Open Quantum Institute explores quantum’s impact on international Geneva

10th April 2025

Digital International Geneva

Photo by Yannick Heiniger

What does quantum mean for the Geneva ecosystem?

 

This was a question explored by Tim Smith (OQI Coordinator) and Anastasiia Lazuka (OQI Events and Community Manager)  in last week’s Digital International Geneva Connect session. Digital International Geneva is a monthly informal gathering that brings together key people working on digital and internet issues in Geneva, and seeks to foster a productive exchange on emerging trends, creating opportunities for networking and collaboration.

 

Co-hosted by the Canton of Geneva, Giga, Datasphere, and the Atlantic Council, discussions centred on the topic of quantum and what it means for international Geneva. During the session, Tim and Anastasiia provided an overview of the history of OQI and highlighted its future potential for quantum computing.

 

Tim first gave an overview of quantum computing, exploring the evolution of the field and examining the current landscape and trajectory of the emerging technology, before Anastasiia delved further into the history and work of OQI. Through showcasing our core mission and activities–from developing use cases aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), to building capacity and promoting global collaboration for the inclusive development of quantum technology–they emphasised OQI’s commitment to promoting quantum technology for global good and the importance of science diplomacy and anticipation in achieving this mission. 

 

At OQI, we look forward to continuing these conversations with the international Geneva community to further explore the intersection of technology, diplomacy and global impact.

 

Learn more about our SDG-focused use cases: https://open-quantum-institute.cern/applications/

 

Explore how we are promoting the multilateral governance of quantum computing: https://open-quantum-institute.cern/diplomacy/

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Join the Future of Quantum Computing!

Learn about engagement opportunities

OQI Partners are institutions that benefit from peer recognition for their scientific contributions or impact expertise.

Requirements:

  1. Either have served as OQI’s spearheading partners during its incubation phase or have consistently engaged resources to OQI’s work as OQI members for at least a year
  2. Commit to co-shape the OQI’s unique value propositions for the three years of the pilot throughout the 4A’s​
  3. Are vetted by the OQI Advisory Committee
  4. Abide to OQI’s values and openness principles

OQI Members are institutions that benefit from peer recognition for their scientific contributions or their impact expertise.

Requirements:

  1. Have disclosed their governance structure
  2. Commit to actively contribute on at least one of the 4A’s assiduously for at least one year​
  3. Have appointed at least one expert from their institution as focal point of contact for OQI and contributor to its working groups
  4. Abide to OQI’s values
  5. Have submitted a complete membership form with supporting documentation and are vetted by the OQI Management Team
  6. Qualify for partner level after having demonstrated their commitment for at least one year​

OQI Friends are individuals (such as experts from the private or public sector, countries, citizens) who are committed to open science, inclusivity and all values as set out in OQI’s charter and associate themselves with the OQI.

Friends socialise the OQI to their communities.

Downloadable PDF version of Charter

 

Description:

The Open Quantum Institute (OQI) is a multilateral governance initiative that promotes global and inclusive access to quantum computing and the development of applications for the benefit of humanity. As a novel science diplomacy instrument, it brings together research, diplomacy, private sector and philanthropy stakeholders. OQI is hosted by CERN during its pilot phase (2024-2026).

 

Mission:

Accelerating applications for humanity: Realising the full potential of quantum computing to have the widest possible societal impact by accelerating the development of use cases geared towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and succeeding framework , thanks to the combined forces of researchers, developers and entrepreneurs from academia and private sector as well as the United Nations, and large NGOs
Access for all: Providing global, inclusive and equitable access to a pool of public and private quantum computers and simulators available via the cloud
Advancing capacity building: Developing educational tools to enable everyone around the world to contribute to the development of quantum computing and make the most of the technology
Activating multilateral governance for the SDGs: Providing a neutral forum to help shape multilateral governance of quantum computing for the SDGs

 

Values:

Inclusivity, global scope
  • Enable people from all countries, regardless of whether they have any quantum computing capability of their own, to benefit from and to participate in the development of (i) quantum computing applications that address global challenges, in particular those that are closely related to their own specific challenges, and (ii) the multilateral governance of quantum computing for the SDGs
Openness
  • Share experiences, knowledge, and methods for the benefit of all, following Open Science best practice
  • Make openly available the results – outcomes of joint activities related to the OQI mission conducted by the OQI community – to society via open repositories and/or through the use of open licences
Focus on impact
  • Ensure that applications are developed for their quantum computing potential to tackle real-world problems that will benefit humanity
  • Consider and balance their ethical, legal, and societal implications
Independence
  • Enable everyone to participate free from individual, national, corporate or any other agendas
  • Develop applications with a technology neutral approach.
Collaboration
  • Foster a community of diverse expertise, backgrounds and geographies, enabled by international cooperation and diplomacy

 

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