November 16th, 2022
AQT receives 2.5 M EURO innovation funding from European EIC-Accelerator – Horizon Europe
The European Innovation Council Accelerator (EIC-Accelerator) recommends AQT for a grant of EUR 2.5 million in combination with equity investments through the EIC Fund.
The European Commission selected 75 innovative start-ups from 21 countries after this year’s second EIC Accelerator cut-off in June. The companies were selected in a highly competitive process, in which 232 companies were interviewed by juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs out of a total of more than 1000 applications. The aim is to allow the very best technology-based ideas to rapidly grow, and to do so in Europe. Together, the selected companies will receive close to EUR 400 million of funding in a combination of grants and equity investments. With a budget of EUR 95.5 billion, Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding program for research and innovation.
European Innovation Council Accelerator
“The EIC funding enables AQT to make European quantum computing superior and more readily available to international customers. All components of the AQT quantum computer are engineered to fit within 19-inch rack cabinets, allowing familiarity to existing high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure and data center installations. This support will allow us at AQT to holistically accelerate the European quantum ecosystem and make it accessible via a seamless cloud solution.”
Dr. Thomas Monz, CEO AQT
European Innovation Council
The European Innovation Council (EIC) was established by the European Commission in 2021 following a 3 years successful pilot phase. It has a mission to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and disruptive innovation. It has a budget of over €10 billion for the period 2021-2027.
The funding and support is organised into three main funding schemes covering all technology readiness levels: EIC Pathfinder for advanced research to develop the scientific basis to underpin breakthrough technologies; EIC Transition to validate technologies and develop business plans for specific applications; and the EIC Accelerator to support companies (SMEs, start-ups, spin-outs and in exceptional cases small mid-caps) to bring their innovations to market and scale up. The Accelerator provides a combination of grant support and direct equity investments in companies through a dedicated EIC Fund, which also provides a platform for co-investments with other investors.
For all schemes, the direct financial support is augmented with access to a range of Business Acceleration Services.
The strategy and implementation of the EIC is overseen by the EIC Board of twenty individuals from the innovation ecosystem (academia, business, investment, ecosystem builders). The EIC also employs dedicated Programme Managers with high level expertise in their fields, to set the challenges and proactively manage portfolios of projects towards technological breakthroughs.
AQT was supported by the experts of the FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency) in their preparation for funding. The FFG and aws (Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft) programs continue to make significant contributions to ensure the development and launch of AQT’s innovations.
September 25th, 2024
AQT’s ion-trap quantum computer, procured by the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre and Munich Quantum Valley, is now operational at LRZ's Quantum Integration Centre, making it the first of its kind in a computing center.
August 30th, 2024
The total value of the delivery, including services, amounts to 12.28 million euros. AQT is delivering a quantum computer to the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) in Poland.
