organisations  if  appropriate  to  benefit  from  the  advantage  of  international  standards 
compared to consortia standards. Further participants contemplated that in terms of such 
cooperation a 'QT Flagship Standardisation Organisation' within the Flagship Consortium 
could rapidly transfer 'standards' to the appropriate international standards organisations 
(depending on the scope of each standard). 

As  first  potential  activities,  the  standardisation  of  terminology  (similar  to  ISO  Technical 
Specification  80004-13:2017,  'Nanotechnologies  -  Vocabulary  -  Part  13:  Graphene  and 
related  two-dimensional  (2D)  materials')  and  the  development  of  an  EU  standardisation 
roadmap for Quantum Technologies were proposed. 

For  such  a  'QT  Flagship  Standardisation  Organization'  within  the  Flagship  Consortium,  a 
set of directives / rules would be needed to ensure a fair standard development process, 
as  well  as  an  overall  systematic  approach/process  to  ensure  a  technically  sound  set  of 
standards  suitable  for  CEN,  CENELEC,  ETSI,  IEC,  ITU  and  ISO  and  of  course,  sufficient 
resources. 

3.5  Standardisation lessons learnt from the private sector 

The two lessons learnt from ID-Quantique (IDQ)12, a spin-off company formerly linked to 
the  University  of  Geneva,  are  that  i)  without  certification  there  may  be  no  market  for 
security and other quantum devices, and ii) certification in turn requires standardisation.  

Standards  represent  the  ‘rules’  that  define  the  proper  operation  and  interaction  of  a 
device within a larger system or network. As such, standards play a very important role 
not  only  for  individual  consumers  but  also  for  companies  and  industries.  Without  these 
basic  rules,  the  development  of  interoperable  ever  more  complex  systems  would  be  a 
challenging task. One of the primary drivers of standardisation is, hence, usability. 

The  main  objectives  of  standardisation  from  a  private  sector  perspective  are  the 
following: 

12  ID-Quantique  was  founded  in  October  2001  and  built  the  world's  first  quantum  random  number  generator 
(RNG).  Shortly  after,  IDQ  developed  its  first  Quantum  Cryptography  (QC)  prototype.  In  2003  IDQ's  first 
single photon detector was launched. Today IDQ collaborates with aviation agency  EASA, the British (BT) 
and the Dutch (KPN) telecommunications companies and ships more than 100 QKD units. 

12 

 
                                           
  Safety 

  Proper operation 

 

Interoperability 

  Security 

However,  IDQ  still  uses  non-quantum  specific  standards  to  provide  safety,  proper 
operation,  interoperability  and  security.  For  example,  standards  for  True  Random 
Number  Generators  do  exist,  but  there  are  no  specific  standards  for  Quantum  Random 
Number Generators. This shows a clear need for developing quantum specific standards. 

Moreover, telecom operators are likely to embark soon on new technologies such as 5G 
or  the  Internet  of  Things  (IoT)  that  require  the  support  of  large  interconnections  for 
which standards are indispensable. 

Unpredictability of physical entropy is due to the source not being well defined or known, 
whereas  unpredictability  of  quantum  entropy  source  comes  from  a  lack  of  complete 
definition  of  this  source  (compare  with  chapter  5.1.4  i.e.  single  photon  time-of-arrival 
detection,  chaotic  lasers,  and  amplified  spontaneous  emission  (Hart,  et  al.,  2017)).  It 
would be important to define a standard to highlight this substantial difference.  

The Quantum Initiative Alliance, made of companies working on Quantum Technologies, 
established a first version of standards, now under study at ITU Study Group 17. 

Thales confirmed that  standardisation is recognised  as key in the innovation process, in 
particular by the industry, and goes along with strategic advantages. 

Furthermore,  in  the  private  sector  standardisation  can  help  to  protect  EU  intellectual 
properties:  often  standards  comprise  technologies  that  are  patent  protected.  The 
standardisation  community  has  developed  rules  and  practices  to  ensure  the  efficient 
licensing  of  standard-related  patents.  While  patent  protection  drives  innovation  by 
incentivizing  investment  in  R&D,  standardisation  drives  innovation  by  establishing 
innovative 
interoperability  between  products,  or 
technologies. Licensing and standardisation are forms of collaboration. To get maximum 
benefits  for  society,  potential  market  failures,  such  as  information  asymmetry,  market 
power  and  externalities,  need  to  be  overcome.  The  protection  of  knowledge  prevents  a 
possible  'brain  drain'  from  EU  to  other  competitor  countries  and  ensures  to  promptly 
capitalize  all  the  funding  invested  in  quantum-oriented  basic  science  and  fundamental 
research at the moment in which Quantum Technologies based first commercial products 
will be available on the market. 

facilitating  market  adoption  of 

Several technological advantages associated to standardisation were identified: 

  Reliability and quality of products is ensured; 

  Equipment can be used in all fields of quantum technology; 

  Highly demanding quantum qualification can be used outside of the quantum field; 

  Base for Key enabling technologies for different technology fields is provided; 

  Usage methods and protocols, in relation with specific environments are established; 

  Basis of absolute, traceable, high-performance measurements is provided; 

  Fundament  for  Mutual  Recognition  Arrangement,  Calibration  and  Measurement 

Capabilities and traceability chain is established; 

  Basic research can be promoted through implementation of large-scale experiments. 

13 

 
4  Session 2: Quantum security meets standardisation 

This  chapter  summarises  the  content  of  the  presentations  and  discussions  of  the 
workshop  in  the  field  of  secure  quantum  communication  and  in  particular  on  the 
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)13 method.   

In  the  QKD  area,  there  are  many  different  standardisation  initiatives  from  European  as 
well  as  international  standardisation  organizations,  signalling  the  maturity  of  this 
technology  field.  With  the  exception  of  QKD,  the  maturity  level  of  quantum 
communication  is  currently  very  low  on  a  TRL  scale,  with  not  many  standardisation 
activities.   

4.1  Progress  of  standardisation  activities  in  quantum  security 

fields 

In 2008, ETSI was the first Standards Development Organization (SDO) to introduce QKD 
standardisation  activities  with  the  work  of  Group  Specification14  QKD  002  providing  an 
overview of possible application scenarios in which QKD systems can be used as building 
blocks  for  high  security  information  and  communication  technology  systems.  QKD 
requires  both  a  truly  random  key  to  encrypt  a  message,  usually  produced  with  a 
Quantum  Random  Number  Generator,  and  a  quantum  key  distribution  channel  to 
communicate  the  random  key;  both  components  contribute  to  provide  a  quantum-safe 
security solution for communication and are the subject of standardisation efforts.     

Since  2008,  standardisation  activities  in  the  QKD  area  have  significantly  grown  and 
during the workshop, the following SDOs currently working on QKD were identified: 

  ETSI Industry Specification Group on QKD,15 

  Working  group  on  security  evaluation,  testing  and  specification  of  the  ISO/IEC  Joint 

Technical Committee  1/Sub-committee 2716 , 

  Global  Quantum  Industrial  Partners    a  SK-Telecom  lead  consortium  aiming  to 

promote ICT standards, interoperability and commercialisation.  

  The Quantum Alliance Initiative17 with Hudson Institute, and 

  The  study  groups  13  and  17  on  'Future  Network'  and  'Security'  of  the  International 

Telecommunication Union.  

Current  areas  of  QKD  standardisation  efforts  include  those  listed  below  in  no  particular 
order of importance: 

  Security – certification of QKD for market uptake; 

 

Interoperability – Integrate QKD-networks with other networks;  

  Metrology – Specifying quantum-specific components;  

  Usage policies – Embedding and use of applications. 

In what follows, a brief summary of the speakers’ intervention is presented18. 

13  QKD  is  a  secure  communication  method,  which  implements  a  cryptographic  protocol  involving  quantum 
physics. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key, which can be used to encrypt and 
decrypt  messages.  An  important  and  unique  property  of  QKD  is  the  ability  to  detect  the  presence  of  any 
third party trying to gain knowledge of the key. 

14 ETSI GS QKD 002 
15 ETSI Industry Specification Group on QKD 
16 ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 WG 3 'Security evaluation, testing and specification' 
17 Quantum Alliance Initiative 

14 

 
                                           
Since  2018,  the  market  has  invested  in  Quantum  Key  Generation,  Quantum  Key 
Distribution  (Quantum  Cryptography)  and  Quantum-Safe  Network  Encryption  solutions 
for  data  protection  with  long-term  sensitivity.  Moreover,  the  QKD  market  is  increasing 
and  may  reach  an  estimated  volume  of  USD  15  billion  in  2026.  China,  Europe,  UK  and 
South  Korea  are  in  the  process  of  creating  'quantum  backbones'  that  will  increase 
awareness of quantum communication and provide a sizeable market opportunity.  

The  International  Telecommunication  Union  SG13  works  on  general 
functional 
requirements  for  QKD  networks.  This  work  incudes  so  far  the  study  of  a  functional 
framework,  the  description  of  a  generic  functional  architecture  and  a  specific  focus  on 
key management function. 

