EU Official Calls for Consolidation Among Europe’s Quantum Startups
September 7, 2026 – 6:45 am
"Europe’s Quantum Moment: From Lab to Leadership," an event hosted by MEP Sergey Lagodinsky at the European Parliament.
Credit: Quantum Flagship
The EU’s forthcoming Quantum Act will not include a dedicated budget. "The act is not about budget," said Thomas Skordas, deputy director-general of the European Commission’s DG CNECT, at a European Parliament event on September 3rd. "What the act will provide is the stimulus to make sure that we move in the right direction, that we bring people together."
The session, hosted by the European Quantum Flagship and German Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky, gathered representatives from the Commission, Council, and Parliament, along with researchers and quantum company founders. The Commission aims to present the legislation by the end of 2026, though this timeline could extend into next year.
The goal behind it is substantial. The EU has declared its ambition to become the world’s quantum valley, and the act seeks to facilitate this.
Skordas characterized the act as an enabling framework rather than a regulation, a distinction significant in Brussels, where recent tech policies such as the AI Act and the Digital Markets Act have focused on imposing rules and obligations.
A notable statement of the day regarded Europe’s quantum startups. "We cannot afford having 78 startups all on their own," Skordas remarked. "We don’t have Microsoft, we don’t have Google, we don’t have IBM. We want competition, but at some stage, we expect a little bit of consolidation."
It’s unusual for a Commission official to openly advocate for consolidation within an industry. However, the remark reflects a growing challenge for Europe: its quantum efforts are scattered among member states and diverse technological approaches, resulting in many prototypes but fewer companies with the scale to establish their own manufacturing capabilities.
Tommaso Calarco, secretary of the EU’s high-level advisory board on quantum technologies, summed it up: "What do we need? We need critical mass. And critical mass means three things: it means cash, it means speed, and it means we do things together."
The act can address two of these three aspects. Calarco was blunt about the implications: "This quantum act is the last train which is passing for Europe."
He also criticized how member states collaborate with the Commission. "They are not yet pooling their resources strategically to the extent that they should, and we cannot wait."
Europe does possess an advantage often overlooked in the discussion of fragmentation. "We’re not only buyers, but we are also suppliers," said Cecile Perrault, executive director of the European Quantum Industry Consortium. "80% of the components that we find in quantum computers in Europe come from Europe. We have a huge advantage compared to other digital technologies."
Private investment is already aligning with this strategic direction. The Novo Nordisk Foundation is building an open quantum chip foundry in Copenhagen, establishing manufacturing capacity the act aims to encourage, and doing so independent of the legislation.
Skordas further argued that quantum computing needs to integrate into a broader tech ecosystem. "We need to break silos," he concluded.