A National Strategic Overview for Quantum Information Science has been released by the US National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which coordinates the science and technology policy of the President of the US. The overview identifies several key policy actions designed to keep the US at the forefront of quantum-technology development.
In related announcements, two science funding agencies in the US – the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation — have committed a total of $249m to 118 research projects related to quantum information science (QIS).
QIS is currently making the transition from the lab to industry and includes a range of technologies including quantum computing, cryptography and sensing that take advantage of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.
The strategic overview was produced by the NSTC’s Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science (SCQIS). One of its co-chairs is Carl Williams, who is acting director of the Physical Measurement Laboratory of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He believes that it is likely that QIS will “be the foundation of a lot of future technologies, and therefore, extraordinarily important for our economic and national security”.
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