Karnataka officially constitutes task force to oversee its Quantum technology ambitions

Bengaluru: With the ambitious goal of establishing Karnataka as a national hub for quantum technology and innovation, the State has officially issued an order constituting the ‘’Karnataka Quantum Task Force’.

The task force has been formed to effectively implement the outlines and strategies of the Karnataka Quantum Roadmap, which was recently unveiled at the Quantum India Bengaluru Summit.

The Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology, and Science and Technology issued the official order in this regard.

Prof. Arindam Ghosh, JRD Tata Chair Professor and J.C. Bose National Fellow at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has been appointed Chairman of this force.

The Director of the Department of Science and Technology (Government of Karnataka) and Managing Director of KSTEPS will serve as Member Secretary.

The 16-member committee comprises experts from academic institutions, research centres, the tech industry, and senior government officials.

Key members of the task force are as follows:

• Academia and research experts: Urbasi Sinha (Raman Research Institute), Prof. B. Gurumoorthy (FSID, IISc), Prof. Akshay Naik (Quantum Research Park), Dr. Ajith Padyana (VTU-VRIF Centre for Deep Technologies), Prof. Rajesh Gopakumar (ICTS), and Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed (C-CAMP).
• Industry representatives: L Venkata Subramanian (CEO, Qbit Force, former IBM Quantum India Head, and recently inducted into the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) expert committee for the Quantum Secure and Adaptive Financial Ecosystem — Q-SAFE), Dr. Nagendra Nagaraj (QPiAi), Naganand Doreswamy (Idea Spring), Wg Cdr S Sudhakaran (Retd.) (QuGates Technologies), and Seema Ambastha (L&T Datacenter and Cloud Services).
• Government representatives: Principal Secretary (Commerce and Industries Department), Secretary (Higher Education Department), and Secretary (Department of IT/BT and Science and Technology).

Scope and core mandate

This task force is mandated to provide the necessary policy formulation, strategic direction, and institutional guidance to foster quantum technology research, innovation, startup support, and industrial adoption in Karnataka.

Importantly, it will be responsible for blueprinting and overseeing the development of key cutting-edge infrastructure in the state, including the mega Quantum City in Hesserghatta, which is envisioned to become the epicentre of India’s quantum ecosystem.