Nokia donates seed funding to Aalto University for launching an industrial PhD program on quantum technology

Nokia’s and Aalto’s joint industrial PhD program on quantum technology will start this year. Aalto will hire the first two PhD students as soon as possible with the help of a 150 000 euros donation from Nokia. You can apply to the program here.

Aalto invests in the program by hiring its own PhD students as well as providing program management and supervision. To fully ramp up the program, Aalto is also seeking for additional external funding.

More experts on quantum technology are urgently needed

‘Control of the quantum degrees of freedom is expected to bring a new technological revolution, not only faster and more precise sensors and computers, but also completely new, currently unknown use cases. The talent shortage is already a major challenge, and it will only get worse if we do not act promptly like with this new industrial PhD program’, says Mikko Möttönen, professor of Quantum Technology and the program chair at Aalto University.

The focus areas of research and education in the program currently include superconducting electric circuits such as those used to build quantum computers, techniques to correct for errors that quantum computers make, understanding the sources to such errors arising from the surroundings of the qubits, algorithms that can be efficiently run on quantum computers, and sensors taking advantage of quantum properties.

‘The game changing power of quantum computing has the potential to transform how we respond to the biggest challenges facing the world, from tackling climate change to cyber security, and so we are delighted to be able to extend our long and successful partnership with Aalto into this important research area,’ says Hannu Kauppinen, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia Technologies.

The program is paving the way to the national doctoral program in quantum technology, currently under preparation by InstituteQ – the Finnish Quantum Institute, that coordinates national collaboration in quantum science and technology. InstituteQ was launched by Aalto University, University of Helsinki, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in 2021.

‘We are really grateful to Nokia for the donation which enables us to launch this program, and are looking forward to deepening our collaborating in the field of quantum technology’, says Jouko Lampinen, dean of the Aalto University School of Science.

At Nokia, the program will be led by William Kennedy, Head of Nokia Bell Labs' quantum laboratory in New Jersey. In addition to Kennedy and Möttönen, the program steering group includes professor Jukka Pekola, who is also the Acting Director of InstituteQ, Mikko Uusitalo, Head of Wireless Advanced Technologies Research Department at Nokia Bell Labs, and professor Alexandru Paler.

Related postdoctoral opportunities at Nokia Bell Labs, New Jersey, USA 

To work in collaboration with the PhDs, Nokia Bell Labs is seeking postdoctoral researchers with experience in dilution refrigerator operation, with interest or experience in low-dimensional electron systems, in heterostructure growth and processing, and small-signal measurement. Both the fundamental studies of non-Abelian systems and their potential employment toward qubits are valued outcomes. For further information, please contact Robert Willet, robert.willett@nokia-bell-labs.com