Organisation &

operations

The QuTech mission is carried out by a professional staff of more than 300 researchers, engineers, project leaders, business developers, and professionals in administration. We come from around the world, have studied a wide variety of topics, and are employed by either TNO or TU Delft. We are united by our work towards the mission. Together we are developing scalable prototypes of a quantum computer and a secure quantum internet. Together we are creating the quantum future!

QuTech Partner Covenant 2015-2025: bold ideas received national support

At the start of QuTech, its founding fathers at the TU Delft’s Faculty of Applied Sciences were convinced that a physics team would not by itself be able to stay at the forefront of the quantum field. Therefore, they sought to work across disciplines and bring in much needed expertise from the Electronics Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science faculty, as well as a complementary engineering mindset, which was brought in by TNO. The Delft initiative was supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), and the Top Sector Holland High Tech and Materials. This national support – laid down in the QuTech Partner Covenant 2015-2025 – steered the research in Delft in new directions and positioned QuTech where it is today, with a strong international brand and reputation, embedded in a growing quantum ecosystem.

Looking at QuTech’s future: 2025 and beyond

QuTech will continue! Our aims for the next ten years are described in the QuTech Strategy Profile 2025-2035. Concretely, our goals for 2030 are:

In 2030, QuTech is seen as a leading quantum institute globally. QuTech breaks new ground, works on the next-generation scalable qubit technologies and system architectures, and takes them to a level where their potential is demonstrated.
In 2030, QuTech is the center of a local ecosystem five times larger than QuTech itself, in which QuTech’s technology is actively commercialized. QuTech works closely with the local quantum start-ups as well as with leading (European) industry on its technology goal.
In 2030, QuTech has a strong voice in Europe and shows thought leadership. This is reflected in QuTech fostering cooperation and taking a leading role in European (EU and national) programs.
In 2030, Delft is a magnet for quantum talent and quantum companies. QuTech plays a major role, together with its partners in the Delft ecosystem, in stimulating entrepreneurship and in educating and training of talent.

Housing and building renovation

Housing and building renovation

In 2023, we celebrated the opening of a new advanced lab where we can house twelve more dilution refrigerators. In these ‘fridges’, the temperature drops to 10mK degrees, which is needed to stabilize our quantum bits. With more than 40 operational dilution refrigerators, QuTech now has one of the largest concentrations of dilution refrigerators in Europe/the world. We also refurbished and opened new optical labs where we perform experiments in our pursuit to establish quantum networks.

In a few years’ time, QuTech will move to a new building on the southern part of TU Delft campus. This area will be developed into a lively environment with new facilities for education and research, including the Quantum Delta Delft ecosystem. The design team, consisting of architect Cepezed, constructor Pieters Bouwtechniek, consultants Buro Happold and Peutz, project manager Ryse, our QuTech Housing team, and the university’s Campus Real Estate program developers, has made significant progress in the design of our building. In 2024, we hope to start the tender for the construction phase.

Want to know more about the plans for the new QuTech building? Click here

People and recruitment

In 2022, after two years of lockdown, the halls, and labs of QuTech were alive again with people and voices. Audrey Monje, our new recruiter, has helped us in welcoming 47 new staff members. See the figures below for more statistics on our students and staff from around the world.

Staff participation

Throughout the year, the personnel committee (‘onderdeelcommissie’ or OdC in Dutch), consisting of seven staff members employed by TU Delft and TNO, has represented the QuTech personnel on important issues such as housing, diversity and inclusion, staff wellbeing, and the QuTech budget. The Board of Director meets the committee at least every other month. In 2023 they launched a project in support of the health and wellbeing of the hardworking QuTech staff, resulting in a relaxation room, a yoga/fitness room, various workshops, chair massages, and a fuzzball table. And of course, they made critical contributions to our thinking about QuTech’s future after the current Partner Covenant ends in 2025. In October 2023, after an exciting campaign, eight new members were elected to the OdC.

“Regular dialogue and exchange with the Board of Directors allows us to advocate for changes that benefit the QuTech community.”

Lukas Splitthoff, member of the OdC (personnel committee)

Lukas Splitthoff

“Regular dialogue and exchange with the Board of Directors allows us to advocate for changes that benefit the QuTech community.”

