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

In the past ten years, QuTech was supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), and the Topsector Holland High Tech and Materials. This national support - laid down in the QuTech Partner Covenant - 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

Mid 2025, the QuTech Partner Covenant 2015-2025 will end. As a prelude to this, TNO and TU Delft discussed the future of their collaboration in the second half of 2024. QuTech will continue as the quantum research institute of TU Delft. The collaboration between TU Delft and TNO will be changed to a standard collaboration mode to better fit within the current developments in the quantum field. QuTech will continue its mission to create excellent and relevant research results for full stack systems, where possible to transfer these to industry and to address the growing need for quantum education, through contributions to the TU Delft curricula and through QuTech Academy.

Housing and building renovation

In 2024, our labs continued to grow and evolve. We welcomed six new dilution refrigerators and one new optical setup, while also phased out some of our older equipment. Additionally, five new optical labs were opened this year, further expanding our capabilities and providing space for new and exciting research. With more than 40 operational dilution refrigerators, QuTech now hosts one of the largest concentrations of state-of-the-art dilution refrigerators in Europe and possibly the world and we continue to grow at a rapid pace.


Looking ahead, QuTech was heavily engaged in the design of a new, purpose-built facility for all QuTech researchers on the southern part of the TU Delft campus. This area is set to become a vibrant hub for cutting-edge education and research. The building is being designed by a dedicated team that includes Ryse (project manager), Cepezed (architect), Pieters Bouwtechniek (constructor), Buro Happold (installation consultant), Peutz (EMC and building physics consultant), Royal HaskoningDHV (vibrations consultant), our QuTech Housing team, and TU Delft’s Campus Real Estate developers. In 2024, the final design was completed, and we aim to start the construction tender in 2025.


Facts & Figures new building:

  • 13,500 m² gross floor area.
  • Over 400 workplaces, including 100 for master students.
  • Space for 44 optical setup positions with high vibration isolation requirements for quantum internet research.
  • Space for 57 dilution refrigerator positions supporting quantum computing and qubit research.

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

Staff participation

Staff participation at the institute is, under Dutch law, combined in the staff council (OdC, or Onderdeelcommissie in Dutch). These are 8 elected staff members who take up the duty to identify, assess, and discuss issues that are currently or foreseeably of concern to institute members, and represent their interests towards the institute’s Board of Directors. Together with the Board of Directors, the OdC then works on solutions or launches initiatives, harmonising outside constraints and the interests of institute members. In 2024, the main points of interest were social safety, the institute’s 2025 budget, continuing the well-received Health & Wellbeing initiative, and preparing the restructuring of the institute in connection with the restructuring of the collaboration of TNO and TU Delft concerning QuTech.

“We continue building an environment where both innovation and people can thrive.”

Maximilian Rimbach-Russ, member of the OdC (personnel committee)

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Maximilian Rimbach-Russ

“We continue building an environment where both innovation and people can thrive.”

The OdC (Onderdeelcommissie) plays a central role in fostering community development within our research institute. We initiate and support efforts that help QuTech thrive—particularly vital in today’s highly competitiveresearch landscape and during our internal reorganization.


Regular dialogue and exchange with the QuTech management team is a cornerstone of our approach. Through this continued engagement, the QuTech OdC provides valuable insights, offers strategic advice, and advocates for initiatives that strengthen and support the QuTech community—now and into the future.


Since the 2023 election, the current OdC team has been dedicated to shaping a supportive, inclusive, and dynamic environment where every member of QuTech can flourish. We believe that a healthy, safe, and welcoming workplace is essential to both individual and collective success.


To this end, we are committed to:

  • Promoting health and well-being through continued access to the recreation and fitness room, professional chair massages, and wellness offerings such as yoga and self-defense courses.
  • Fostering social safety, in alignment with the QuTech EtiQuette.
  • Ensuring open dialogue, so that the internal reorganization and changes in management positively impact all of QuTech.
  • Shaping the future by contributing to the development of the new QuTech housing at Campus South, offering input to help design an optimal, people-centered working environment.

As representatives of QuTech-All, we remain dedicated to championing the interests of the entire QuTech community. We welcome ideas, feedback, and active involvement as we continue building an environment where both innovation and people can thrive—side by side.

Social safety

In 2024, there was a lot of attention within TU Delft to improving social safety, particularly in response to the Inspectorate's report of the Dutch Ministry of Education. QuTech itself has been prioritising improving social safety since 2022 by organising meetings, (onboarding) workshops, training courses and developing the QuTech Etiquette – all aimed at social safety. This does not mean that QuTech can sit back. We should not and we will not.


In 2024:

  • QuTech organised a Walk-in for QuTech-all, as a follow up to thereport of the Inspectorate of Education.
  • (Mandatory) onboarding social safety workshops and trainings have been organised, occurring every 3 months.
  • TU Delft external confidential adviser, Carin van der Hor, gave a presentation during the Joint Work meeting for all QuTech employees and students.
  • The flyer ‘Happy at work’ was released and two QuTech social safety mailboxes were installed.
  • QuTech HR organised a tailor-made social safety training for all QuTech management-assistants.

Preparations and communications to have everyone visiting the TU Delft Mindlab in early 2025 were started. Mindlab is a theatre production that explores integrity and social safety within a university environment.

Employee Monitor 2024

The results of the Employee Monitor 2024 were generally positive. Some examples:

  • The work experience, including engagement, commitment, satisfaction and occupational stress, of QuTech staff as measured in 2024, is on average more positive than in 2020.
  • The work experience of QuTech staff as measured in 2024, is on average more positive than the work experience of staff at the faculties of TU Delft.
  • Though the 2024 results are encouraging, there is always room for improvement and the challenge is to improve the work experience at QuTech even more. Therefore, careful attention will be paid to follow-up actions and monitoring, in collaboration with the OdC (personnel committee) and HR.

Open Science

QuTech remains committed to publish all peer reviewed articles as open access. Moreover, all relevant research data underlying novel scientific findings published in peer reviewed articles are made available through trusted data repositories with an open license such as CC-BY. Moreover, QuTech has developed their own data management system to accommodate FAIR data even further. Additionally, a mission of QuTech is to make new quantum technology accessible to the public. To this end, QuTech has updated the Quantum Inspire and Quantum Network Explorer platforms that allow anybody toexplore and learn about quantum computing and quantum internet. 

Open Access Publications

Percentage of open access papers by QuTech. Percentages are calculated according to the Definition Framework Monitoring Open Access by UNL. 

By the numbers

In December 2024, the QuTech team comprised 316 individuals, adding up to a total of 252 FTE (remunerated and non-remunerated). This compares with 282 FTE in 2023. The FTE pie-charts below illustrate the composition of the QuTech community.

Gender

Nationality

Age structure

Temporary /
Permanent contract

Staff categories

Research activities

Labs and office
spaces (m2)

Number of experimental setups