President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), Thursday (local time), and met with leading experts in quantum technologies, in order to explore strategies for Korea to take the lead in the field, which is anticipated to be an industrial game changer within the next 10 years.
ETH Zurich is one of the most prestigious post-secondary education institutions, with alumni including Albert Einstein and John von Neumann. The university has 22 Nobel laureates and two Fields medal winners.
ETH Zurich’s Quantum Device Lab is engaged in a number of individual and collaborative projects funded by the European Commission and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Andreas Wallraff, one of the world’s leading experts in superconductor quantum computing, currently leads the lab, and a slew of other prestigious minds in the field are involved there too.
During his visit, Yoon met ETH Zurich Rector Gunther Dissertori, Wallraff, Klaus Ensslin and other experts of the institution, and expressed Korea’s growing interest in quantum technology as one of the national strategic technologies.
During the conversation, Yoon exchanged opinions with the experts on how quantum technology can contribute to addressing problems facing humanity, how governments can assist quantum experts to cooperate better, and what are the possible adversities that the world may experience in its transition to the quantum era.
The presidential office said the conversations Yoon had with the experts will be included in Korea’s National Quantum Strategy which the government is currently working on.
In its policy plan for 2023, the government set quantum technology as one of the future technologies Korea should nurture. In doing so, Korea seeks to develop a quantum computer by 2026 and other quantum products such as a quantum sensor that detects defective semiconductors by 2027.
