New Delhi: India and Israel on Wednesday concluded a two-day bilateral workshop on Quantum Technologies (I2QT-2022) organised by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE) along with Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D).

The objective of the workshop was to deliberate on quantum technologies, evolve a joint quantum technology roadmap and plan for developing technologies by collaboration between both countries, a Defence Ministry statement said.

The areas of discussion were around photonics-based quantum computing, sensing, encryption, quantum magnetometry, atomic clocks and free-space quantum communication. The collaborative research proposals discussed during the workshop will help in evolving technological solutions for various applications. Quantum technology has multiple applications ranging from scientific exploration to secured communication, gravimetry and navigation, etc.

The workshop was the next step of the Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) signed between DRDO and Israel's Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) in November 2021 to promote innovation and accelerated R&D in start-ups and MSMEs of both countries.

The MoU was to promote the development efforts on various technologies including quantum technology by joint funding by DRDO and DDR&D. The technologies developed under BIA will be available to both countries for their domestic applications.

The workshop was attended by Indian and Israeli delegations consisting of academic experts, R&D professionals and Industry partners. A total of 175 experts and scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Tirupati, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Jaypee Institute of Information Technology (JPIT) Noida, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Centre for Development of Telematics (CDoT) and Department of Space participated in the workshop.

Many start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from the Indian industry participated and presented their work. From Israel, representatives of Israel's Ministry of Defence and delegates from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) also participated in the workshop discussions.

The two-day workshop was inaugurated by Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO and Professor Rangan Banerjee, Director IIT Delhi on April 05, 2022.