First Meeting of “QL3 – Quantum LifeLong Learning” Advisory Board

QL3 – behind the abbreviation stands an innovative joint project of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (LMU). The goal is to establish an further education and training program in the field of quantum technologies at the TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning. An advisory board from industry supports the interdisciplinary team during the various phases of the project. For the first time, the advisory board has now met with scientists from the universities to discuss key issues.

Research on quantum technologies has been going on for several years, and Munich’s universities in particular are conducting cutting-edge research in the field – but despite the enormous potential for practical implementation, industry use cases are still rare. The challenge for companies and organizations is to apply the cutting-edge but mostly theoretical knowledge. This transfer is the clear goal of the project “QL3 – Quantum LifeLong Learning”, which started at the beginning of 2022 and will build up a further education and training program for professionals at the TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning in the coming months.

Requirements of industry are the focus of program development

In order to include the requirements and needs of later target groups in the program development from the very beginning, an advisory board consisting of more than a dozen leaders and experts from industry supports the researchers and didactics experts at regular intervals. Companies such as Infineon Technologies, Google, Siemens, Rohde & Schwarz and industry leaders such as qutools, IQM and attocube are among those contributing their expertise. At an initial meeting at the end of February, the experts and executives, some of whom are also researching or have researched quantum technologies themselves, discussed key issues that will later be incorporated into program development.

QL3 Advisory Board contributes expertise on key issues

Among other things, the focus was on which employees in companies who see potential for themselves in the use of quantum technologies should be in the focus when designing the course content. Furthermore, participants discussed how it can be possible to reconcile different levels of practical orientation and background knowledge of different groups of participants. What are the most important knowledge and competence gaps that currently exist for companies and organizations? How can continuing education programs help build a “quantum workforce”? What formats are suitable for professionals to integrate courses well into their working schedule?

The project group will evaluate the findings in the coming weeks and incorporate them into initial concepts for the continuing education programs. Program coordinators Prof. Dr. Alexander Holleitner (TUM) and Prof. Dr. Jan von Delft (LMU) would like to thank all members of the advisory board for their participation and looks forward to further collaboration in the coming months.

Further information on “Quantum LifeLong Learning”

Further information on the project “QL3 – Quantum LifeLong Learning”, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the funding guideline “Quantum Futur Education”, can be found here. There we will soon present the advisory board in more detail and keep interested parties up to date on the progress of the project.