India celebrates World Quantum Day 2024, aspires to lead in Quantum Science and Technology
India celebrates World Quantum Day 2024 on April 14,
2024, with aspirations to become a global leader in various fields of Quantum
Science and Technology.
Quantum Mechanics, the study of atoms and sub-atomic
particles, has now advanced to such an extent that it has now moved to the
engineering domain and is leading to novel and varied applications. Researchers
worldwide have utilized its principles to develop technologies such as LEDs,
lasers, and ultra-precise atomic clocks used in the Global Positioning System.
Considerable attention is now being paid to controlling and manipulating
quantum systems for Quantum Computing, Quantum Communications, and Quantum
Sensing applications. To advance the awareness and appreciation of quantum
science and technology among the public worldwide, an international initiative
was taken in 2022, commemorated annually as the World Quantum Day on April 14th.
Prof.
Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India
emphasized the global impact of quantum technology: “Quantum Technology is the
new technology frontier, reached after decades of fundamental research leading
to our ability to exploit the principles of superposition, entanglement, and
measurement. It promises to lead to applications with immense potential for the
global economy in areas ranging from medicine to the discovery of advanced
materials, and from safe communication to extremely sensitive sensors.”
Discussing
quantum technology’s global reach and the need to eliminate potential threats
by quantum computers, Prof. Sood said, “Governments and private players in
almost all scientifically advanced nations are investing heavily in its
development and exploitation to tap its immense potential for enhancing
computing, communication, and sensing capabilities with significant
implications for national prosperity and security. The threat emerging from
quantum computers that breaches the encryption algorithms used by conventional
computing systems needs to be addressed by PQC and QKD to make the world quantum-safe.
Ensuring ethical development and deployment of quantum technology will also
become important as newer applications get developed, and for this, engagement
with a wide range of stakeholders ─scientists, policymakers, industry leaders,
civil society organizations, and the public ─ must continue.”
Regarding
India’s plans to excel in quantum technology on the global stage, Prof. Sood
expressed optimism and confidence and mentioned that India’s National Quantum
Mission (NQM) will bolster India's competitiveness by leveraging the national
strengths built through previous R&D initiatives and strengthening them
further in a focused and directed manner.
The
National Quantum Mission (NQM), conceptualized by the Prime Minister Science
Technology Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) received Cabinet approval on April 19,
2023 with a total outlay of Rs 6003.65 Crore for a period of eight years. The
Mission aims to seed, nurture, and scale up scientific and industrial R&D
and create a vibrant & innovative ecosystem in Quantum Technology (QT).
This will accelerate QT-led economic growth, nurture the ecosystem in the
country, and make India one of the leading nations in the development of QT and
applications.
Being
implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), NQM envisages
well-orchestrated and synergistic efforts through a hub-spoke-spike model,
involving Centres of Excellence (CoEs), consortia projects, individual
scientist-centric projects, etc. This mission is guided by a Mission Governing
Board (MGB) chaired by Dr. Ajai Chowdhry and assisted by the Mission Technology
Research Council (MTRC) chaired by the PSA to the Government of India.
The
Mission aims to establish four Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) in domains such as (i)
Quantum Computing, (ii) Quantum Communication, (iii) Quantum Sensing &
Metrology, and (iv) Quantum Materials & Devices. A Call for Pre-Proposals
to establish T-Hubs was given on January 20, 2024, inviting contributions from
academic institutions and R&D labs.
Underscoring
DST’s pivotal role in taking India’s quantum mission forward, Prof. Abhay
Karandikar, Secretary, DST, said, “India is one of the few countries making
concerted efforts to leapfrog in quantum technologies and has reasons to be
optimistic to become a leader in the area as it is still evolving. DST has
taken up the challenge to build a world-class R&D capability in quantum
technologies. Central to its efforts is the setting up of four hubs in Quantum
Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum Sensing & Metrology, and Quantum
Materials & Devices.”
Prof.
Karandikar also underlined that NQM will be a consortium of academia and
R&D labs in collaboration with startups and industry. This will help bring
talents in the relevant areas across the country to work together for the
development of the technology and its translation in myriad areas.
Dr.
Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman, MGB and Founder HCL Technologies highlighted the
importance of quantum technology in the digital economy and geopolitics for
India: "On this World Quantum Day, the nation's decision to embark on the
National Quantum Mission and seize the opportunities presented by the quantum
revolution is a source of immeasurable hope and delight. The imminent economic
potential and consequential effects of quantum computing on worldwide digital
economies are critical considerations for geopolitical strategies. The
substantial financial investment of ₹6,000 crore in the National Quantum
Mission will undoubtedly facilitate the advancement of research and innovation
across numerous sectors, benefiting scientists, researchers, and startups
throughout the country.”
Dr.
Chowdhry also stressed the importance of quantum cryptography and encryption as
an indispensable component of protecting critical institutions such as Banks
and Electrical grids which will be required to implement quantum cryptography
to improve security. He reiterated his confidence that the country will
endeavour to achieve predetermined standards in the realm of QT by NQM.
Prof.
Urbasi Sinha, Quantum Information and Computing Lab, Raman Research Institute
and India Representative on the World Quantum Day Network shared her remarks on
NQM: “As a country representative for the World Quantum Day network, I am very
excited with the boom in quantum technologies that the country is currently
witnessing with the impetus that has been received through the National Quantum
Mission and look forward to contributing majorly to all the above efforts as a
part of the Mission.”
Asserting
the importance of research and development on Quantum Communications, Prof.
Sinha said, “India has made significant advances in the domain of secure
quantum communications, both in fibre as well as free space domain with several
ground-based milestones achieved over the last few years. Through the National
Quantum Mission and beyond, we are looking forward to further leaps in
long-distance quantum communications. We are aiming to have a country-wide free
space quantum key distribution (QKD) network by using a satellite as a
trusted node as well as a fibre-based QKD network. We will also make advances
towards multi-node quantum repeater networks for entanglement
distribution-based quantum communication. Going forward, India envisages being
a lead player in the quest towards the global quantum internet, which would
involve connecting India with other countries through quantum communication
links.”
Conveying
his good wishes on the occasion of World Quantum Day, Prof. R Vijayraghavan,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research said, “With the launch of the National
Quantum Mission, India is gearing up to develop not only quantum software but
also build state of the art quantum computing hardware for practical
applications. Happy World Quantum Day!”