The contribution to ETSI of the Austrian Institute of Technology focuses on QKD, covering 
the topics of QKD Key delivery and application interfaces. Future standards for QKD use-
cases  and  application  interfaces  should  include:  (i)  data  services  (QKD  for  B2B, 
distributed  storage,  High  Performance  Computing),  (ii)  securing  critical  infrastructures 
(telecommunication  networks,  energy  providers),  (iii)  health  applications  (storage  of 
highly  personal  data,  transmission  of  patients’  data),  (iv)  Government  services  (e-Gov, 
high-security channels for e.g. embassies, head of states, negotiators).   

The  areas  of  activity  of  ETSI’s  Industry  Specification  Group  (ISG)  on  QKD  include  the 
following:  

(i)  Security  –  definition  and  requirements,  modelling,  implementation  security  of 
quantum 
specific  design  guidance  and  passive 
countermeasures  against,  for  example,  Trojan  horse  attacks.  Work  towards 
certification  involving  national  security  authorities  and  certification  lab  to  ensure 
quality; 

cryptography 

including 

(ii) Interoperability – currently at the level of classical interfaces specific implementation, 
protocol, data formats etc.; integration of QKD with, for example, telecommunication 
networks, and Software Defined Networks;  

(iii) Metrology of components and systems – specific characterization procedures required 
for  security  specifications,  characterisation  of  complete  QKD  transmitter  modules, 
single-photon measurements where few standards exist.  

Two platforms for standardisation activities were identified. The first is a Joint Technical 
Committee  of  the  International  Standardization  Organisation19  offering  services  for 
aspects  related  to  security  evaluation,  testing  and  specification  for  QKD  components, 
including  optical  components  and  classical  cryptographic  components.  The  second  is  a 
Joint  Technical  Committee  of  the  European  Standardisation  Organisation20  providing  a 
collaboration space platform for cybersecurity and data protection. 

Defining  attack  methods  and  security  specifications 
is  expected  to  help  QKD 
manufacturers  to  improve  their  design  and  implementation  of  QKD  products,  and  to 
evaluate and test the security of QKD modules.   

4.2  Discussion 

It  is  generally  recognised  that  standards  bring  benefit  both  to  the  technology  field  they 
apply to and to the economy in terms of growth. It is never too early for standardisation 
activities,  and  Standards  Development  Organizations  such  as  CEN  and  CENELEC 
recognise  this  fact  by  allowing  for  a  simplified  procedure  that  does  not  deliver  the 
complete standard but that has the advantage of being easier to access as to encourage 

18 for more details please refer to ftp://ftp.cencenelec.eu/EN/ResearchInnovation/PSIS-Standards4Quantum/ or 
https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/f98220f3-02e9-4cac-96f3-1f12bd8a8e7b/library/85fc26b8-1005-4ccf-
8fc4-eca9ba925ec2  

19 ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee JTC1/SC27/WG3 
20 CEN-CENELEC Joint Technical Committee 13 CEN/CLC/JRC 13 

15 

 
                                                                                                                                    
early  standardisation  activities.  From  a  market  perspective,  a  recurrent  question  from 
customers  is  on  the  existence  of  standards  for  QKD  or  Quantum  Random  Number 
Generators, and of any certifications providing trust to customers in the security domain. 

The  development  of 
large-scale  projects  such  as  a  pan-European  Quantum 
Communication Infrastructure could greatly benefit from the existence of standardisation 
activities conducted at an early stage of TRL that could allow reaching consensus among 
Member States on the technology requirements. In this context, standards could also be 
useful in procurement processes requiring ad hoc specifications and/or certifications.  

Participants  reported  the  case  of  China,  where  the  Swiss-based  company  IDQ  (50% 
South  Korea  Telecom)  is  the  only  QKD  solution  provider  being  the  de  facto  standard  in 
this  region.  Therefore,  being  early  players  in  standardisation  for  quantum  security  has 
brought clear benefits for entering the markey and being competitive overseas.  

Moreover, ITU-T aims to absorb all the work done by ETSI in QKD, which led to a debate 
whether  this  is  beneficial  or  not  for  ETSI  and  its  stakeholders  such  as  Toshiba,  Huawei, 
AIT,  and  metrology  institutes.  More  generally,  there  was  not  a  consensus  among 
participants on the risk of competition between SDOs driven by conflicting standards.     

Another debated point was on the possibility of enhancing classical digital communication 
standards  with  quantum  features,  instead  of  creating  dedicated  quantum  standards. 
Despite  there  was  not  a  consensus  among  participants  on  which  is  the  best  way  to 
introduce  Quantum  Technologies  in  standardisation  activities,  participants  agreed  that 
there  is  a  need  for  more  financial  resources  for  finding  novel  protocols,  new  quantum-
based standards, and a shared support in the QT Flagship.  

16 

 
5  Session 3: Quantum metrology, sensing and imaging 

meets standardisation 

first  resulted 

Quantum  physics  had  its  great  discoveries  in  the  20th  Century  and  experienced  two 
revolutions.  The 
lasers,  microelectronics, 
superconductors  and  atomic  clocks.  The  second  has  been  taking  place  for  the  last  20 
years and is based  on the superposition of quantum states and entanglement21 and has 
the potential of boosting consumer devices in the fields of navigation, imaging or medical 
devices, but also to revolutionise the Internet of Things (IoT). 

the  application  of 

in 

While applications from the first quantum revolution had a broad impact across different 
sectors, applications from the second revolution are still distant from market reach. The 
challenges  are  mainly  related  to  the  engineering  of  robust  technologies,  as  well  as  to 
prices, energy consumption and size. 

The aim of standardisation in Quantum Technologies is to facilitate the transformation of 
scientific  discoveries  and  inventions  into  innovations  from  which  the  European  industry 
and  the  European  economy  will  benefit.  The  Quantum  Flagship  differentiates  research 
into four main key fields:  

  Quantum specific metrology, sensing and imaging (QMS) applications; 

  Quantum computing, aiming to win the race to build the first quantum computer; 

  Quantum simulation, enabling second generation modelling; 

  Quantum  communication,  facilitating  safe  communications  and  second  generation 

networks. 

For  all  these  applications,  investments  in  education,  software  and  theory,  but  above  all 
engineering and controlling are  required.  Accordingly, this is being delivered in the field 
of QMS by four main projects: 

  AsteriQs  exploits  quantum  sensing  based  on  nitrogen-vacancy-centres  to  develop 
precise  sensors  to  measure  quantities  such  as  magnetic  field,  electric  field, 
temperature or pressure; 

  MetaboliQs  uses  nitrogen-vacancy-spin  transference  to  nuclear-spins  by  well-
established  Nuclear  Magnetic  Resonance  procedures  at  room  temperature  to  enable 
safe multimodal cardiac imaging; 

  MacQsimal  develops  miniaturised  atomic  vapour  cell-based  sensors,  aiming  for 
miniaturised and quantum-enabled atomic clocks, gyroscopes and magnetometers, as 
well as sensors measuring electro-magnetic radiation and gas concentration; 

 

iQClocks  makes  optical  clocks  quantum  enabled,  ultra-precise  and  affordable. 
Development of scientific applications such as field-ready strontium optical clock to be 
benchmarked. 

21  Quantum  technologies  that  are  based  on  single  quanta  (i.e.  a  single  atom,  single  ion,  a  single  photon,  a 
single  electron,  etc.)  enabling  the  measurement  and  manipulation  of  individual  quantum  systems 
(physically  implemented,  for  example,  by  means  of  electronic  states  of  an  atom,  nuclear  spins  states, 
electro-dynamical states of superconducting circuits, or states of polarization of single-photons, etc.). 

17 

 
 
 
                                           
5.1  Quantum Metrology, Sensing and Imaging applications 

Quantum  metrology  and  sensing  plays  an  important  role  in  boosting  measurement 
performance  in  four  main  domains:  i)  Nitrogen-vacancy  centres  in  nanodiamonds,  ii) 
Atomic vapour cells sensors, iii) Ultra-cold atoms for optical atomic clocks / lattice clocks, 
and iv) Single-photon sources and detectors. 

5.1.1  Nitrogen-vacancy centres in nanodiamonds 

Nitrogen-vacancy  (NV)  diamonds,  used  in  a  QMS-oriented  way,  can  benefit  the 
measurement of high-precision electric- and magnetic fields, temperature, and pressure. 
General  purpose  sensors  measure  magnetic  resonance  in  medical  applications  (i.e.  for 
brain  imaging,  medical  diagnostics),  semiconductor  (i.e.  failure  analysis),  diamond  tips, 
spectrometers, and high dynamics magnetic fields.  

NV diamonds, used in a quantum radiometry-oriented way conduct measurements at the 
single-photon  level.  Applications  can  be  quantum  radiometry  (absolute  single  photon 
source,  absolute  spectral  photon  flux),  quantum-enhanced  optical  measurement, 
fundamental  research  and  metrology  standards  (particularly  in  respect  to  traceability 
with International System of Units SI). 

