EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities

1. Overview of the Call

The topic “Quantum Computing – complementing the quantum computing FPAs with the development of a technology-agnostic software stack (RIA)” (HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-02) aims to build an open, interoperable quantum–classical software ecosystem across Europe. The following sections highlight the specific benefits of addressing this call at EU level rather than nationally.

---

2. Single Market Access (450+ m citizens & 23 m SMEs)

• Pan-European user base: A technology-agnostic stack released under an OSI/FSF-compliant licence can be adopted by any public or private organisation in all 27 Member States and 17+ EEA/associated countries, multiplying uptake compared with a national market.

• Early-mover advantage for EU industry: Common APIs lower the entry barrier for European ISVs, start-ups and corporates to embed quantum routines in existing SaaS products, giving them first-to-market positioning inside the world’s second-largest economy.

• Public procurement leverage: EU rules on collective procurement (e.g. Pre-Commercial Procurement, Innovation Partnerships) allow the consortium to pilot quantum-enabled services that can later be jointly purchased by several administrations, accelerating commercial revenues.

---

3. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Mandatory cooperation with EuroHPC & existing FPAs creates a ready-made network of leading hardware labs, middleware developers and Quantum Excellence Centres in >15 countries.

• Mobility of talent: Marie-Skłodowska-Curie, Erasmus+ internships and European Research Council grantees can be seconded into the project under existing mobility schemes, enriching skills and ensuring workforce diversity.

• Test-bed federation: Linking national quantum cloud portals (e.g. FranceQCI, QuNetDE, Spain’s Quantum ENIAC) through common middleware provides researchers and SMEs with seamless access to heterogeneous devices, something impossible at purely national scale.

---

4. Alignment with EU Policy Priorities

• Digital Europe & Chips Act: Contributes to the goal of open strategic autonomy in high-tech supply chains by ensuring Europe controls critical runtimes, compilers and error-correction IP.

• Green Deal / Fit-for-55: Quantum-accelerated optimisation can cut energy consumption in logistics, chemistry and materials by an estimated 15-30 % vs. classical-only HPC, supporting climate targets.

• European Open Science Cloud (EOSC): By publishing code and data in open repositories with FAIR metadata, the project feeds directly into EOSC’s federated data space vision.

---

5. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• Security & Sovereignty: Participation is restricted to EU/like-minded countries, mitigating supply-chain risks identified in the 2024 Foreign Subsidy & Economic Security packages.

• GDPR-ready design: A single stack with built-in compliance features (data minimisation, anonymisation) simplifies deployments across 27 DPAs, reducing legal costs.

• Standardisation pathways: Results can be fast-tracked into CEN-CENELEC JTC 22 and ETSI ISG QKD/QSC, giving European specifications first-mover status in ISO/IEC JTC 1.

---

6. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• World-class infrastructure: EuroHPC supercomputers (LUMI, LEONARDO, JUPITER) already host integrated quantum simulators—ideal sandboxes for benchmarking hybrid workflows.

• Clusters & DIHs: 200+ Digital Innovation Hubs and European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) can act as regional multipliers for training & piloting, especially in Widening Countries.

• Venture capital crowd-in: Demonstrating EU-validated interoperability de-risks investments for the EIB, EIF and private VCs under programmes like InvestEU and EIC Accelerator.

---

7. Funding Synergies & Leveraging Instruments

• Digital Europe Programme (DEP): DEP topics on Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) and Advanced Digital Skills can co-fund training modules and hardware access vouchers.

• Eureka/Eurostars & national RRF plans: SMEs from associated countries (CH, IL, UK, KR, CA, NZ) can receive complementary funding, enlarging the pool of contributors.

• Cohesion funds & Widening measures: Smart Specialisation (S3) regions can finance local testbeds or incubators that adopt the stack, fulfilling the “spreading excellence” criterion.

---

8. Scale & Impact Potential

• Pan-EU deployment scenarios: A single reference stack enables immediate replication of use-cases (e.g. pharma simulation, traffic optimisation) in multiple member states without re-engineering.

• Economies of scale in maintenance: Shared open-source repositories cut lifecycle costs by >40 % versus fragmented national toolchains, freeing budget for further R&I.

• Quantum talent pipeline: Training 1 000+ developers EU-wide meets the 2027 target of the Digital Decade Policy Programme for specialists in advanced technologies.

---

9. Actionable Recommendations for Proposers

1. Build a geographically balanced consortium with at least 3–4 Widening Countries to maximise evaluation points on excellence spreading.

2. Formalise interface working groups with EuroHPC JU and FPA coordinators during proposal stage; attach Letters of Intent to demonstrate early alignment.

3. Integrate FAIR & open-source strategy in the work plan (deliverables: GitHub org, SPDX-compliant licensing, Zenodo DOIs for datasets).

4. Allocate ≥15 % of budget to skills: quantum SDK MOOCs, hackathons via EIT Digital & EIT Manufacturing nodes.

5. Plan policy outreach: reserve resources for contributions to CEN-CENELEC and ETSI standardisation meetings; name a Standards Liaison Officer.

---

10. Key Take-Away

Pursuing this RIA at EU level unlocks unparalleled market access, talent mobility, strategic autonomy and regulatory coherence—advantages that no single Member State could replicate alone. By embedding the project in Europe’s broader quantum, HPC and digital-sovereignty agenda, beneficiaries can maximise scientific impact, commercial scalability and policy relevance simultaneously.