Yesterday, on May 12, 2026, in Paris, French and German leaders of the quantum ecosystem officially signed a joint Declaration of Intent, to strengthen bilateral cooperation in quantum technologies.
It follows last September’s Dialogue in Paris and the conclusions of last November’s French-German Summit on Europe’s Digital Sovereignty in Berlin.
Based on these conclusions, several leading organisations from both countries created a dedicated consortium: CEA, CNRS, Fraunhofer, Inria, Le Lab Quantique, Quandela, QUTAC and ECA.
Over the past months, the partners worked on a joint declaration to strengthen coordination across French and German industry, policy, funding, innovation and research in quantum technologies.
The European Champions Alliance is proud to support this initiative and the preparation of the Quantum Day, presented at the German Embassy during a reception hosted by H.E. Mr. Stephan Steinlein, German Ambassador to France, with the support of the French Embassy in Germany.
The evening brought together a strong line-up of speakers: H.E. Mr. Stephan Steinlein, German Ambassador to France; Mr. Benjamin Haddad, French Minister Delegate for European Affairs; Mr. Thomas Courbe, Director General for Enterprises at the French Ministry for Economy and Finance; Dr. Alexandra-Gwyn Paetz, Director general for Technological Sovereignty and Innovation at the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space; and Dr. Julie Galland, Director for Technological Research at CEA.
Andrea Vaugan, Director General of the ECA, moderated the evening, unveiled the Declaration of Intent on behalf of the consortium and led the panel discussion with five voices from research, industry and European policy: Dr. Robert Axmann, Head of the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative; Dr. Berthold Schmidt, CTO of TRUMPF and current Chair of the QUTAC Executive Committee; Dr. Hughes Metras, Programme Agency Director at CEA; Dr. Maud Vinet, CEO of Quobly; and Mr. Kilian Gross, Director at the European Commission (DG CNECT, Enabling and Emerging Technologies).
More than 120 high-level representatives from industry, policy, start-ups and investors gathered, showing the shared ambition to strengthen Europe’s quantum ecosystem and technological sovereignty.
The evening underlined one concrete message: “Europe cannot afford to remain a spectator, as the ambassador Stephan Steinlein said in his opening remarks: “Europe cannot afford to remain a spectator.”
A message Minister Benjamin Haddad picked up after recalling the early days of Europe: “As in 1950, with Schuman and Monnet, France has always been a driving force behind European progress. It is no longer coal and steel, but AI, quantum, defence, space and green technologies that we must build together to take our destiny into our own hands.”
The consortium is addressing precisely this necessary consolidated bilateral cooperation and remains open to all organisations willing to join and support this collective mission for Europe’s quantum future.
Photo credits: Simon Cassanas
To discover the declaration , the conclusions of the last dialogue