The  development  of  these  technologies  is  promoted  by  AsteriQs  and  MetaboliQs  of  the 
Quantum  Flagship.  There  is  a  high  variety  of  readiness  level  among  the  different 
technologies in this field and the maturity level is technology dependant. 

5.1.2  Atomic vapour cell sensors 

Atomic  vapour  cell  sensors  conduct  high-precision  electric,  magnetic-  and  radio 
frequency  fields'  measurements.  They  find  application  in  novel  magnetometers  that 
significantly  improve  medical  imaging  devices  for  the  diagnosis  and  therapy  of  patients 
with  brain  disorders.  The  sensors  are  also  found  in  autonomous  driving,  quantum-
enabled  atomic  clocks,  gyroscopes,  magnetometers,  and  in  sensors  measuring  electro-
magnetic radiation and gas concentration. 

The  macQsimal  project  of  the  Quantum  Flagship  promotes  the  development  of  these 
technologies.  TRL  levels  are  rapidly  increasing,  with  the  first  microelectromechanical 
atomic  vapour  cell  applications  reaching  the  market  such  as  waveguide  photonics, 
miniature  atomic  clocks,  chip-scale  magnetometers,  microwave  field  imaging,  atomic 
gyroscopes and Rydberg gas sensor. 

New  functionalities  such  as  laser-machined  fibre  mirrors,  ultrathin  cell  for  microwave 
imaging  or  microcells  with  anti-relaxation  coating  could  be  relevant  for  future 
standardisation activities. 

5.1.3  Ultra-cold atoms for optical atomic and lattice clocks 

Ultracold-atom optical lattice clocks are at the same time  genuine atom interferometers 
and also atomic sensors leading to improved time and frequency standards (traceability), 
and to measurement of length, radio frequency fields, temperature, and magnetic fields. 
Sensors  find  applications  in  global  navigation  satellite  systems  (i.e.  Galileo,  GPS, 
GLONASS,  etc.),  in  the  financial  sector  (time  stamping),  in  telecommunication 
(synchronization),  earth  science  and  monitoring,  high  accuracy  atomic  references  and 
laser-cooled atomic frequency standards that are used for time scales, in industrial cold-
atom gravimeters, as well as in the fully industrialized cold-atom space clock. 

The EMN-Q European Metrology Network for Quantum Technologies adds potential fields 
for  standardisation  in  the  field  of  Quantum  clocks  and  sensors.  Absolute,  traceable  and 
high-performance measurements for characterising the new quantum devices need to be 
defined. Specifically, the novel field of metrology for quantum technologies needs mutual 
Recognition  Arrangement  and  Calibration  and  Measurement  Capabilities.  A  traceability 
chain may be established for benchmarking based on international key comparisons and 

18 

 
building  on  experiences  generated  in  the  European  Association  of  National  Metrology 
Institutes (EURAMET). 

5.1.4  Single-photon sources and detectors 

Quantum  radiometry  (or  photon-based  radiometry)  is  the  science  of  measurement  of 
radiation by counting (single) photons. 

Applications  range  from  almost  fundamental  research  (quantum  optics,  computing  and 
quantum  metrology)  to  areas  entering  the  market  like  quantum  key  distribution  and 
quantum-enhanced  optical  measurements,  to  already  established  applications  (i.e.  the 
operation of single-photon detectors in biology and astronomy). 

Essential  standardisation  work  (in  the  sense  of  metrology)  is  needed  to  define 
measurements  with  respect  to  traceability  to  national,  primary  standards.  Of  particular 
importance are traceable, absolute measurements, i.e. detection efficiency, timing jitter, 
after-pulsing  probability  and  deadtime  of  single-photon  detectors.  Also  important  are 
absolute  spectral  photon  flux,  spectral  power  distribution  and  single-photon  purity  of 
single-photon sources, which might become new primary sources in the future.  

5.2  Needs  and  opportunities  for  standardisation  in  metrology, 

sensing and imaging 

5.2.1  What standards and how they benefit? 

Standards in the field of QMS are understood in various ways. Quantum Technology has 
enabled  the  discovery  of  new  magnitudes  of  fundamental  measurements  and  a 
redefinition  of  reference  standards  of  the  International  System  of  Units  (SI).  The 
metrology  vocabulary  defines  the  fundamental  reference  standards  of  weight  / 
measurements (SI), while the standardisation vocabulary generally leads to documentary 
standards. 

Due to the  wide variety of quantum applications and their use-cases in QMS, there is  a 
need  to  establish  several  standardisation  groups  each  focusing  on  a  specific  sensor 
application or technology. This contrasts with the field of QKD, where TCs can operate on 
a wide range.  

QMS promotes Quantum Technologies spread over all TRL. Standardisation activities are 
hence required along all TRLs including all kinds of formats (vocabulary, terminology and 
European Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs)). 

Workshop  participants  recommended  that  standardisation  should  effectively  rationalise 
efforts.  Technical  Committees  should  be  associated  to  specific  traditional  instruments 
recently upgraded to Quantum-enabled technologies, and in parallel create new exclusive 
quantum technology TCs where necessary. 

More  specifically,  there  is  an  urgent  need  to  set  documentary  standards  for  nitrogen-
vacancy centres in Nano diamonds and for atomic-based sensors. 

5.2.2  How and where can standardisation be conducted? 

Most  of  standardisation  in  QMS  is  conducted  in  specialised  working  groups,  such  as  the 
ETSI  ISG Quantum Key Distribution. As standardisation essentially represents a  form  of 
collaboration,  it  requires  international  cooperation  to  foster  discussion  and  exchange  of 
information to ensure that Europe is part of the game.  

Standardisation  in  the  area  of  QMS  may  initially  focus  on  tools  for  quantum  technology 
where  the  reliability  and  reproducibility  of  materials  such  as  rare-earth  ion  doped 
crystals, or quantum grade diamonds, are essential aspects.  

In  the  original  sense,  'quantum  grade'  can  be  referred  for  example  to  Chemical  Vapour 
Deposition  methods  used  in  the  semiconductor  industry  to  produce  high  quality,  high-

19 

 
performance,  solid  materials,  where  the  quality  categories  are:  (i)  Optical  Grade,  (ii) 
Electronic  Grade,  and  (iii)  Quantum  Grade,  meaning  highest  quality,  with  isotopic 
selection. 

During the workshop the 'Quantum Grade' was used in a broad sense related to enabling 
technologies: 

Tools for quantum technology  

  Material: need for reliability, reproducibility;  

  Rare-earth ion doped crystals;  

  Quantum grade diamond. 

Technological tools  

  Deterministic implantation of NV; 

 

Ideal quantum tool. 

'Quantum grade' enabling technology  

  Very low noise electronics;  

  Highly stable Microwave driving sources. 

Technological  tools,  as  the  deterministic  implantation  of  NV,  are  also  of  interest. 
Standardisation  could  thus  be  a  beneficial  output  from  the  MetaboliQs  project,  which 
promotes  features  of  diamond  NV  that  will  ultimately  lead  to  advance  cardiac 
hyperpolarized  magnetic  resonance  imaging.  This  can  be  made  possible  by  atomically 
isotopic 
engineered  diamond  material  (quantum-grade  diamond), 
purification,  precise  control  of  nitrogen  defect  concentration  and  the  nanofabrication  of 
the diamond surface. MetaboliQs provides the 'Quantum grade' enabling technology with 
very low noise electronics and highly stable microwave driving sources. The fabrication is 
pioneered  by  MetaboliQs  and  Fraunhofer  Institute  for  Applied  Solid  State  Physics  in 
Freiburg. 

including  12C 

There  are  new  perspectives  of  measurement  applications  based  on  QMS  that  require 
common  vocabulary,  as  for  example  sensors  to  understand  matter  under  high  pressure 
or high dynamics measurements.  

There is also a requirement for new quantum physics based standards for:  

  absolute measurement  

  absolute quantum efficiency  

  absolute spectral radiance  

With  regard  to  metrology  standards,  the  forum  recommended  that  the  EMN-Q  should 
align  its  objectives  with  the  Quantum  Technology  Flagship  and  their  stakeholder 
requirements  in  order  to  prioritize  the  establishment  of  metrology  standards,  according 
to the needs. This can be achieved by: 

  promoting  take-up  of  metrology  in  the  development  of  these  technologies,  and 

provide linkage with other technical areas; 

 

contributing to standardization & certification of quantum technologies; 

  acting  as  the  main  contact  point  to  stakeholders  connected  to  the  domains  of  QT 

which are covered by the scope of this EMN-Q 

5.3  Discussion 

The  participants  discussed  the  differentiation  between  full  quantum  technologies  (which 
are  based  on  the  inventions  of  the  second  quantum  revolution)  and  non-full  quantum 
technologies (which are based on the inventions of the first quantum revolution). 

20 

 
This  distinction  comes  from  the  publication  of  the  Quantum  Manifesto  in  which  the 
'second quantum revolution' was  coined and further quoted in the Quantum Technology 
Flagship initiatives and in the scientific vocabulary.  

