South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Wednesday it held a ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Quantum Platform Research Hub Consortium and the Quantum Graduate Schools. The ministry said it will work to build a career development pathway for talent to drive South Korea's leap in quantum technology.

Quantum technology is a national strategic technology that will shape future industry, security and national competitiveness. The agreement focuses on supporting PhD-level talent trained at the Quantum Graduate Schools so they can continuously build research capabilities by linking with research hubs at government-funded research institutes.

The Quantum Platform Research Hub Consortium is a project that supports the revitalisation of quantum research led by government-funded research institutes and the training of talent through the operation of Joint Quantum Laboratories, or JQLs, using the institutes' open quantum research infrastructure. Two organisations, including the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, or KIST, and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, or KRISS, have been selected and are operating five joint laboratories under each consortium.

The Quantum Graduate Schools have selected three universities - Korea University, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, or KAIST, and Pohang University of Science and Technology - to train PhD-level talent in quantum fields. They are training key PhD-level talent across quantum computing, communications and sensing.

Under the agreement, the two sides will strengthen links between PhD-level talent produced by the Quantum Graduate Schools and research hubs at government-funded research institutes. They will pursue measures including sharing talent information, identifying joint research projects, expanding collaborative research and jointly operating talent training programmes. They will also lay the groundwork for quantum talent to continue developing capabilities after completing their studies and support a virtuous cycle in which the industrial ecosystem is organically connected.

Yoon Kyung-sook (윤경숙), director general for Basic and Fundamental Research Policy at the science ministry, said the ministry will continue working to build a quantum ecosystem in which talent training and the research and industrial fields are closely connected, based on the comprehensive quantum plan.