A two-day Indo-Israel Bilateral workshop on Quantum Technologies (I2QT-2022), organised by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE), IIT Delhi has concluded in New Delhi on April 06, 2022. The objective of the workshop was to deliberate on quantum technologies, evolve a joint quantum technology roadmap and plan for developing technologies by collaboration between both the countries. 

The concluding session, chaired by Dr VK Saraswat, Member Niti Aayog, was held as the brainstorming session to evolve further roadmap and specific areas of collaboration. This workshop is a crucial step towards bringing together the research fraternity for increasing the pace of research in the field of quantum technologies. 

The workshop was the next step of the Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) signed between DRDO, India and Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), Israel in November 2021 to promote innovation and accelerated R&D in startups and MSMEs of both countries. The MoU was to promote the development efforts on various technologies including quantum technology by joint funding by DRDO, India and Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), Israel. The technologies developed under BIA will be available to both countries for their domestic applications. 

The workshop was attended by Indian and Israeli delegations consisting of academic experts, R&D professionals and Industry partners. Total 175 experts and scientists from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Tirupati, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Jaypee Institute of Information Technology (JPIT) Noida, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Centre for Development of Telematics (CDoT) and Department of Space participated in this workshop. 

Many startups and MSMEs from Indian industry participated and presented their work. From Israel, representatives of Israel's Ministry of Defense and delegates from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) also participated in the workshop discussions. Many technical sessions in the identified technology areas were held in this two-day workshop. The areas of discussions were around photonics-based quantum computing, sensing, encryption, quantum magnetometry, atomic clocks and free space quantum communication. The collaborative research proposals discussed during the workshop will help in evolving technological solutions for various applications. The quantum technology has multiple applications ranging from scientific exploration to secured communication, gravimetry and navigation, etc. 

The two-day workshop was inaugurated by Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO and Professor Rangan Banerjee, Director IIT Delhi on April 05, 2022. 

 

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