The startup Alice & Bob has been selected as part of the European Innovation Council's Accelerator call for proposals.
EIC Accelerator
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator call aims to support startups and small businesses in developing their world-class innovations. Following a competitive selection process, the EIC awarded grants to 65 startups from 16 different countries, including 12 from France.
“Congratulations to the teams at the five companies originating from CNRS-affiliated laboratories for these excellent results. They highlight the CNRS’s proactive policy of identifying and supporting deep tech projects,”
said Jean-Luc Moullet, Deputy Director General for Innovation at the CNRS.
I would also like to congratulate all the French startups recognized as part of the European Commission’s highly selective EIC program.
France ranks first on this list with 12 winners, ahead of Germany (11), the Netherlands (8), and Denmark (5). Information and communication technologies, healthcare, energy, and space are the most represented fields.
Alice & Bob
Alice & Bob is part of CNRS Innovation’s Rise startup support program, and the CNRS has acquired an equity stake in the company.
French academic excellence at the heart of the project
Co-founded in February 2020, Alice & Bob was born out of a collaboration between two young physicists from ENS de Lyon and ENS-PSL, Théau Peronnin and Raphaël Lescanne. By combining their doctoral research—on modular architecture and the first “cat qubit” prototype, respectively—a new path toward the universal quantum computer has become possible. Gradually, it became clear to them that France possessed unique expertise in quantum physics that deserved to be transformed into a unifying entrepreneurial venture.
Six academic research units collaborating on the project
In collaboration with INRIA, ENS-PSL, and Mines ParisTech (grouped together within the Quantic team), as well as ENS de Lyon, the CNRS, and the CEA, Alice & Bob aims to develop, within five years, a functional universal quantum computer using an innovative quantum bit capable of self-correcting its errors.