To  be  more  specific,  despite  the  fact  that  all  Quantum  Technologies  are  intrinsically 
'Quantum' (overcoming the limits of classical physics), the distinction in literature is now 
the following: 

  First  generation  of  Quantum  Technologies  (first  wave  of  QT,  or  first  quantum 

revolution) 

These  include  the  technologies  of  transistors  in  the  semiconductor  industry,  lasers, 
light-emitting-diodes  (for  example,  in  telecommunication),  image  detectors  (for 
example  in  computer  vision),  and  atomic  clocks  (for  example,  in  the  Global 
Navigation  Satellite  Systems).  They  represent  the  basic  technology  for  many 
branches of research laboratories and industry.  

Documentary Standards for this class of QT are important to reach a full commercial 
deployment  of  quantum  sensors  and  metrology  devices  that  exploit  coherent 
quantum systems. 

  Second  generation  of  Quantum  Technologies  (second  wave,  or  second  quantum 

revolution) 

Technologies that rely on the ability to control and manipulate the quantum state of a 
single  or  a  few  coupled  quantum  systems  (the  so-called  single-qubit  coherence,  i.e. 
single  atoms,  single  ions,  single  photons,  etc.),  exploiting  the  peculiar  traits  of 
quantum  mechanics 
like  the  superposition  principle  and  the  entanglement 
phenomenon. These properties are fundamental for building sensor systems for very 
different modalities with the capability to reach and go beyond the Standard Quantum 
Limit,  taking  advantage  of  the  properties  of  suitable  quantum  systems  and  their 
interactions  with  the  surrounding  environment.  The  final  goal  is  to  achieve  a 
generation of quantum sensors based on entangled quantum systems. 

Working with existing Technical Committees on specific traditional instruments that have 
been recently upgraded to Quantum-enabled technologies, and in parallel to create new 
purely  Quantum  Technology  Technical  Committees,  aiming  at  rationalisation  of  efforts 
and  avoiding  duplication  of  work  is  a  best  practice  for  standardisation  and  should  be 
considered. 

In  this  sense,  documentary  standards  that  have  been  already  prepared  by  existing  TCs 
for first generation Quantum Technologies should be considered and upgraded taking into 
account Quantum-enabled technologies. 

In  parallel,  novel  Technical  Committees  dedicated  to  Quantum  Technologies  should  be 
created to oversee the standardisation process for the 'native' second generation QT (i.e. 
in analogy to what ETSI is doing for QKD, but in the field of QMS). 

In  both  cases,  documentary  standards  are  a  key  step  to  enable  a  speed-up  in  the 
development in QMS, both for stand-alone sensors and for those to be integrated in more 
complex  systems.  In  the  field  of  QMS  there  is  a  variety  of  applications  developed  at 
different  TRLs,  while  documentary  standards  are  particularly  needed  at  low  TRLs.  The 
standardisation  process  will  provide  the  way  for  a  possible  construction  of  a  general 
hardware  platform  at  a  reasonable  cost,  a  step  that  would  represent  a  key  enabler  for 
Quantum Technology. 

Lastly, sensor integration is an important area to consider, since a sensor is usually only 
a small part of a larger system. This comprises corresponding hardware components and 
software  interfaces,  which  should  be  standardised  as  much  as  possible.  Building 
committees  to  elaborate  these  preferably  open  standards  is  regarded  an  important  part 
of the Quantum Technology policy (Zeiss, 2018). 

21 

 
6  Session 4: Opportunities for Standardisation in other 

quantum fields 

The  'quantum  internet'  vision,  which  is  the  subject  of  the  Flagship  project  that  QuTech 
and TU Delft are leading (http://quantum-internet.team), requires a forward looking view 
on standards for quantum communication and simulation, to ensure maximum facilitation 
on  collaboration  and  co-creative  work.  A  light,  voluntary  approach  to  standards  like  the 
one  used  by  the  internet  engineering  task  force,  is  advocated.  The  TRL  is  still  low 
because  of  distance  limitations  and  the  fact  that  the  repeaters,  switches  and  control 
protocols  are  not  yet  available.  Applications  already 
foreseen  are  to  secure 
communications,  secure  cloud  computing,  clock  synchronisation,  password  ID  and 
position verification. 

Currently,  over  a  dozen  different  technical  committees  have  been  created  ,  addressing 
for  example  issues  related  to  vocabulary  or  metrology  in  different  fields  of  technology 
(see  Tables  1  and  Table  2).  These  technical  committees  are  spread  across  multiple 
standardisation  bodies.  Among  these  committees  there  are  differences  in  the  way  of 
working: some committees have set up working groups for drafting a white paper on the 
state  of  the  art,  other  committees  have  focused  on  the  description  of  standards  for 
Quantum key distribution, while others have created international working groups aimed 
at absorbing already established standards with the purpose of reaching a critical mass.  

Standards 
organisation 
ETSI 
ETSI 
ITU 

ITU 
ISO/IEC JTC 1 

ISO/IEC 

ISO/IEC 

IEC 

NIST 

IEEE 
IEEE 
IEEE 

IETF 

Table 1 Standardisation initiatives (Hjalmarson, 2019) 

Designation of group 

Topic 

TC CYBER, Cybersecurity 
ISG QKD 
SG 13 Future networks 

SG 17, Security 
JTC1 SG 2, Quantum 
computing 
JTC1 SC 7, Software and 
systems engineering, SG1 
JTC1 SC 27 IT Security 
techniques 
WG 2 Cryptography and 
security mechanisms 
TC 65, Industrial-process 
measurement, control and 
automation 
Computer Security Resource 
Center (CSRC) 
P1913 
P1730 
P7131 

Quantum Internet Proposed 
Research Group (qirg) 

Quantum-safe cryptography 
Quantum key distribution 
Technical tutorial on quantum key 
distribution 
Proposed focus group on quantum 
technology for networks 
Quantum key distribution 
Quantum computing 

Investigation of standards for quantum 
computing 
Quantum key distribution 

Quantum key distribution 

Post quantum cryptography 

Software defined quantum communication 
Quantum computing definitions 
Quantum computing performance metrics 
and performance benchmarking 
Quantum internet 

22 

 
 
 
Table 2 Standardisation initiatives 

Designation 

Title 

ISO/TS 80004-12 Ed.1 (2016) 

Nanotechnologies  --  Vocabulary  --  Part  12: 
Quantum phenomena in nanotechnology 

ETSI GS QKD 012 V1.1.1 (2019-02) 

QKD;  Device  and  Communication  Channel 
Parameters for QKD Deployment 

ETSI GS QKD 014 V1.1.1 (2019-02) 

QKD;  Protocol  and  data  format  of  REST-based 
key delivery API 

ETSI GR QKD 007 V1.1.1 (2018-12) 

QKD; Vocabulary 

ETSI GR QKD 003 V2.1.1 (2018-03) 

QKD; Components and Internal Interfaces 

ETSI GS QKD 011 V1.1.1 (2016-05) 

QKD; 
Component 
characterizing  optical  components 
systems 

characterization: 
for  QKD 

ETSI GS QKD 005 V1.1.1 (2010-12) 

QKD; Security Proofs 

ETSI GS QKD 008 V1.1.1 (2010-12) 

QKD; QKD Module Security Specification 

ETSI GS QKD 004 V1.1.1 (2010-12) 

QKD; Application Interface 

ETSI GS QKD 002 V1.1.1 (2010-06) 

QKD; Use Cases 

Most  of  the  committees  focus  on  demarcated  technology  fields  and  hence  avoid 
overlapping of standardisation activities. Informal cooperation and exchange can also be 
helpful  to  mitigate  the  risk  of  duplication  of  work.  For  example,  active  exchange  of 
information takes place between the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and ISO/IEC 
JTC1.  

While for many Quantum physicists standardisation is a new concept, there are few areas 
in  which  scientists  have  worked  with  standards.  In  the  1980s,  several  actors  in  high-
performance computing (HPC) defined their own performance metrics, hence this sector 
readily  adopted  standardisation  and  standardised  benchmarks 
for  measuring 
performance. 

A  specific  structure  for  a  real  quantum  computer,  for  example  from  the  QT  Flagship 
funded  project  OpenSuperQ,  can  be  helpful  to  put  discussions  of  standards  in  a  less 
abstract  context.  Methods  for  the  performance  evaluation  of  quantum  computers,  for 
example  IBM’s  publication  on  the  Quantum  Volume,  can  be  supportive  to  discuss 
standards for benchmarking. 

Different standards will be needed for different layers: from low temperature electronics 
(for  superconducting  platforms),  specification  of  hardware,  software  and  interfaces,  to 
overall  system  standards  and  benchmarking.  Standards  will  be  co-developed  with 
systems. 

The  high  demands  needed  by  classical  computation  is  one  of  the  most  challenging 
problems in establishing metrics for quantum computing performance. Objective metrics 
are  needed  timely  to  avoid  inflated  claims  being  made  public.  Moreover,  participants 
demanded an objective definition of what really constitutes a qubit. 

