Tackling the quantum skills bottleneck

We are pleased to announce the commencement of the QTIndu (Quantum Technology Courses for Industry) Project, which will create industry-specific Quantum Technology (QT) training programs to address the growing needs of the quantum-ready workforce. Under the Digital Europe Programme of the European Commission, the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) has granted a total of EUR 5.6 million to the QTIndu project, a pan-European consortium of 11 academic and industry partners coordinated by QURECA SPAIN SL.

The core objectives of the project are:

• the development of the nucleus for a harmonised pan-European end-to-end short-term training program in QT for enterprises,
• training courses specifically tailored to the requirements of companies and SMEs from different business sectors, and
• the creation and provision of guidelines and routes for a scale up to a comprehensive pan-European scale.

The training programs developed in this initiative will be mapped to the Quantum Technology Competence Framework and aligned with the emerging Qualification Profiles specifications for individuals working in QT developed by the Quantum Flagship. These SME-based training programs are tailored to different business sectors and industry needs covering all the aspects of quantum workforce landscape.

The QTIndu consortium comprises several academic institutions with expertise in the field of quantum technologies (the University of Helsinki – InstituteQ in Finland, the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, Aarhus University in Denmark and Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany), the national metrology institute (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Germany), an SME (and the only company in the world) focussed on education and skills for the quantum workforce (QURECA SPAIN in Spain), two professional networks (Stifterverband in Germany and MinacNed in Netherlands), academic institutions with quantum expertise and a network of SMEs in the sector (ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain), and the European multinational aerospace corporation (Airbus Defence and Space). Furthermore, two relevant industrial consortia will act as advisors, the Quantum Valley Lower Saxony in Germany, and QuiC, the European Quantum Industry Consortium. The project will also be run in close synergy with the wider coordination efforts of the ongoing QUCATS (Quantum Flagship’s new Coordination and Support Action) and DigiQ (Digitally Enhanced Quantum Technology Master).  

“While the future quantum workforce will be developed with new academic programs, QTIndu will upskill professionals now, creating a new quantum talent pool” – Araceli Venegas-Gomez, QURECA 

“With QTIndu we prepare the European quantum industry to flourish beyond the purely technical domains” – Jacob Sherson, Aarhus University  

“QTIndu fills an important gap in the struggle against the shortage of skilled workforce in the sector of quantum technologies” – Rainer Müller, Technische Universität Braunschweig