The QuTech OdC forms a cornerstone in the community development within our research institute and sparks initiatives that foster the thriving ecosystem in which QuTech operates, amidst the challenges of a highly competitive research environment.

To this end, we recognize the importance of health and well-being of the QuTech employees, we remain dedicated to promoting diversity, inclusion, and adherence to the QuTech EtiQuette with regards to social safety, and we support efforts to strengthen the collaborative environment between TU Delft and TNO. We also try to shape the new QuTech housing on Campus South and gave advice on the optimal work environment.

In order to contribute to health and well-being, we recently inaugurated a recreation and fitness room and offered professional chair massages. We also organized various courses including self-defense and yoga sessions.

Our mode of operation is based on regular dialogue and exchange with the Board of Directors, which allows us to provide valuable insights, offer advice, and advocate for changes that benefit the QuTech community.

In October 2023, a newly elected OdC team took the helm for a new term, to shape a supportive and inclusive environment where every member can thrive and contribute to our collective success.

Diversity & Inclusion

In 2023, we reached a 20% representation of female PhD students and postdocs at QuTech. This accomplishment aligns with our initial ambition set in the 2019 Midterm Evaluation Report for the year 2022, and with the Diversity and Inclusion Policy introduced in October 2021, projecting our goal for 2024. While this is an important first step, we remain committed to further enhancing gender diversity.

We organized the first QuTech open lunch on neurodiversity and communication in the workplace featuring a talk by Mireille Howard-Snels, Senior Policy and Quality Assurance Officer at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TU Delft, where she initiated the employee network ‘Diverse Ability’.

We continue facilitating a network of female scientists and engineers at QuTech. We organize regular lunches where they meet, exchange experiences, and do trainings together.

At QuTech, we strive to be an international working environment where staff and students from diverse backgrounds and cultures feel at home and supported. We value diversity in its broadest sense, and we believe that our unique personal characteristics and experiences are valuable components for excellence and innovation. Diversity & Inclusion is a focus area in our organizational strategy with the current priorities of increasing gender diversity and promoting an inclusive working environment.

QuTech EtiQuette: embedding social safety

QuTech launched the organization-wide social safety program ‘Social safety, that’s us’ in 2022. Working towards social safety means being aware of unconscious biases, recognizing unsafe behaviour, and knowing how to (re)act in your own way. In 2023, based on a survey, workshops, and training the QuTech community jointly defined our own QuTech EtiQuette, describing guidelines for safe behaviour. QuTech has followed up on the program by making the social safety workshops and training a compulsory part of the onboarding process: all our new colleagues at QuTech - students, staff, and management - are asked to participate. TU News described our social safety program in June 2023 as ‘best practice’.

Communication team strengthened on ecosystem development

In 2023, our communications team was expanded with a Communications Advisor for Business Development, supporting our efforts in attracting strategic partners and engaging with quantum start-ups in the Delft region, and a Community Manager for Quantum Delft, fostering engagement and connectivity within the Delft ecosystem.

Additionally, the team crafted a communication strategy to guide our efforts from 2023 to 2026, with a detailed action plan for 2024. Our focus is on positioning QuTech as Europe's leading organization in quantum technology. To achieve this, we concentrate on enhancing our visibility across relevant media channels and nurturing (strategic) business partnerships. We also prioritize employer branding and internal communications to attract and retain a diverse and talented workforce that feels engaged and well-informed.

Open Science

Following the QuTech Research Data Management policy, it has become the standard at QuTech to publish all data accompanying a peer-reviewed article. Last year, 13 datasets were published to Zenodo (up from 10 in 2022) and a similar number of publications to 4TU.ResearchData.

Moreover, in 2023 we started the QuTech Data Lake project. In response to requests from several research teams who needed a modern research data management system, we designed a data management system tailored to the needs of QuTech researchers. In 2024 we will finish the software development, roll out the service to early adapters, and train our researchers to use this advanced data management system.

Open Access Publications

100%

99%

95%

91%

92%

87%

81%

93%

Percentage of open access papers by QuTech. Percentages are calculated according to the Definition Framework Monitoring Open Access by UNL. The figures of 2023 are provisional pending final ratification in August 2024.

By the numbers

In December 2023, the QuTech team comprised 330 individuals, adding up to a total of 282 FTE (remunerated and non-remunerated). This compares with 269 FTE in 2022. The FTE pie-charts below illustrate the composition of the QuTech community.