The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) hosted a meeting earlier this month to discuss an urgent need for establishing domestic standards for measurements in quantum technologies.

The meeting brought together key stakeholders from government, academia, and defense to address the urgent need for developing homegrown standards and measurement capabilities to support India’s fast-expanding quantum technologies sector.

Advertisement

Over 40 delegates participated, representing institutions involved in national security, space, telecommunications, and advanced research.

“The development of precise measurements, robust standards, and the pursuit of technological sovereignty are fundamental to building reliable and trustworthy quantum technologies,” mentioned the participants in the official document.

Across the sessions, the key point discussed was that for India to successfully use and grow quantum technologies, it needs to focus on four important steps: understanding how quantum devices work (characterization), making common rules (standardization), checking if the technologies work correctly (validation), and officially approving them for use (certification).

Officials agreed that NPL should play a major role in setting up domestic standards for the booming quantum industry in India.

Venugopal Achanta, Director of CSIR-NPL, made a strong case for inclusion of his institution in the ongoing National Quantum Mission by highlighting the research and development activities of the organisation towards developing new quantum standards.

Experts supported building national standards to guide India’s growth in quantum technologies. They emphasized that this would promote “self-reliance” and “boost the efforts of start-ups, the armed forces, and research institutions” working in this field under the National Quantum Mission (NQM), launched by the Government of India in April 2023.

During the meeting, representatives from the armed forces pushed for quicker adoption of quantum technologies to secure communication and information secretly using quantum cryptography. Officials emphasized an urgent need for collaboration between research institutes and the military to meet the goal of quantum solutions for military operations.

For making a “Sashakt” (Strong) and “Aatmnirbhar” (Self-Reliant) Bharat and advancing India’s quantum mission, experts agreed on an urgent need for developing national standards as well as a measurement system.