Objectives:

Establish national network of quantum hubs (O3.2)

Develop national quantum communication technology training materials (O3.3)

Develop national certification for quantum communication technologies (O3.4)

Train users in academia, public authorities and industry including internet service providers (O3.5)

Organize national workshops and hackathon to promote training and partner experience exchanges (O3.6)

Organize international workshops to promote international coordination based on experience exchanges (O5.3)

Description:

WP6 contains specific activities related to quantum training and education contributing to O3 and O5 in a wide collective effort led by UPB towards what the consortium strongly considers to be the key aggregator for its structure: establishing a national network of quantum hubs for quantum communication technology. Building upon a breadth of experience between the partners, the initiation of WP6 debuts at project implementation with a task, T6.1, establishing of the national network of quantum hubs itself, as well as a task, T6.2, developing quantum communication technologies training materials leveraging experience both from academic partners with proven track records teaching various aspects of quantum communications, quantum information, quantum technology and quantum computing but also from research institutes who along the years have also been involved in promoting quantum technology at different levels, including industrial and entrepreneurial entities as well as to wider audiences. Parallel with the development of training materials, a third task, T6.3, will consider examination methods to produce a national certification in quantum communication technology based upon well-known international models from other branches of information technology, in coordination with other member states who are also developing such programs. After these tasks have been completed, three other tasks, T6.4, T6.5 and 6.6 focus on use the training materials produced by the newly established national network of quantum hubs, with aim to organize training sessions for academia (starting with interested communities in partner universities), for public authorities (starting with affiliated partners, each also receiving an experience tailored to their use cases) and for industry (starting with affiliated partners, and building onwards from there exploiting partner contacts such as UMC contacts in transportation industry) respectively, the success of which will be measured based on the examination results. Three other tasks pertaining to training also follow: T6.7 organizes workshops at key points in the project (one in M3 at the start of the acquisitions period with invited speakers from other member states to share their experience on QKD network architecture and deployment to benefit not only this project but also related initiatives in other member states, another workshop in M10 to promote national and international coordination related to training on quantum communication technologies as the materials have just been completed, a workshop in M18 to promote RoNaQCI experience in installation acting as another training invitation as the national quantum hubs will be connected to the RoNaQCI network, and another workshop in M18 regarding software development for QKD networks based on the experience from WP7), T6.8 schedules a Hackathon event at the end of the workshop in M24 where multiple teams will get to work on software development challenges related to QKD networks that they have an interest in tackling (such as SDN, QKD-protected email etc) under mentoring from the RoNaQCI teams, while T6.9 prepares another round of training sessions courting a very specific group of industry players: Internet Service Providers, whom the consortium would like to engage toward the future development of an European-wide quantum Internet. Monitoring for WP6 is achieved by self-monitoring through feedback gathered at the workshops, and based on the certification examination results and engagement metric related to training as measured in WP8. The control function for WP6 is provided by WP1 which implements risk mitigation measures related to success indicators such as adjusting training session pacing and introducing more material tailored to the specific audience. Given that obtaining a large number of trained users is a key strategic objective of the project, WP completion takes place at the end of the project, resulting in critical paths related to end of training with T6.4, T6.5, T6.6 and T6.9

Tasks:

T6.1 Establish Quantum Hub - Set up quantum training centre network in partner universities and research institutes, under the umbrella of National Quantum Hub coordination centre. 16 Quantum Hubs + 1 National Quantum HUB at UPB.

T6.2 Quantum Communication Tehnologies Training Materials - Review quantum communication technology literature, development of a curriculum and training materials for users.

T6.3 Establish Quantum Communication Technologies Certification - Elaborate examination methods for curriculum above and establish certification emitted by the National Quantum Hub.

T6.4 Training for Academia - Training the trainers: lectures and seminaries dedicated to instructors who teach the curriculum at partner universities aimed at potential end users such as students.

T6.5 Training for Public Authorities - Training centre network will hold training sessions for interested public authority users, specific to individual use cases.

T6.6 Training for Industry - Training centre network will hold training sessions for interested industry players, facilitating transition to quantum technology, based on user requirements and needs.

T6.7 Workshops - National Quantum Hub will coordinate training centre network events in the form of workshops, with invited guest lecturers from key European players, serving as topic specific crash courses useful for both end users and knowledge exchange. Workshops will be held (see Gantt) in Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara.

T6.8 Hackathon National Quantum Hub will coordinate a training centre network event in the form of a Hackathon, where interested participants will code prototype implementations transitioning relevant technologies to use quantum key distribution, such as SDN, SSL, VPN etc.

T6.9 Training for Internet Service Providers - Training Internet Service Providers on network integration of quantum communication technologies, based on the case study of the RoNaQCI.

Lead beneficiary:

University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB)

Work Package 1 (WP1):
Management

Work Package 2 (WP2):
Long Distance Quantum Communications

Work Package 3 (WP3):
Metropolitan QKD Links

Work package 4 (WP4):
Free Space Communication

Work package 5 (WP5):
Testing and Integration

Work package 6 (WP6):
Quantum Training and Education HUB

Work package 7 (WP7):
Advanced Use Cases

Work Package 8 (WP8):
Communication and Dissemination

Contribution to long-term policy objectives, policies and strategies