The overall purpose of the QSciTech initiative is to provide practical collaborative training, exposing trainees to the full quantum technologies development chain, thereby fulfilling the nascent quantum industry’s needs for highly qualified personnel. Job-ready candidates with overarching training encompassing fundamental quantum science, engineering methods, and professional skills are acutely needed to support next-generation quantum companies.
The QSciTech program provides training and skills development in 3 major areas:
Developing quantum technologies has thus far largely been the realm of physicists. Increasingly however, it becomes necessary to bring together physicists, engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians and other scientists to work intensively in collaboration to bring those technologies to maturity. By training quantum-aware engineers and scientists, QSciTech aims to provide the common background and language necessary to develop quantum technologies. This is realized mainly through our Quantum Mechanics for Non-Physicists course, taken during Phase 1 of the program (1A).
To achieve deployment of quantum technologies in real-world applications, engineering practice is essential. There are several reasons for this, ranging from scale-up challenges, to integration of quantum devices in complete systems and interfacing with advanced conventional technology. All those aspects require engineering solutions and rigorous methods to increase reliability and yield. Furthermore, good business and engineering practice is essential to ensure that quantum technologies are economically profitable and yield high societal impact. QSciTech aims to give physics and other non-engineering students a strong background in modern engineering design and project management paradigms, which are absent from their traditional curricula. This is achieved mainly through our Engineering Design & Project Management course, offered during Phase 1 of the program (1B).
Challenges to come in the rapidly evolving quantum industry require graduate students to grow their business-awareness/intelligence about quantum technologies so that they develop the instinct to foresee and seize commercial opportunities. QSciTech aims to enable trainees to develop a concrete overview of quantum technologies R&D from basic science to commercial success, by covering entrepreneurship, innovation, intellectual property, communication and teamwork, and commercialization. This is pursued through our R&D and Entrepreneurship course (1C) and IP & Innovation course (1D) during phase 1, but also through a problem-based learning course focused on interdisciplinary teamwork, Business Models for Entrepreneurial Projects in Quantum Technology during Phase 2 of the program. This course immerses students in concrete situations of quantum technologies development to deepen their collaborative skills, essential for engineering increasingly complex technologies that require a synthesis of different expertises.
All those skills are also explored in a different format during the annual Summer School, intended to expand and deepen the trainees formation and knowledge of quantum technologies and industry. See our Courses's detailed description and the Summer School page for more details on the QSciTech formation.