23 

 
 
6.1  Discussion 

The  best  platform  for  a  quantum  repeater  is  not  yet  known,  but  the  expert  community 
expects  it  will  be  in  about  2  years’  time.  The  intermediate  devices  that  need  to  be 
installed on a quantum network are also not yet known. Existing internet protocols such 
as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) are not necessarily applicable to the quantum 
internet.  The  requirements  in  this  respect  are  different  in  a  quantum  repeater  network 
than in a trusted node network, which needs to be faster. 

It was questioned whether there is a need to  standardise graph topologies for quantum 
computing, which depends on the platform used. At present, two-dimensional graphs are 
used for superconducting platforms, while ion trap platforms have, up to certain size, full 
qubit interconnection. 

It  was  asked  how  software  non-standards  for  quantum  technology  could  be  formalised. 
Large companies such as ATOS, IBM and Google may be ready to contribute to software 
(non)-standards.  Industry  has  generally  great  opportunities,  but  their  needs  should  be 
identified.  Overall,  participants  concluded  that  there  are  many  opportunities  to  extend 
the standards we already have and create new ones.  

24 

 
7   Concluding Remarks and way forward 

7.1  General conclusions 

For  the  first  time  nearly  80  quantum  physicist  and  experts  from  different  European 
countries  working  in  different  quantum  disciplines  gathered  to  discuss  how  to  bring 
inventions  to  the  market,  thus  completing  the  pathway  of  innovation.  Planning  at  an 
early  state  and  incorporating  standardisation  can  be  crucial  for  accelerating  the  market 
uptake of research findings. 

By  successfully  bringing  together  the  relevant  stakeholders  in  the  whole  quantum 
technology standardisation value chain – research, standardisation and industry sectors, 
as  well  as  public  administrations/institutions  –  the  workshop  provided  a  timely 
opportunity  for  a  balanced  (Figure  4)  and  representative  overview  on  the  status  quo  in 
Quantum Technologies, and for drawing informed conclusions on a strategic way forward. 

Figure 4 Breakdown per participant type at the workshop 

from  the  research/academia  (35%), 
The  majority  of  participants  (70%)  were 
standardisation  (18%),  and  industry  (17%)  sectors,  confirming  the  workshop  was 
successful  in  joining  these  communities  and  in  ensuring  a  good  balance  between  them. 
In  particular,  the  research/academia  community,  which  is  traditionally  far  from  market 
applications, was equally balanced by the close-to-market community represented by the 
industry and standardisation participants.   

Based  on  the  experience  from  the  Graphene  Flagship,  concrete  actions  for  addressing 
standardisation in the Quantum Technologies field such as standardisation of a Quantum 
Technology  terminology  and  the  development  of  an  EU  standardisation  roadmap  for 
Quantum Technologies were suggested by the participants. 

Participants  also  reported  a  growing  interest  in  standardisation,  signalling  the  entry  to 
the  market  of  Quantum  Technologies,  with  most  of  the  activities  focusing  on  quantum-
enabled  security,  quantum  computing  and  quantum  communication  as  detailed  here 
below: 

25 

 
 
 
  Several  projects  within  ETSI’s  ISG  on  QKD  -  outcomes  are  published  as  Group 

Specification; 

  Several projects within ITU SG13 'Future Network' and SG17 'Security'; 

 

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7 (Software systems and systems engineering);  

  SG 1: Investigation of standards on quantum computing; 

  Quantum  computing  as  one  of  the  priority  technologies  under  JTC1’s  Joint  Advisory 

Group, Group on Emerging Technology and Innovation; 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISO/IEC  JTC  1/SC  27/WG  3  –  New  work  to  start  on  Information  technology  security 
techniques  —  Security  requirements,  test  and  evaluation  methods  for  quantum  key 
distribution (Part 1: Requirements and Part 2: Evaluation and testing methods); 

IEC/TC65 is looking at QKD in relation to the IEC 62443 series of standards;   

IEEE P7130 - Standard for Quantum Computing Definitions; 

IEEE  P7131  -  Standard  for  Quantum  Computing  Performance  Metrics  &  Performance 
Benchmarking; 

IEEE P1913 - Software-Defined Quantum Communication; 

IETF Quantum Internet Proposed Research Group (qirg). 

Other  areas,  where  standardisation  could  add  value  by  supporting  the  uptake  of 
Quantum  Technologies  in  industrial  applications  and  their  entry  to  the  market  include 
sensing, imaging and measurement.  

Participants  showed  a  clear  interest  in  ways  on  how  the  research  and  innovation 
community  can  actively  contribute  to  standardisation.  Although  there  was  not  a 
consensus  among  participants  on  the  best  way  forward  to  introduce  Quantum 
Technologies  in  standardisation  activities,  participants  agreed  that  there  is  a  need  for 
more  financial  resources,  finding  novel  protocols  and  developing  new  quantum-based 
standards.  

Since standardisation is not only about requirements setting a basis for certification, but 
can  also  address  vocabularies,  models,  exchange  protocols,  etc.,  it  will  be  important  to 
identify  which  kind  of  standards  will  be  needed  and  for  which  applications.  Before 
standardisation  activities  are  started,  it  is  important  to  agree  on  their  scope.  There 
appears  further  to  be  a  transversal  impact  of  QT  on  existing  standards.  All  of  this  will 
have  to  be  mapped  in  terms  of  opportunities  for  existing  and  future  activities.  A  Focus 
Group  could  offer  a  mechanism  to  address  this.  The  STAIR  Platform  methodology  was 
also  mentioned  to  host  interactions  between  the  communities  of  researchers  and 
standardisers.  

The  workshop  concluded  with  the  suggestions  to  continue  the  dialogue  between  the 
scientific,  industrial,  and  standardisation  communities,  and  to  keep  organising  similar 
multi-stakeholder  events  in  the  future.  In  this  context,  it  was  suggested  to  contact  the 
Coordination  and  Support  Action  of  the  QT  Flagship  as  a  concrete  mean  to  reach  the 
whole European QT community. 

26 

 
 
7.2  Next Steps 

  Start  an  interaction  (e.g.  a  cooperation  agreement)  with  the  Quantum  Flagship  and 
more  particularly  with  the  recently  (April  2019)  launched  Coordination  and  Support 
Action22 . 

  As  concrete  actions 

it 

for  standardisation, 

focus  on  the 
Standardisation of a Quantum Technology Terminology and the development of an EU 
standardisation  roadmap  for  Quantum  Technologies:  a  CEN-CENELEC  Workshop 
Agreement  could  address  the  Terminology,  while  the  standardisation  roadmap  could 
be  addressed  either  by  a  Focus  Group  or  by  a  CEN-CENELEC  Workshop.  Pro-active 
steps  towards  the  creation  of  such  a  Focus  Group  or  CEN-CENELEC  Workshop 
Agreement,  including  the  identification  of  a  supporting  Secretariat,  would  be 
necessary. 

is  suggested  to 

22  Coordinator  is  the  VDI  Technologiezentrum;  other  participants  in  the  CSA  are  Robert  Bosch  GMBH  and 
Netherlands) 

France, 

Italy 

and 

RTOs/Universities 
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/218588/factsheet/en  

Switzerland, 

Spain, 

from 

27 

 
                                           
References 

Hart, J. D., Terashima, Y., Uchida, A., Baumgartner, G., Murphy, T. E., & Roy, R. (2017). 
Recommendations and illustrations for the evaluation of photonic random number 
generators. APL Photonics, 2:090901. 

Kania, E. B. (2018). China’s Challenge to U.S. Quantum Competitiveness. The Hill, June 

30. 

Kania,  E.  B.  (2018b).  China’s  Quantum  Future:  Xi's  Quest  to  Build  a  High-Tech 

Superpower. Foreign Affairs, Sep 26. 

Monroe, C. (2017). American Leadership in Quantum Technology. Hearings of the House 
of Science, Space and Technology Committee, 2017, 10 24. Washington D.C.: US 
Government. 

Zeiss, (2018). White Paper on Quantum Metrology and Sensing and Quantum enhanced 
Imaging.  ZEISS  Symposium  Optics  in  the  Quantum  World  18  April  2018  (pp. 
https://www.zeiss.com/content/dam/Corporate/innovation_and_technology/downl
oads/zeiss-symposium_whitepaper_qms_qei.pdf). Oberkochen, Germany: Zeiss. 

