It was presented last September the Draghi report on the future of European competitiveness. The report represents a stark warning, highlighting Europe’s competitive shortcomings compared to China and the United States in many areas, including technological innovation and artificial intelligence.
Although the EU is at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to investing in AI development and the creation of innovative technology companies with a global reach, as well as in the cloud services market, this scenario could change with the advent of quantum computing. The EU has developed a comprehensive plan to further support the development of quantum companies through a series of pan-European programs and initiatives. However, the achievement of these goals is still far away, and the disadvantages posed by the lack of private investment, the shortage of human capital and the fragmentation of jurisdictions and regulations represent major obstacles to achieving economic leadership, industrial competitiveness and strategic security of the continent.
How much?
Classical computers use the language of bittaking values of zero or one. These are very reliable and work sequentially. So, if a computer is given the task of solving a maze, it will do so by checking every possible path one by one until it finds a solution. Depending on the size of the maze, this may take seconds, minutes or even years. Quantum computers, on the other hand, use i qubit (quantum bits), which can take on the value of zero or one, but also a complex combination of zero and one at the same time. This ability of qubits to be in two states at once means that an array of qubits can solve many calculations simultaneously. So, asking a quantum computer to solve a maze means that it can consider all possible paths at once and solve the problem instantly. A quantum computer could solve such complex calculations in just a few minutes which would instead require millions of years for current supercomputers.
Qubits therefore represent a fundamental turning point for scientific advancement. But, because of this fundamental changea redesign of hardware, software, programming languages, and even programmers’ approach to problems is needed.
The performances of the United States and China
The strategies of the United States and China clearly indicate that both countries view quantum technology as a crucial strategic factorcapable of significantly strengthening both the economic and military aspects of national power. The United States is aiming for a scientific approachsupporting private industry and training a specialized workforce. China, on the other hand, aims to develop indigenous quantum capabilities, trying to eliminate dependence on foreign components and materials.
Several indicators allow us to compare the positions of China and the United States: total R&D expenditure, number of patents e number of scientific publications. In terms of total R&D expenditureChina significantly outperforms both the US and the EU. According to various estimates, China has allocated approx 15.3 billion dollars to quantum technology, representing more than 50% of global government spending in this sector. The United States, on the other hand, has only allocated 1.9 billion. However, the United States compensates with a greater contribution of private investment, which exceeds that of China and Europe.
As for the number of patentsthe United States maintains a significant lead. Between 2010 and 2022, the US Patent Office received more than 1.800 patent applications in the field of quantum computing, while China has received approx 900. On the front of scientific publicationsthe China dominates in terms of volumeproducing the greater number of articles on quantum computing globally. However, the articles published by United States they tend to be cited most frequentlysuggesting superior quality. In summary, the United States boasts a slight overall advantage over China, which nevertheless represents a formidable and extremely prepared adversary.
What the EU is doing
As part of its digital transformation strategy, theUE has set itself the goal of being at the forefront of quantum capabilities by 2030. However, the Draghi report of 2024 highlights that, despite the progress made, Europe still lags behind global competitors such as the United States and China, especially in terms of private investment. While the EU ranks second in the world for public investments in the sector, with approx 7 billion euros already allocated, remains behind in private financial resources, which are fundamental for the industrial development and commercialization of quantum technologies.
Il relationship highlights that although the EU has excellent research expertise and the highest global level of qualified experts (over 100.000 quantum-ready experts), the European private sector does not invest enough in this emerging technology. Only the 5% of global private funding in the quantum sector it is intended for European companies.
On the strategic initiatives front, the EU has launched relevant programs such as Quantum Technologies Flagship for research and development, and initiative EuroQCI for pan-European quantum communications infrastructure. Furthermore, investments are planned for the development of quantum computers with accelerated capacity by 2025distributed across six sites across the EU.
However, despite these initiatives, the Draghi report underlines that the EU risks not achieving its short-term objectives by 2030unless there is greater private sector involvement. The report therefore recommends an expansion of public-private partnerships to support the entire technology ecosystem, including critical components such as quantum chips. In this regard, the Chips Act of the EU plays a key role, providing support for the creation of pilot lines for testing these technologies. Another central theme is the quantum infrastructure federation at European level, as hoped in Report on the Digital Decade of 2023. Such a federation is seen as essential to create a coordinated approach at a European level, capable of competing at an international level. To this end, the Draghi report proposes the creation of quantum testing laboratories connected to the centers HPC (high performance computing) technology, to accelerate the research and implementation of quantum technologies. Furthermore, the creation of a new one is proposed group of experts nell’European Union Agency for Cyber Security (ENISA)with the task of monitoring progress in the sector and making recommendations for protecting EU crypto systems against future threats.
