A new EU-backed project aims to help quantum tech startups and SMEs move faster to hardware manufacturing, enter this highly competitive field early and stay within the borders of the union.

dubbed Qu pilot, the €19 million project aims to solve a pressing challenge facing European industry: bringing innovation from lab to market. The ultimate goal is to accelerate the time to market of the block’s industrial innovation in quantum technology and establish a reliable supply chain.

Qu-Pilot will remove a major barrier for businesses, pilots, which require significant investment in cost, infrastructure and time.

The project uses existing pilot infrastructure, mainly spread across European research and technology organizations (RTOs). It will also facilitate product development loops in collaboration with the union’s hardware sector. This will result in the first federated European production capacities for quantum technologies, which will help set standards in the field and be accessible to startups and SMEs.

These federated pilot lines will focus on four technology platforms: superconductivity, photonics, semiconductor and diamond technologies, enabling applications in quantum computing, communications and sensing.