28 

 
 
List of figures 

Figure 1 Impact pathway of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium of the 
Physical Measurement Laboratory of NIST presented during the workshop 

Figure 2 Structure of the Strategic Research Agenda 

Figure 3 Time scale towards a European Quantum Technology ecosystem 

Figure 4 Breakdown per participant type at the workshop 

8 

9 

10 

25 

29 

 
 
List of tables 

Table 1 Standardisation initiatives (Hjalmarson, 2019) ..............................................22 

Table 2 Standardisation initiatives ..........................................................................23 

30 

 
 
List of Abbreviations 

AIT 

AQT 

Austrian Institute of Technology 

Alpine Quantum Technologies 

ATOS   

European multinational information technology service 

CEN 

European Committee for Standardization (CEN)  

CENELEC 

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization 

CNECT 

European  Commission  Directorate-General  Communications  Networks, 
Content and Technology 

DIN 

German national organisation for standardisation 

EMN-Q  

European Metrology Network for Quantum Technologies 

ETSI 

European Telecommunications Standards Institute 

EURAMET 

European Association of National Metrology Institutes 

HPC 

IBM 

ICT 

IDQ 

IEC 

IEEE 

IETF 

High-performance computing 

International Business Machines Corporation 

Information and Communication Technologies 

ID Quantique 

International Electrotechnical Commission 

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association 

Internet Engineering Task Force is an open standards organization 

INRIM   

Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (Italy) 

ISC 

ISG 

ISO 

ITU 

JIS 

JRC 

JTC 

NIST 

NV 

PSIS 

QKD 

QMS 

QT 

International Standards Consulting 

Industry Specification Group 

International Standardization Organisation 

International Telecommunication Union 

Joint Initiative on Standardisation 

European Commission Directorate-General Joint Research Centre 

Joint Technical Committee 

National Institute of Standards Technology (USA) 

Nitrogen-vacancy 

Putting-Science-Into-Standards 

Quantum Key Distribution 

Quantum metrology, sensing and imaging 

Quantum Technologies 

QuantERA 

European Research Area Cofund Action in Quantum Technologies 

QuTech 

Research and development in quantum technology  

SC 

SDO 

SI 

Sub-Committee 

Standards Development Organization 

International System of Units 

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SIS 

Swedish Institute for Standards 

SK Telecom  South Korean telecom operator 

STAIR   

Standards, Innovation and Research Platform 

TC 

TNO 

TRL 

WG 

Technical Committee 

Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research 

Technology Readiness Level 

Working Group 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annexes 

Annex 1. Workshop programme 

Thursday, 28 March 

Facilitator and Panel Moderator: Alex PUISSANT, journalist, independent conference 
facilitator 

13:30  REGISTRATION 

14:00  OPENING 

  Ruggero LENSI, Vice-President Technical CEN, Director-General UNI - Ente 

Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione 

  Maive RUTE, Deputy Director-General European Commission/DG JRC 

14:15  INTRODUCTION 

  Pascal MAILLOT, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission/DG CNECT C.2 

Quantum Technology 

  Fabio TAUCER, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission/DG JRC A.5 

Scientific Development 

14:30  SESSION 1 – A REVOLUTION, WITHOUT STANDARDS? 

14:30  General overview of the QT-landscape 

Tommaso CALARCO, Forschungszentrum Jülich 

14:50  Outlook of activities related to standardisation in Quantum Flagship CSA 

Rogier VERBERK, TNO - Organisation for Applied Scientific Research 

15:10  Role of standardisation in new technologies (low TRLs) - The graphene 

example 
Werner BERGHOLZ, ISC - International Standards Consulting 

15:30  BOOST BREAK 

16:00  Role of standardisation in new technologies (low TRLs) - The ID 

Quantique example  
Nicolas GISIN, ID Quantique, University of Geneva 

16:20  An update on quantum activities at NIST 

Barbara GOLDSTEIN, Physical Measurement Laboratory, NIST – National 
Institute of Standards and Technology 

16:40  Overview of the standardisation processes 

Joachim LONIEN, Innovation Department, DIN - Deutsches Institut für Normung 
e. V. 

17:00  PANEL DISCUSSION 1 

17:30  CLOSURE OF DAY 1 

20:00  DINNER 

33 

 
 
 
 
 
Friday, 29 March  

09:00  SESSION 2 - QUANTUM SECURITY MEETS STANDARDISATION  

(QKD AND QT-SAFE SECURITY) 
Keynote -  Sean KWAK, ID Quantique; also ITU-T; ETSI; 
JTC1/SC27/WG3 
  Industrial applications and standard needs of QKD - Hannes HÜBEL, 

AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology   

  ETSI/ISG QKD - Martin WARD, Toshiba Research Europe 
 

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC27/WG3 Security evaluation, testing and specification and 
CEN/CLC/JTC 13 Cybersecurity and Data Protection - Miguel BAÑÓN 

Harvesters: Stephanie WEHNER and Jonas HELSEN (QuTech NL) 
PANEL DISCUSSION 2 

10:30  BOOST BREAK 

10:45  SESSION 3 - QUANTUM METROLOGY, SENSING AND IMAGING MEETS 

STANDARDISATION 

Keynote – Thierry DEBUISSCHERT, Thales Research and Technology 
  macQsimal Project –Jakob REICHEL, Laboratoire Kastler Brossel 
  Champion of Euramet Metrology Network on QT - Ivo Pietro 
DEGIOVANNI, INRIM - Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica 

  Quantum radiometry- Stefan KÜCK, PTB - Physikalisch-Technische 

Bundesanstalt 

Harvester: Marco GRAMEGNA (INRIM) 
PANEL DISCUSSION 3 

12:15  LUNCH 

13:15  SESSION 4 - OPPORTUNITIES FOR STANDARDS IN OTHER QUANTUM 

FIELDS 

Keynote - Quantum internet - Stephanie WEHNER, QuTech - Delft University 
of Technology 

  Quantum Computing – Peter MÜLLER, IBM Research - Zurich 
  Investigation of standards on quantum computing – Mikael 
HJALMARSON, Swedish Institute for Standards, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 
7/SG 1 

  Metrics and Standards in Quantum Computing - Thomas MONZ, AQT – 

Alpine Quantum Technologies Innsbruck 

Harvester: Adam LEWIS (JRC) 

PANEL DISCUSSION 4 

14:45  BOOST BREAK 

15:00  CLOSING SESSION – NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR 

STANDARDISATION 

15:00     Feedback on Sessions 2-4 from 'Harvesters' (5 min each) 

  Discussion among all participants on Needs and opportunities for 

standardisation 

15:35  FRAMING THE STATE OF PLAY, AND CONCLUDING REMARKS  

  Pascal MAILLOT, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission/DG CNECT C.2 

Quantum Technology 

  Ruggero LENSI, Vice-President Technical CEN and Director-General UNI 

15:45  CLOSURE 

34 

 
 
Annex 2. Participants list 

Name 

Abellan 

Bañón 

Bergholz 

Bize 

Calarco 

Claudio 

Prenom 

Organisation 

Carlos 

Miguel 

Werner 

Sebastien 

Tommaso 

Virginia 

Quside 

Epoche and Espri 

International Standards Consulting GmbH ISC 

LNE-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris 

Forschungszentrum Julich 

IMEC 

de Brancion 

Anne-Sophie 

European Patent Office 

Debuisschert 

Thierry 

Thales Research & Technology 

Degiovanni 

Ivo Pietro 

Dias 

Dirks 

Domini 

Eklund 

Ferran 

Gadzina-
Kolodziejska 
Ganesh 

Giesz 

Gisin 

Gobbi 

Julia 

Bob 

Eveline 

Erik 

Martin 

INRIM 

Private 

TNO/QuTech 

EURAMET 

SIS, Swedish Standards Institute 

QUSIDE 

Agnieszka 

Joint Research Centre, European Commission 

Ashok 

Valerian 

Nicolas 

Sara 

CEN-CENELEC 

Quandela 

University of Geneva 

ASTM International 

Goldstein 

Barbara 

Gramegna 

Marco 

NIST 

INRiM 

Gutierrez 

Eugenio 

European Commission JRC 

Helsen  

Hemberger 

Jonas 

Klaus 

QuTech - Delft University of Technology 

Bundesnetzagentur 

Hjalmarson 

Mikael 

SIS, Swedish Standards Institute 

Huard 

Hübel 

Huebner 

Mariane 

Hannes 

Tobias 

Standards Council of Canada 

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH 

DIN (Standards Committee Technical Fundamentals) 

Hurley-Smith 

Darren 

University of Kent 

Ikonen 

Jenet 

Killeen 

Klein 

Kück 

Kwak 

Le Bars 

Lensi 

Lequeux 

Lewis 

Lindstrom 

Loeffler 

Erkki 

EURAMET 

Andreas 

European Commission JRC 

Paul 

NSAI 

Claudius 

VDI Technologiezentrum 

Stefan 

Sean 

Laure 

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt 

ID Quantique 

SAP 

Ruggero 

UNI and CEN 

Gilles 

European Commission GROW  

Adam Miles 

European Commission JRC 

Tobias 

Marius 

National Physical Laboratory 

DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. 

35 

 
Lonien 

Maillot 

Monz 

Mueller 

Nik 

Nishimura  

Ogi 

Palacios-
Berraquero 
Pawłowski 

Pereira-Sa 

Pllana 

Poot 

Qelaj 

Rampioni 

Redwin 

Reichel 

Rute 

Sanchez-
Bautista  
Schopfer 

Skoda 

Joachim 

Pascal 

Thomas 

Peter 

Samira 

Kunita 

Shintaro 

Carmen 

Marcin 

Sofia 

Bashkim 

Menno 

Mehmet 

Aldo 

Paul 

Jakob 

Maive 

DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. 

