EU official says Europe's 78 quantum startups can't all survive alone

[NightReaper83]

Thomas Skordas, Deputy Director-General of DG CNECT at the European Commission, told the European Parliament that Europe cannot afford having 78 quantum startups all continuing to operate independently, arguing the sector needs some consolidation at some point even while the EU still wants to preserve genuine competition. Skordas contrasted Europe's fragmented landscape with the US, where major tech companies like Microsoft, Google and IBM already have the financial resources and infrastructure to invest in quantum computing at genuinely large scale

The planned Quantum Act, expected to be presented by the end of 2026 though a delay into 2027 remains possible, is intended to provide a coordinating framework rather than primarily impose new rules and obligations, unlike the EU's AI Act. Notably, Skordas confirmed the law won't come with its own dedicated budget, saying plainly the law isn't about the budget, and that its main goal is bringing stakeholders together and steering the sector's development in a shared direction rather than directly funding it

This lands alongside earlier findings that the EU is home to roughly 32 percent of the world's quantum companies but holds only about 6 percent of global patents, a gap regulators have repeatedly cited as evidence that fragmented national investment is preventing European quantum research from translating into genuine commercial and industrial strength. Curious what people think about pursuing consolidation through coordination rather than direct funding, can a framework law without its own budget actually meaningfully push 78 independent startups toward the kind of scale Europe says it needs

Eu Seeks To Reduce Fragmentation Among Quantum Startupswww.techzine.eu