UNESCO International Year of Quantum Science and Technology 2025
2025 marks the 100-year anniversary of quantum mechanics. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) used this occasion to proclaim 2025 as “International Year of Quantum Science and technology” (IYQ). The idea is to help raise public awareness of the importance and impact of quantum science and technology on all aspects of life.
Background and Proclamation
IYQ began as a grassroots movement among a small number of scientists, educators, and historians who recognized that the centennial of quantum mechanics in 2025 would be a perfect occasion to help broaden the public understanding of how central quantum science and technology has become to humanity over the past 100 years and how its impact will likely only increase over the next 100 years. Word quickly spread among an international network of likeminded individuals who began approaching scientific societies and developed a set of guiding principles for all those working on planning a public-facing quantum centennial celebration. With broad support from the international scientific community, national governments also backed the idea, particularly given the critical role of quantum science and technology in developing sustainable solutions in energy, education, communications, and human health.
Led by Mexico, in May 2023 the UNESCO endorsed a resolution encouraging official UN proclamation, followed by an endorsement of the full UNESCO General Conference in November 2023, which was co-sponsored by nearly 60 countries. In May 2024, Ghana formally submitted a resolution for official proclamation of the International Year to the U.N. General Assembly, which on June 7, 2024 officially declared 2025 to be the “International Year of Quantum Science and Technology”. The resolution was co-sponsored by over 70 countries, representing over 5 billion people. The official opening of the UNESCO IYQ was held in in Paris on February 4, 2025.
quantA’s Initiative for the IYQ
Austria also supported the UN General Assembly’s proclamation and participates in many ways in celebrating this special year. The cluster of excellence Quantum Science Austria (quantA ) was encouraged by many stakeholders from the public and private sector to serve as Austria’s central hub for communicating this year and for collecting initiatives and activities throughout the year. The platform www.quantum2025.at was set up on the quantA website, to give a wide array of stakeholders the possibility to post events and activities around the IYQ, as well as any quantum initiative that they launch. It is intended to serve as quantum information hub well beyond the year 2025.
The most important goal of the IYQ is to inform the public about the importance of quantum science and technology and to point out the huge impact that this research and technology has on people’s everyday lives. Outreach events, art performances, school activities, open door days, game development, but also scientific conferences, career days and networking events with the industry are on the agenda for the IYQ. This is an important moment for the quantA, which is only in its second year, and brings its outreach and transfer agenda ahead by big steps.
Among the many initiatives that have been or will be launched in Austria to celebrate the Quantum Year is a nationwide project for schools, where PhD students will go to schools across the country to direct students through a quantum escape game.
There are many ways in which art and science can work together to promote creativity and novel experiences. One spectacular such project is “The Sound of Entanglement”, initiated by a group of physicists from the Vienna University of Technology, the University of Innsbruck and the Johannes Kepler University Linz and a group of musicians led by Clemens Wenger.
More events and activities will be realized either in 2025 or as longer-lasting efforts well into 2026 and beyond.