Spain will also have its own quantum computer, and for this, the Council of Ministers has approved initially allocate 22 million euros to create a quantum computing ecosystem in Spain through the Quantum Spain project. This step, as stated by the Government, is aligned with the strategy of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, as well as with the Spain Digital 2025 plan and with the ENIA, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
This investment is intended for what will be the first phase of the project, and will begin to be mobilized before the end of this year 2021. This amount will be channeled through RES (Spanish Supercomputing Network) and will be followed by other phases, in which it is The authorities are expected to invest up to 60 million euros, always complementing other European initiatives and following a model of collaboration between public and private entities.
The initiative is driven by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, through the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, and among its objectives is to guarantee the development of quantum algorithms focused on the solution of real cases. In this way, it seeks to promote the generation of highly qualified employment and reinforce technological and industrial development in Spain.
The quantum computer that will be developed from this high-performance initiative will be made available to the research community, with the aim that it can contribute to the development of Artificial Intelligence. In addition, a cloud service will be launched that will allow access to the computer’s processor remotely. Libraries of useful quantum algorithms will also be developed, which will be applied to real problems of different sectors for end users of companies and public organizations. Among the sectors in which it will be used are quantum chemistry, finance, cryptography and optimization of production chain processes.
Its development has been planned in a way that contributes to the creation of a quantum ecosystem in Spain. For this reason, Quantum Spain is designed to operate in a decentralized manner, with the participation of 25 centers from 14 autonomous communities. Most of these communities are integrated into the RES, which will be the organism that channels and distributes the subsidy to the centers and organisms that participate in the project. The person in charge of managing the participation of the entities will be the current coordinator of the RES, the Barcelona National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), also known as Barcelona Supercomputing Center.
The initial investment of the project will be distributed as follows: 14.5 of the 22 million euros that it consists of will be directly executed by entities belonging to the RES to carry out the project. Another 7.5 million euros will go to entities external to RES, with which agreements will be established or work will be done under subcontracting. As for the distribution for the elements that will allow the computer to be built, most of it, 10 million euros, will be allocated to hardware. The quantum software will correspond to 7 million euros, while for the access platform to quantum hardware it will be another 5 million euros.
