Effect­ful outreach

14 October 2024 @ Stuttgart

This week, IQST parti­cip­ated in the second edition of the Quantum Effects exhib­i­tion and confer­ence in Stutt­gart — a platform for visit­ors from diverse backgrounds to discover and explore application-oriented quantum technologies. 

IQST was present at the joint stand of QuantumBW, an innov­a­tion initi­at­ive that pools quantum techno­logy expert­ise across Baden-Württemberg. Several IQST Fellows and research­ers from their groups presen­ted activ­it­ies within the IQST network. They brought with them a wide range of demon­strat­ors — from goggles for virtual-reality lab tours to a micrometre-scale repres­ent­a­tion of a Kandin­sky paint­ing. These tools helped to make quantum concepts more concrete, tangible and under­stand­able, thereby provid­ing bridges to applic­a­tions such as quantum comput­ing and quantum sensing. 

These efforts have been well rewar­ded. We were delighted by the great interest and posit­ive feedback we have received. The Minis­ter for Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg, Petra Olschow­ski, visited us, as did other high-ranking deleg­a­tions and several school groups of differ­ent ages. We immensely enjoyed the discus­sions with our visit­ors and the oppor­tun­ity to share our passion for ‘all things quantum’. 

We are grate­ful to the Quantum Effects organ­isers for creat­ing this unique platform to showcase the rapid progress in quantum techno­lo­gies to such a wide range of inter­ested people, from children to industry leaders and policy makers. 

We would also like to thank every­one within IQST who helped at the fair or behind the scenes. The driving force was our Director Stefanie Barz, working closely with Christine Heuschmid and Nicole Metzler in the IQST office. Helping to set up and organ­ise the event were PhD repres­ent­at­ives Miriam Resch, Lukas Rückle and Mirko Rossini, together with early-stage research­ers from across the IQST family who helped with opera­tions and demonstrations.