On October 19, 2022, the United States and Switzerland signed a Joint Statement on Cooperation in Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, DC. According to the National Quantum Coordination Office, the statement builds on shared democratic values and existing bottom-up collaborations between QIST researchers from both countries.
Monica P. Medina, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, signed for the United States. Swiss Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud said the statement “demonstrates the willingness of both countries to address key challenges of this century by advancing the promising possibilities of QIST.”
On the sidelines of the signing, Swissnex co-organized the first edition of the Swiss-US Quantum Days meeting in Chicago. The joint statement was preceded by participation of heads of quantum strategy from both nations in a twelve-nation roundtable on pursuing quantum information together. Switzerland’s investments in QIST date back to the launch of its first quantum-related National Center of Competence in Research in 2001.