Takeaways from EIT Education & Skills Days

Last week the QuLearnLabs team was invited to the EIT Education & Skills Days in Brussels to present our success story with the AI-SEQ program! The two-day event brought together educators, innovators, policymakers and industry leaders to share knowledge and discuss Europe’s educational future. During these days, we met some brilliant people across the quantum, education, and cybersecurity industries who taught us a lot.

Here are the main takeaways from the event:

1. Europe is facing a shortage of 2 million STEM professionals: This growing workforce gap is especially evident in the quantum technology field. What this means is that more effort is needed to promote outreach and education among younger generations and the general public about STEM disciplines. The AI-SEQ program, along with many other initiatives, specifically targets this gap within the quantum industry - and it is becoming clear why this work is so crucial. 

2. Entrepreneurship is prominent and needed in the quantum industry: Quantum technology is one of the few sectors experiencing a surge in university spin-offs, start-ups, and entrepreneurs - and this is extremely valuable. As a rapidly emerging field with endless potential for expansion, the quantum industry depends on creative minds to find business models focused on applications of quantum technologies, the R&D of new quantum tools, and the infrastructure enabling them. If you’re one of the brilliant minds with a creative idea - now’s the time to get started!

3. PQC is not yet widely practiced by cybersecurity experts: Even now, an alarming number of cybersecurity professionals are still unaware of the threat quantum computing poses against encryption and online safety. Even experts who have heard about this threat often dismiss it, perceiving quantum computing as a far-off technology. However, with the concept of “harvest now, decrypt later”, the timing doesn’t matter. At some point, quantum computers will be powerful enough to pose a risk and that needs to be mitigated now. This dismissal of quantum technologies is not uncommon, and serves to remind us why outreach and education are vital in this field. 

QuLearnLabs takes the stage at the EIT Education & Skills Days

QuLearnLabs was invited by the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative to share our impact story live on stage at the EIT Education and Skills Days. Our team members, Josephine Daly Tempelaar, Ilia Fazeli, and Ankita Chakrabarti, proudly represented us, showcasing how our AI-SEQ programme has grown to receive over 2,000 applications from aspiring learners around the world.

At QuLearnLabs, our mission is to equip students, researchers, and professionals with practical skills in quantum technologies. We’re directly addressing the growing shortage of STEM professionals by promoting accessible education, industry collaboration, and outreach that demystifies the quantum technology field and inspires the next generation of innovators.

Want to join the European Quantum mission?

If you are interested in working with us and contributing to EIT’s bigger goal - feel free to reach out to us at info@qulearnlabs.com !