Task force to steer Quantum City vision before 2025 ends

Bengaluru: A dedicated task force, which sits at the helm of Karnataka’s ambitious Quantum Mission, will be operational by the end of December, Science and Technology Minister N S Boseraju said.

With multiple US, Swiss, and Israel-based business giants, as well as startups reaching out to the Karnataka government regarding the upcoming Q-city project, Boseraju said, “It is time for the task force to kickstart operations as early as possible.”

“Once the Belagavi winter session wraps up, we will set the task force into motion and formally announce it by year-end. I want it to be a dedicated vision group, with representation from all sectors. There needs to be people with scientific knowledge, and also experts who can work as the middlemen between the government and entrepreneurs. We are bringing in people from across the country,” he added.

The cross-sector task force will consist of 13 members — four government officials,
six industry experts from the private sector, and three senior researchers and institution leaders.

The government officials nominated to be part of the vision group include the Development Commissioner, Secretary of the Department of Electronics, IT-BT, and Biotechnology, Secretary of the Department of Industries and Commerce, and Secretary of the Higher Education Department.

From academia, quantum experts from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Raman Research Institute (RRI), and another leading university or national laboratory will join the group.

To implement the Karnataka Quantum Roadmap and enable Quantum City to become an industry-friendly innovation cluster, the task force will have seven key responsibilities: policy and incentive design, skilling and talent, infrastructure and testbeds, startup and industry enablement, international partnerships, standards, IP and security, and defining and monitoring key performance indicators.

Way forward

Speaking to DH, IISc Professor Arindam Ghosh highlighted key elements the task force will prioritise once it kicks off.

Prof Ghosh played a central role in the Quantum India Bengaluru Summit 2025, held during July and August.

“The task force will first need to identify what the priority items the quantum city will undertake in a phase-wise manner — whether quantum computing, international networking, and the startup ecosystem, among many other sectors,” he said, stressing the need for global networking and large-scale skilling and outreach programmes.

The task force will also focus on creating a manufacturing ecosystem. “And for that, one needs to have infrastructure built. The task force will have to identify what kind of infrastructure needs to be created,” he added.

Prof Ghosh also provided insight into the recently proposed Quantum Materials Innovation Network (Q-MINt). Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking support to establish Q-MINt in Bengaluru under the National Quantum Mission (NQM).

“It turns out that one of the key aspects that has been missing from India is high-quality materials, like semiconductors and superconductors. These are not produced in India, and in most cases, we have to buy them. So, the idea is to create a central resource for these kinds of materials,” he said.

“In Bengaluru, we have the right know-how and the right people to make these materials. We want to consolidate under one single system,” he added.