National Quantum Mission To Soon Give Grants To 15 Startups

The National Quantum Mission (NQM) will soon provide grants to 10-15 startups working in the field of quantum technology, chairman of NQM’s governing body Dr Ajai Chowdhury said. 

Speaking at the IIT-Madras hosted International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement & Computing, Chowdhury, who is the founder of HCL Infosystem, said that the government is looking at startups to increase research and development in the field of quantum technologies (QT). 

“Within the next three months, we will be handing grants to 10 to 15 good startups. We want to see them grow, scale and go global. There have been some good products developed, especially in cryptography. We have also been working to get various software companies to get involved, and encourage them to invest in quantum,” Chowdhury said.

Speaking with Hindu Business Line, Chowdhury said that the NQM will be undertaking multiple initiatives in the near future, including setting up a grant for startups that need funding in the range of INR 10-50 Cr, launching India’s first quantum computer over the next few months.

It is pertinent to note that the union cabinet approved the NQM last year with a total budget allocation of INR 6,003.65 Cr from FY24 to FY31. The Mission, under the Department of Science and Technology, aims to “seed, nurture and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and create a vibrant and innovative ecosystem in QT”. 

As per the government, the Mission will give a major boost to the local startup ecosystem and complement existing schemes such as Startup India, Make In India, Stand-up India, Skill India and Digital India. The NQM is expected to aid sectors such as communication, health, financial and energy sectors, and could also find usage in drug design and space applications.

The implementation of the Mission includes setting up of four thematic hubs (T-Hubs) in top academic and national R&D institutes in the domains of quantum computing, communication, sensing & metrology, and materials & devices.

“The whole objective is that we bring together all researchers under the thematic hub. We felt that we must involve startups in a big way. We wrote to about 40-odd startups and we met about 14 startups to understand where we are,” Chowdhury said during the event. 

He added that the Mission is seeing an “overwhelming response” and close to 385 proposals have been received to set up thematic parks and other areas of quantum technologies.

Earlier in June, union minister Jitendra Singh said that India has produced over 40 quantum technology startups in two years, few of them with global potential. He also lauded the work done by IIT-Madras incubated QNu Labs.