Moscow hosts second international quantum technology conference

The Russian Quantum Center is quickly establishing its foothold in the scientific community and attracting commercial interest. Source: Press Photo

The Russian Quantum Center (RQC) hosted the second international conference on quantum technologies this week in Moscow.

The RQC works in the field of quantum physics and its management includes some of the best physicists from around the world, including Nobel Prize winners.

The RQC was established in 2011, the year it held its first conference. Since then, the scientists from the RQC have published 45 scientific articles.

“The Russian Quantum Center was created only two years ago and the first articles with Russian affiliation have already appeared in the journals Nature and Science,” praised Dmitry Livanov, the Minister of Science and Education in Russia.

The RQC has three physics laboratories at the Skolkovo Innovation Center and four additional laboratories that operate on the basis of partnership agreements. The RQC has also created eight research groups, which employ 40 researchers.

Another 12 scientists work with the support of the RQC at various universities around the world.

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Speaking about the objectives of the RQC, the head of its Executive Committee, Professor of the Niels Bohr Institute, Eugene Polzik, said: “There are countries that buy inventions in other countries, and there are countries that are engaged in basic science and reap the fruits of their own inventions. I am absolutely convinced that Russia should belong to this latter class of countries.”  

Conference attendees displayed considerable interest in the first exhibition of Russian quantum-tech start-ups, which presented companies that are already doing business using such quantum technologies as fiber optic thermal sensors – which allow measuring temperatures along the length of multi-kilometer cables, colloidal quantum dots – allowing expansion of the color gamut of modern LCD displays, and single-photon detectors – based on superconducting materials.

Sergey Belousov, head of the board of trustees of the RQC, senior partner of venture capital funds Qwave and Runa Capital, and general director of the Acronis Company, was enthusiastic about the future of quantum technology and RQC’s role in it.

“Huge amounts of new knowledge about quantum technologies should soon appear, and this will greatly change the way the world is arranged. In the future, this will be a new, multi-billion dollar industry, which will define the technological picture of civilization. The development of the Russian Quantum Center will allow a new generation of researchers to study science at the top level, communicating with the world's leading scientists, and gaining access to the international scientific community. Already today, in various countries, there are dozens of companies that successfully use quantum technologies to solve practical problems. Our venture fund Qwave has already invested in some of them. We expect that in the near future, the first commercial spin-offs will appear around the RQC.”

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