European Commission CNECT 

Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH 

IBM Research – Zurich 

CEN-CENELEC 

Japan Mission to EU 

National Institute of Information and Communications 
Technology (NICT), Japan 
Nu Quantum Ltd 

University of Gdańsk 

European Commission JRC 

Ministry of Economic Development Kosovo 

TU Munich 

Ministry of Economic Development Kosovo 

Springer 

DCMS 

Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS/CNRS/SU/CdF 

European Commission JRC 

Enrique 

Forschungszentrum Julich 

Felicien 

Tomislav 

Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d'Essais - LNE 

German Aerospace Center 

Spethmann 

Nicolas 

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt 

Taucer 

Thew 

Torres 

Trefzger 

Tudosie 

Fabio 

Rob 

European Commission JRC 

University of Geneva 

Jean-Michel 

IBM 

Christian 

European Commission CNECT 

George 

QSIT NCCR / ETH Zurich 

Van den Akker  Gertjan 

NEN 

Van den 
Berghe 
Van Heesch 

Luc 

CEN-CENELEC 

Maran 

TNO 

Van Vlierden 

Christine 

CEN-CENELEC 

Verberk 

Ward 

Wehner 

Xuereb 

Yang 

Zarbo 

Rogier 

Martin 

TNO 

Toshiba Research Europe Limited 

Stephanie  

QuTech - Delft University of Technology 

André 

Xiaoya 

Liviu 

University of Malta 

ITU-T SG17 

National Institute for Research and Development of 
Isotopic an Molecular Technologies (INCDTIM) 

36 

 
 
 
Annex 3. Invited speakers 

MIGUEL BAÑÓN 

Miguel  Bañón  is  the  Global  Technology  Leader  for  Cybersecurity  of 
Epoche  &  Espri,  an  IT  security  evaluation  facility  that  provides 
evaluation  and  testing  services  under  the  Common  Criteria  and  FIPS 
140-2 standards. Epoche & Espri started in 2007, and is now active in 
a number of  IT certification schemes and countries.  In October 2017, 
Epoche & Espri has become part of DEKRA, one of the top 4 players in 
the  testing,  inspection,  and  certification  industry  worldwide.  Together 
with  DEKRA,  Epoche  &  Espri  further  develops  its  reach  of  cyber 

security testing and evaluation services. 

TOMMASO CALARCO 

Tommaso Calarco is the Director of the Institute for Quantum Control 
at  the  Peter  Grünberg  Institute  at  Forschungszentrum  Jülich.  He 
received  his  PhD  at  the  University  of  Ferrara  in  1998  and  started  to 
work  as  a  postdoc  in  the  group  of  P.  Zöller  at  the  University  of 
Innsbruck.  He  was  appointed  as  a  Senior  Researcher  at  the  BEC 
Centre  in  Trento  in  2004  and  as  a  Professor  for  Physics  at  the 
University of Ulm in 2007, where he later became the Director of the 
Institute  for  Complex  Quantum  Systems  and  of  the  Centre  for 
Integrated  Quantum  Science  and  Technology.  He  authored  the  Quantum  Manifesto  in 
2016,  which  led  to  the  European  Commission’s  Quantum  Flagship  Initiative.  He  is 
currently the Chairman of its Quantum Community Network. 

THIERRY DEBUISSCHERT 

Thierry  Debuisschert  is  a  scientist  at  Thales  Research  &  Technology 
where  he  is  responsible  for  applied  quantum  physics  activity.  His 
expertise  covers  non-linear  optics,  quantum  optics,  quantum 
cryptography  and  NV  centres  in  diamond.  He  was  coordinator  of  the 
European  integrated  project  DIADEMS  (2013-2017)  dedicated  to  the 
development  of  magnetometers  based  on  NV  centres  in  diamond. 
Currently,  he  coordinates  the  QuantERA  project  MICROSENS  and  is 
involved  in  the  quantum  coordination  and  support  action  QSA 

dedicated to the implementation and support of the Quantum Flagship.  

IVO PIETRO DEGIOVANNI 

INRIM Senior Researcher Ivo Pietro Degiovanni developed his scientific 
skills  in  Metrology  for  Quantum  Photonics  Technologies.  He  has  been 
the  coordinator  and  Unit  leader  of  several  European  and  national 
projects.  He is a member  of the  ETSI  Industry  Specification Group on 
QKD,  of  the  Scientific  Research  Agenda  Working-Group  of  the  EC 
Quantum  Flagship,  and  of  the  INRIM  Board  of  the  Scientific  Director. 
He  is  Champion  of  the  EURAMET  European  Metrology  Network  for 
Quantum Technologies (EMN-Q). 

37 

 
 
 
 
WERNER BERGHOLZ 

Werner  Bergholz  held  positions  in  R&D,  procurement,  QM  in  Siemens 
and  Infineon.  As  a  Professor  of  Electrical  Engineering  at  Jacobs 
University  Bremen,  he  researched  microelectronics,  PV,  QM  and 
standardization. He is co-founder of International Standards Consulting 
ISC  and  Co-Chair  of  the  SEMI©  ERSC  and  Assistant  Secretary  to  IEC 
TC 113. 

NICOLAS GISIN 

Nicolas  Gisin  is  a  Swiss  physicist  and  professor  at  the  University  of 
Geneva  working  on  quantum  information  and  communication,  as  well 
as  on  the  foundations  of  quantum  mechanics.  His  work  includes  both 
experimental and theoretical physics. He is one of the pioneers of QKD 
in  telecom  fibres;  he  combined  his  expertise  in  optical  fibres  and  in 
quantum  effects  in  optical  fibres  to  propose  and  realize  key 
experiments  and  practical  implementations.  He  is  also  one  of  the 
founders of ID Quantique. In 2009, he was awarded the First Biennial 
John Stewart Bell Prize for Research  on Fundamental Issues in Quantum Mechanics and 
their  Applications.  Nicolas  Gisin  has  published  a  popular  book  in  which  he  explains 
without  mathematics,  but  also  without  hiding  the  difficult  concepts,  modern  quantum 
physics and some of its fascinating applications. 

BARBARA GOLDSTEIN 

Barbara  Goldstein  is  Associate  Director  of  the  Physical  Measurement 
Laboratory (NIST-PML) of NIST, the US National Institute of Standards 
and  Technology,  the  public  body  that  bundles  all  public  efforts  in 
quantum technology. The US Government launched in December 2018 
the  $1.3b  National  Quantum  Initiative  Program  which  establishes  a 
coordinated  multiagency  program  to  support  research  and  training  in 
quantum information science over the next ten years. A Subcommittee 
on Quantum Information Science, including NIST members will guide program activities. 
The  body  has  initiated  a  process  to  solicit,  evaluate,  and  standardize  one  or  more 
quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms. 

MIKAEL HJALMARSON 

Mikael  Hjalmarson  is  project  manager  at  SIS  for  the  mirror  group  to 
ISO and CEN on AIDC, IoT, Cloud and AI (incl. Big Data). In the past, 
he  governed  product  attributes  for  describing  and  setting  product 
characteristics,  managed  Corporate  Standards  with  focus  on  product 
structuring  and  product  identification  (marking  &  traceability)  to 
support  product  lifecycle  management  (PLM)  and  worked  on  national 
and  international  standardization  related  to  Automatic  Identification 

and Data Capture (AIDC), Packaging, and the Internet of Things. 

38 

 
 
 
 
SEAN KWAK 

Sean  Kwak,  Executive  VP  Strategy  &  Innovation,  joined  ID  Quantique 
in September 2018, bringing over 23 years of experience in electronics 
engineering. Prior to this, he worked for SK Telecom, the largest South 
Korean  telecom.  Since  joining  SK  Telecom  in  1997,  he  managed  the 
commercialisation of SMS, packet core networks and Internet protocol 
Multimedia  Subsystem  (IMS).  While  working  on  solutions  for  packet 
core  security,  he  became  acquainted  with  quantum  cryptography  and 
led the founding of SK Telecom’s Quantum Tech. Lab in 2011. He also led the investment 
from SK Telecom in ID Quantique. Sean Kwak is a Ph.D candidate in University of Seoul. 

RUGGERO LENSI 

Director-General of CEN's  Italian Member UNI (Ente nazionale italiano 
di  unificazione,  Italian  National  Standardization  Body),  civil  engineer 
Ruggero  Lensi  began  working  for  UNI  in  1995  where  he  held  various 
posts,  first  as  Technical  Project  Manager,  as  Head  of  Standardization 
Activities,  and  Technical  Director  before  becoming  the  Director  of 
External  Relations,  New  Business  and  Innovation  in  2010.  In  this 
position,  he  was  responsible  for  the  development  and  monitoring  of 
actions related to the objectives of UNI’s strategic plan. He became a CEN Board member 
in 2014. 

