By Amara Graps
In my Part 1 article, I concluded that there are parts of the German Quantum Technology Ecosystem, that look fragmented. Those will have an effect on Investments; let’s take a look.
Quantum Technology Investments in Germany
In GQI’s Investment Tracker, you can isolate countries, and with calendar date periods, you can study that country’s quantum investment record for configured dates. Here is the full record for Germany:
Figure. From GQI’s Investment Tracker where a country-by-country assessment can be made. (*)
The “Investor’s Overview” above this screen a gives you a graphical view of the type and direction of the Investment. Notice in the next figure, that a little more than half of VC funding (touching the graph pops up a number = $67.4M USD) goes towards quantum computing hardware.
Figure. From GQI’s Investment Tracker. The “Investor’s Overview” gives you a graphical view of the type and direction of the Investment. (*)
Quantum Tech Ecosystems in Economical Dimension. Germany vs. France
In GQI’s Quantum Ecosystems Assessment Playbook, we can also study the economical dimension in numbers, including numbers for the quantum tech startups and what investments to different quantum tech domains, while comparing to other countries. Here, we continue some comparisons with France as in previous articles:
Figure. From GQI’s comprehensive Quantum Ecosystems Playbook where a country-by-country assessment can be made, including a country-to-country comparison. (*)
The two countries have about the same number of start-ups (10), but Germany’s focus is sensing and software, where more investments flowed to those companies. France has three times the number of quantum computer startups, which are correspondingly more expensive. In the bottom comparison of number of investors, France had 44 private investors to Germany’s 29 private investors…
The NV in Diamond Modality is Germany’s Quantum Computing Focus
To confirm that quantum sensing is at the top of Germany’s quantum technology specialties, see the chart that I posted in Part 1. NV in diamond is the technology of choice for today’s quantum technology sensors. In Germany, the quantum computer companies are dominated by this modality too, however, that focus may soon be changing.
| Company | Modality | Location | Spin-Off? | Patent(s)? |
| planqc | Neutral Atom | Garching bei Munich | ? | |
| eleQtron | Trapped Ion | Siegen | Yes | |
| XeedQ | NV in Diamond | Leipzig | Co-founder: 1 Pending | |
| SaxonQ | NV in Diamond | Leipzig | Yes | CEO: 8 Pending |
| Q.ANT | Photonic | Stuttgart | CEO/ Q.ANT: 7/8 Pending | |
| Diatope | NV in Diamond | Ulm | Yes | ? |
There is a good reason that NV in diamond is at the top of Germany’s quantum technology specialties. In the Part 1 map, last time, I also pinned Burghaun, Germany, which is the town where the NV diamond company: Element 6 is located. The Burghaun site location, approximately 276 km from Leipzig, is the only continental Europe location of the multinational Element 6 company, which moved to Burghaun in 2006. There may have been issues with the diamond supply, however, because quantum technology company: diatope’s (founded 2021) business problem states: “no reliable supply of diamond”.
Patent slowness for German QPU Companies?
In the last column of the above Table, I show a couple of question marks about that company’s patents. This means that I couldn’t find a quantum patent under the company’s name (assignee) or its C-level employees (inventors). The other boxes raise a different issue: a possible systemic, slowness of issuing patent grants. For example: Marius Grundmann, co-founder and CEO of SaxonQ, has 8 applied patents since 2021. I checked nearby Leipzig University patents, these are applied not granted yet. Sri Ranjini Arumugam, co-founder of XeedQ has one applied patent in 2021. Q.ANT has 7 applied patents since 2019. Michael Foertsch (Q.ANT CEO) has 6 applied grants since 2019.
Without granted patents, those companies have more challenges with business decisions. They will have a harder time to attract high-level employees, VCs and strategic partnerships, potential acquirers, and to generate additional revenue streams.
Germany from a PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) Perspective
Here we see Germany’s strength, from a PESTEL perspective. It’s Technological. The justifications are:
- Strong R&D institutions: Fraunhofer, Max Planck, …
- Multiple quantum computing projects:
- Q-Exa: 20-qubit hybrid quantum-classical system at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre
- QSOLID: Superconducting quantum processor at Forschungszentrum Jülich
- ATIQ: Ion trap quantum computer development
- SPINNING project: €16.1 million for diamond-based quantum processor
- QuaST consortium: Quantum-enabling services and tools for industrial applications
In GQI’s Quantum Ecosystems Dashboard, we can sort on any of the columns. In the figure below, it’s been sorted on the Technological dimension.
Figure. GQI’s Ecosystems Heatmap from its Quantum Ecosystems Dashboard, sorted on Technological Strengths for Germany. (*)
In the PESTEL Ecosystems Assessment.
- Overall: France is Number 6, tied with Finland, out of 33.
- Germany is number 14 under Israel.
- Technological: Germany is Number 5, tied with The Netherlands and two places up from France.
- Economically: Germany is Number 8, tied with Canada.
The justifications are:
- €740 million allocated to German Aerospace Center (DLR) for quantum consortia
- €76.3 million for QSOLID program to create superconducting quantum processor
- €44.5 million for ATIQ project on ion trap quantum computer development
- €36 million investment by Forschungszentrum Jülich in future computing technologies
- Private sector involvement: Quantum Brilliance, Infineon Technologies, IQM, …
- Creation of quantum startups ecosystem, e.g., Anaqor’s PlanQK platform
- Big players like BMW, Mercedes, … heavily invested into quantum tech
- Establishment of regional hub like Munich Quantum Valley
- Focus on commercialization and technology transfer, including efforts to build local supply chains for quantum components
Socially: Germany is Number 14, tied with France, New Zealand, Norway.
Environmentally: Germany is Number 17, tied with Italy, Spain, China, Austria.
Legally: Germany is Number 19.
Politically: Germany is Number 16.
I’ll leave these for elaborations in the future, when we take more looks at other Quantum Ecosystems.
(*) From GQI’s Investment Tracker where a country-by-country assessment can be made. GQI’s Investor Playbook is an interactive tool that encourages exploration. Its Quantum Ecosystem Assessment works on the same principle of Exploration. If you are interested to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact [email protected].
September 17, 2024
