Responsible Quantum Technologies

  • type of event:

    Workshop

  • place:

    Karlsruhe

  • date:

    06.12.22 - 07.12.22

Responsible Quantum Technologies

Workshop 2022
Responsible Quantum Technologies Workshop

The second quantum revolution has been ongoing for more than two decades now and many countries around the globe have noticed the promises of these technologies. Just in the last decade, the number of publicly supported national initiatives grew from zero to more than 15, with globally more than 20 B€ of public investments allocated or planned. Both the number of new publications per year and patents granted on quantum technologies (QT) has also been climbing steadily for the last decade, so has been the number of start-ups being founded and established companies getting into the field. Finally, the field started receiving attention from private funding sources in recent years, which some have been calling the ‘quantum gold rush’. Within two decades, QT became a strong contender for a potential future industry from a topic that was mainly discussed in physics conferences.

All this rapid development triggered a sort of quantum 'race', where countries, companies, and institutions compete to become the first to achieve a checkpoint or to be the current best at some quantum benchmark. However, it is also noted by many that the real/transformative effects of QT on society will be in the long run. In this respect, we would like to initiate a discussion on responsibility and introduce QT as a noteworthy emerging topic for technology assessment (TA) studies.

This workshop aimed to be another step towards establishing connections between the QT and TA communities and to introduce some current discussions in the QT community to a new audience. It was organized as a collaboration between the QuTec project under KIT-ITAS, and the QUCATS Coordination and Support Action of the Quantum Flagship program.

Recordings

The recordings of this event can be found as playlist on the ITAS YouTube Channel.

You can also find additional information on the 2021 event of this series here.

Program

Tuesday, 6.12.2022
9:45 - 10:15 Registration
10:15 - 10:45 Welcome and opening speech
10:45 - 11:45

Session on Responsible Design for QT

  • Speakers: Pieter Vermaas (TU Delft), Robert Whitney (Université Grenoble Alpes)
11:45 - 12:00 Short break
12:00 - 13:00

Panel on RRI and Ethics in QT

  • Moderator: Pieter Vermaas (TU Delft)
  • Panelists: Oxana Mishina (CNR-INO), Carolyn Ten Holter (Oxford), Douglas K. R. Robinson (CNRS), Robert Whitney (Université Grenoble Alpes)
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 16:30

Scenario building exercise on Responsible Futures (with coffee)

16:30 - 17:45

Panel on QT and TA: How to kickstart QTA?

  • Moderator: Christopher Coenen (KIT-ITAS)
  • Panelists: Joakim Juhl (TUM-STS), Douglas K. R. Robinson (CNRS), Luca Possati (TU Delft)
17:45 - 18:00

Roundup of the the first day

19:00 - 20:30 Conference dinner

 

Wednesday, 7.12.2022
10:00 - 11:15

Panel on Responsible Education and Workforce Development for QT

  • Moderator: Zeki C. Seskir (KIT-ITAS)
  • Panelists: Tatjana Wilk (MCQST), Maria Luisa Chiofalo (University of Pisa), İlke Ercan (TU Delft)
11:15 - 11:30 Short break
11:30 - 13:00

Session on Responsible Outreach and Community Building for QT

  • Speakers: Simon Goorney (Aarhus University), Oxana Mishina (CNR-INO), Franz von Silva-Tarouca (PushQuantum)
13:00 - 14:00

Lunch

14:00 - 15:00

Session on Responsible Governance of QT

  • Speakers: Matthias C. Kettemann (IQEL, University of Innsbruck/HIIG), Mira L. Wolf-Bauwens (IBM Research Europe)
15:00 - 16:00

Panel: How to think responsibly on the geopolitics of QT?

  • Moderator: Astrid Bötticher (University of Jena)
  • Speakers: Pieter Vermaas (TU Delft), Matthias C. Kettemann (IQEL, University of Innsbruck/HIIG), Mira L. Wolf-Bauwens  (IBM Research Europe)
16:00 - 16:15

Coffee break

16:15 - 17:30 Open discussion on the topics covered during the event
17:30 - 18:00

Roundup of the the second day and future plans

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact Zeki C. Seskir (zeki.seskir∂kit.edu).