JOACHIM LONIEN 

Joachim Lonien holds degrees in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Global 
Operations Management. His research projects allowed him to work in 
a  number  of  internationally  renowned  life  science  groups  before 
focusing on the development of international standards (ISO, IEC). He 
is  currently  leading  a  group  at  DIN's  innovation  department, 
specializing 
standardization 
consulting  and  organizing  international  committees  in  the  realm  of 
the  development  of 
smart 
in  the  organization  of 
International  Standards,  consulting  various  stakeholders 
standardization  projects,  technology  foresight  analysis  and  gene  expression  analysis  as 
well as molecular biology and analytical techniques. 

technologies.  His  specialties  are 

foresight  analysis, 

technology 

in 

PASCAL MAILLOT 

Pascal  Maillot  is  deputy  Head  of  Unit  of  CNECT/C2  (High  Performance 
Computing & Quantum Technologies) in the European Commission and 
is  in  charge  of  the  20-project  Quantum  Flagship  launched  in  October 
2018. He graduated as  a computer  engineer in 1998 and held several 
positions  in  the  private  and  public  sector  as  telecom  project  manager 
and  cyber-security  analyst.  He  then  moved  to  the  quantum  domain 
and focuses specifically on the future quantum internet. 

39 

 
 
 
 
THOMAS MONZ 

JAKOB REICHEL 

Dr  Thomas  Monz  from  Alpine  Quantum  Technologies  in  Innsbruck 
finished  his  PhD  in  the  group  of  Rainer  Blatt.  Including  his  PostDoc 
time, Dr Monz achieved genuine 14-qubit entanglement, implemented 
Shor's algorithm in a scalable fashion, and supplemented this research 
with  novel  quantum  characterisation,  verification  and  validation 
methods. 

Jakob  Reichel  is  professor  at  the  Kastler  Brossel  Laboratory  of  the 
Sorbonne  University  and  one  of  the  implementing  partners  of  the 
macQsimal project. macQsimal is an EU-funded Horizon 2020 research 
project which will design, develop, miniaturise and integrate advanced 
quantum-enabled  sensors  with  outstanding  sensitivity,  to  measure 
physical observables in five key areas: magnetic fields, time, rotation, 
electro-magnetic radiation and gas concentration. macQsimal is part of 
the FET Quantum Technologies (QT) Flagship. 

PETER MUELLER 

Peter  Mueller  from  IBM  Zurich  Research  Laboratory  in  Switzerland 
focuses his research on areas of quantum technology and data centre 
storage security.  The research activities his department include future 
device  concepts,  quantum  computing,  personalized  medicine,  mobile 
health,  human  body  data  interfaces  and  nanotechnology.  Peter  is  a 
founding  member  and  was 
the  IEEE  ComSoc 
Information  Systems  Security  Technical 
Communications  and 
Committee (CIS-TC). His affiliations include active society membership in IEEE, where he 
is  Senior  Member;  the  Society  for  Industrial  and  Applied  Mathematics  (SIAM);  the 
Electrochemical Society (ECS); and the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) 

the  Chair  of 

MAIVE RUTE 

Maive  Rute  is  Deputy  Director-General  of  the  Joint  Research  Centre 
(JRC)),  the  science  and  knowledge  service  of  the  European 
Commission.  There,  her  responsibilities  span  from  the  supervision  of 
energy,  mobility  and  nuclear  research  to  the  development  of  JRC 
organisation and sites in five countries. Prior to that, she has served as 
Director  for  Biotechnology  and  Director  for  Resources  in  DG  Research 
as  well  as  Director  for  Small  Business  and  Entrepreneurship  in  DG 
Enterprise.  Before  joining  the  Commission in 2005,  Maive  Rute  was  CEO  of  KredEx,  the 
Estonian  funding  body  for  businesses,  innovation,  housing  and  export.  She  graduated 
cum  laude  as  an  economist  from  the  Estonian  University  of  Life  Sciences  and  holds  an 
MBA  from  the  Danube  University,  Austria,  received  an  MA  in  international  politics  from 
CERIS, Brussels and has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Harvard University. 

40 

 
 
 
 
 
FABIO TAUCER 

Fabio  Taucer  is  Deputy  Head  of  Unit  at  the  JRC  at  the  Unit  for 
Scientific  Development.  He  is  responsible  for  the  coordination  of  all 
JRC  58  Research  Infrastructures  and  for  the  implementation  of  the 
facilities.  He  also 
open  access  strategy  to  JRC  experimental 
coordinates  all  standardisation  related  activities  at  the  JRC,  in 
particular linking research and innovation with standardisation as part 
of  the  Joint  Initiative  on  Standardisation.  In  his  previous  post  at  the 
JRC  he  matured  a  long-standing  experience  in  the  management  of 
transnational  access  to  research  infrastructures  financed  by  DG  RTD  in  the  field  of 
earthquake engineering. 

ROGIER VERBERK 

Rogier  Verberk  is  leading  the  Working  Group  on  Innovation  and 
Infrastructure  of  the  Coordination  and  Support  Action,  the  structure 
that runs the  European Quantum Technology  Flagship. He is  Principal 
Project Manager at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific 
Research (TNO) and Roadmap Leader at QuTech, the joint initiative of 
TU  Delft  and  TNO.  The  Quantum  Technologies  Flagship  is  a  large-
scale,  long-term  research  initiative  that  brings  together  research 
institutions,  industry  and  public  funders,  consolidating  and  expanding 
European  scientific  leadership  and  excellence  in  this  field.  It  will  run  for  ten  years,  with 
an expected budget  of  EUR 1b.  The vision of the Flagship is to develop in Europe a so-
called  quantum  web,  where  quantum  computers,  simulators  and  sensors  are 
interconnected via quantum communication networks. 

MARTIN WARD 

Martin  Ward  is  Senior  Research  Scientist  at  Toshiba  Research  Europe. 
Together  with  Andrew  Shields  he  is  member  of  the  Industry 
Specification  Group  for  Quantum  Key  Distribution  (ISG  QKD)  at  ETSI. 
Quantum 
transport  and 
processing of information using individual particles such as electrons or 
photons;  by  sending  information  encoded  upon  single  photons  (the 
particles  of  light)  it  is  possible  to  test  the  secrecy  of  each 
communication. Toshiba has exploited this phenomenon to create a practical system for 
secure  communication  over  fibre  optical  cables.  Quantum  Cryptography,  as  this 
communication  method  is  known,  is  the  first  in  a  series  of  quantum  innovations  which 
might revolutionise the IT industry. 

Information  Technology  concerns 

the 

STEPHANIE WEHNER 

German  physicist  and  computer  scientist  Stephanie  Wehner  is  Antoni 
van Leeuwenhoek professor in quantum information and the Roadmap 
Leader of the Quantum Internet and Networked Computing initiative at 
QuTech,  Delft  University  of  Technology.  She  is  also  known  for 
introducing  the  noisy-storage  model 
in  quantum  cryptography. 
Wehner's  research  focuses  mainly  on  quantum  cryptography  and 
quantum  communications.  Together  with  Jonathan  Oppenheim,  she 
discovered  that  the  amount  of  non-locality  in  quantum  mechanics  is  limited  by  the 
uncertainty principle. 

41 

 
HANNES HÜBEL 

Hannes  Hübel  obtained  his  PhD  in  2004  from  Queen  Mary,  University 
of  London,  UK.  In  the  same  year  he  joined  the  quantum  information 
group  at  the  University  of  Vienna,  to  work  on  QKD.  In  2008,  he 
presented the first realization of a fully automated QKD system based 
on entanglement. He then worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the 
University  of  Waterloo,  Canada, 
focusing  on  experimental 
demonstrations  of  multipartite  entanglement.  In  2010,  he  became 
assistant  professor  at  the  University  of  Stockholm,  Sweden.  Since  2015,  he  leads  the 
experimental  QKD  development  at  the  AIT  Austrian  Institute  of  Technology  in  Vienna, 
Austria.  

STEFAN KÜCK 

laser  materials.  He 

Stefan  Kück  obtained  the  state  doctorate  (Habilitation)  in  2001  in 
Physics  at  the  University  of  Hamburg  in  Germany  on  tunable  solid-
state 
the  Physikalisch-Technische 
joined 
Bundesanstalt (PTB), the German National Metrology Institute, in 2002 
and  started  working  in  the  field  of  laser  radiometry.  In  2009  he 
became head of the department of “Optical Technologies” and in 2013 
the  head  of  the  department  “Photometry  and  Applied  Radiometry”. 
Since  2016,  he  is  head  of  the  division  of  Optics.  His  scientific  work 

focuses on the metrology for single-photon sources and detectors. 

GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU 

In person 

All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct information centres. You can find the 
address of the centre nearest you at: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en 

On the phone or by email 

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. You can contact this 
service: 

- by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls), 

- at the following standard number: +32 22999696, or 

- by electronic mail via: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en 

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU 

Online 

Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa 
website at: https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en 

EU publications 
You can download or order free and priced EU publications from EU Bookshop at: 
https://publications.europa.eu/en/publications. Multiple copies of free publications may be obtained by 
contacting Europe Direct or your local information centre (see https://europa.eu/european-
union/contact_en). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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The European Commission’s 
science and knowledge service 
Joint Research Centre 

JRC Mission 
As the science and knowledge service  
of the European Commission, the Joint 
Research Centre’s mission is to support  
EU policies with independent evidence 
throughout the whole policy cycle.   

doi:10.2760/882029 

ISBN 978-92-76-18452-2