Countries participating in the QuantERA III Programme
Since its launch in 2016, the QuantERA Programme has provided a framework for long-term collaboration and coordination, supporting capacity building across the European Research Area and strengthening Europe’s competitiveness in quantum technologies.
The QuantERA II Programme incorporates 18 Research Funding Organisations from 16 Widening Countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Türkiye. QuantERA III brings together 16 RFOs from 14 Widening Countries: Croatia, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Türkiye.
QuantERA supports capacity building through the following key areas of action:
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Strengthening the engagement of Research Funding Organisations from Widening Countries in programme-level activities
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Embedding widening measures within joint call procedures, covering composition of evaluation panels
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Monitoring of funded projects, providing evidence on participation patterns, collaboration dynamics and longer-term capacity-building effects.
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Advocacy activities and participation in collaborative structures and initiatives.
Projects with the involvement of Widening Countries
The incentive to exploit the potential of a talent pool from less represented countries proved successful within the 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 QuantERA Calls, where 77% of the funded projects involved research teams from the Widening Countries.
Teams from Widening Countries have consistently secured a strong presence among funded consortia, both as coordinators and partners.
Percentage of Project Coordinators from Widening Countries across QuantERA Calls (2017–2023)
Research consortia within QuantERA are embedded in an increasingly dense network of collaborations, in which Widening Countries play a growing and more visible role. While many of the strongest connections continue to link Widening and non-Widening research systems, new patterns of cooperation are also emerging between Widening Countries themselves. These widening–widening links, though still less frequent, signal the gradual development of regional cohesion.
The 100 most frequent collaboration links across QuantERA Calls (2017–2023)
The report provides a comprehensive analysis of how capacity building (the so-called widening dimension) has evolved into a systemic and embedded element of QuantERA’s programme design, governance and project implementation. It draws on evidence from QuantERA I, QuantERA II and the early phase of QuantERA III.