CERN joined a coalition of science and industry partners proposing the creation of an Open Quantum Institute (OQI) at the 2022 Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) Summit. The announcement on October 13, 2022, described the proposed institute as a platform to ensure that emerging quantum technologies are put to use to tackle key societal challenges.
Other founding supporters included the University of Geneva, the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and Lausanne (EPFL), Microsoft, and IBM. Permanent missions from several countries, among them Australia, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore, and Switzerland, had been actively involved in defining the multilateral relevance of a future OQI.
CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti said at the summit that Geneva could play a key role in bringing science and diplomacy together to develop real-world applications for transformative technologies. GESDA announced it would launch a survey to shape OQI priorities, with an incubation phase to begin in 2023.