Because of the framework agreement: researchers and companies are moving away
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Grégoire Ribordy is the founder of ID Quantique: the company is a world leader in its field. Still.
Grégoire Ribordy (51) also when he thought of starting a company. He enrolled in a course in business administration. Secretly, because he feared that his professor at the University of Geneva would not be happy if he started a second degree alongside his doctoral thesis on experimental quantum cryptography. But the fear was unfounded: Ribordy successfully completed both courses – the doctoral supervisor even became a co-founder of his company ID Quantique, which specializes in quantum-secure network encryption. That was in 2001.
Today, 20 years later, ID Quantique still exists: the company is the world market leader in its field. Viewed from China, the Geneva-based company has a market share of over 80 percent.
Bad prospects
Only: The prospects that this will remain the case are poor. The reason is the abrupt termination of negotiations on a framework agreement between Switzerland and the EU – and the reactions to it. Brussels has excluded Switzerland from the EU research program Horizon. It is currently considered a third country. Switzerland also no longer has access to Digital Europe, a funding program for digital change.
For Ribordy, this brings tangible disadvantages. “By excluding Digital Europe, we are missing important resources to drive research and development forward,” says the Geneva native, whose company used to be regularly involved in European funding programs.
jobs abroad needed
And it gets even worse: With its programs, the EU is now pushing ID Quantique’s direct competitors in its member states. In particular, it is likely to want to own the relevant technologies itself – quantum research is seen as an area in which Brussels is seeking strategic autonomy.
ID Quantique is therefore forced to create new jobs in Vienna instead of in Geneva. The company now has around a tenth of its workforce in Austria. Ribordy does not rule out a complete move: «We need access to the European market. If the EU wants to exclude us as a Swiss company, it will be difficult for us.»
This hurts Ribordy all the more because Switzerland would be the perfect location for him to further develop quantum technology. “Here in Germany, the transfer of cutting-edge technologies from universities to start-ups works extremely well, and we’re among the best in the world,” says Ribordy. “But we’re about to lose touch.”
Universities are suffering too
In addition to the economy, the universities also suffer from the exclusion of Horizon and Digital Europe. It is already known that Swiss women scientists are no longer allowed to lead projects. But now it has become clear that the mere participation of researchers or companies from Switzerland can lead to the EU rejecting a project.
This was indicated by two conflicts this spring, in which ETH Lausanne suffered. In both cases, Swiss researchers and start-ups submitted applications for European funding in the field of quantum science. The QuantEO project achieved 13.5 out of 15 points in the EU Commission’s assessment, an excellent value – but Brussels gave up funding for the project, in which a Dutch and an Austrian university are also involved.
Political reasons stand in the way
The only “serious deficiency” the EU Commission names is the fact that an important part of the research takes place “outside the EU” – in Switzerland. According to the evaluation report, the SonntagsBlick is available.
A second aspect of quantum technology, a project called Leone, was also rejected by the EU Commission in May despite a very good rating. From Brussels’ point of view, the participation of a Swiss spin-off from EPFL represented a “deficiency”.
In other words: Even if local scientists or companies have the technologies that are in demand, they don’t get a chance for political reasons. This is devastating for Swiss universities. So far, the two Federal Institutes of Technology and the University of Geneva have been leaders in quantum science in Europe. This position could soon be lost – only in an area that is considered promising: Thanks to quantum technology, enormously powerful computers can be developed.
loss of attractiveness
The negative spiral is already turning. If local institutes are no longer allowed to manage or participate in EU projects, they will lose their attractiveness. And high performers, their reputation makes them less interesting for top international researchers.
EPFL spokeswoman Corinne Feuz states: “There were several cases in which foreign universities wanted to poach our researchers.” So far, thanks to counter-offers, it has been possible to keep the professors in Switzerland. But the trend is causing concern for the university. Feuz knows of a case in which a requested researcher did not want to come to Lausanne VD, among other things because of the downgrading of Switzerland at Horizon. Her conclusion: “If word gets around that Switzerland is completely excluded from the European programs, we have a problem.”