Six months after the launch of the Quantum Austria funding initiative, the FFG and FWF approved the first research projects funded under the program. According to the FWF, the FFG approved €20 million in funding for a high-performance computing project called MUSICA (Multi-Site Computer Austria), while the FWF provided approximately €3 million to fund ten university research projects in Graz, Innsbruck, and Vienna.
MUSICA, led by the Vienna Scientific Cluster consortium, aimed to establish a new research infrastructure in high-performance computing. Coupling this HPC infrastructure with a quantum computer was stated as one of the initiative’s goals. In the first FFG call, 27 proposals worth €91.25 million had been submitted, competing for an allocated budget of €39.2 million.
Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research Martin Polaschek said the government was “not only investing in our most talented researchers, but also in the infrastructure they need to strengthen Austria as a knowledge and innovation location.” FFG Managing Directors Henrietta Egerth and Klaus Pseiner noted the FFG’s role in “supporting applied research for the Quantum Austria Funding Initiative.”