The research of industrial doctoral student Núria Urgell into the optimization of execution time in quantum systems is part of the strategy of the Innovative Trident of the Department of Research and Universities to transform theoretical protocols into real and precise operations in the laboratory.
Semiconductors have established themselves as a strategic piece for technological and industrial innovation in Catalonia and Europe . They are no longer just an essential component of electronics, but a central piece in areas such as digitalization, artificial intelligence, smart mobility, energy transition and quantum technologies. Their value chain is extensive and combines fundamental research, materials, design, manufacturing, metrology, prototyping, integration and specialized talent.
In Catalonia, this area has been consolidated as a pillar of scientific, technological and industrial policy. The report of the Industrial Doctorate Plan (DI Plan) ” The strategic impact of Industrial Doctorates on the semiconductor industry in Catalonia ” already positioned the program as a piece to strengthen this ecosystem based on projects developed between companies, universities and research centers. The text, published on the DI Plan website, highlighted that the semiconductor value chain requires diverse capabilities and an effective connection between knowledge, doctoral training and the productive environment.
This framework has recently been reinforced with the constitution of the board of trustees of the InnoFAB Foundation, attached to the Department of Research and Universities. The new infrastructure will be dedicated to the development and prototyping of micro and nanotechnologies based on advanced semiconductors, with a planned investment of nearly 400 million euros and a 2,000 m2 clean room. Its objective is to cover the “Lab-to-Fab” process, that is, to facilitate the advancement of innovations developed in laboratories towards industrial products . The project is part of the Innovative Trident and the desire to consolidate Catalonia as a European hub in chip development, with special attention to the transition from the laboratory to industrial production.
It is in this context that Núria Urgell Ollé’s industrial doctorate, developed between IDEADED and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, is included. Her research is in the field of optimal quantum control and addresses a central question for the development of quantum technologies: how to bring protocols designed in theoretical models to experimental implementation conditions , taking into account the real limitations of the systems and devices available.
IDEADED and the industrial context of the project
IDEADED is a Catalan deep technology company based in Viladecans that works on advanced semiconductors, new materials and quantum control technologies . Its activity combines applied research, technological development and a clear industrial orientation. The company has been participating in the program since 2022 with five industrial doctorate projects. The fact that this project is being developed between the UAB and IDEADED is not a logistical detail, but an essential part of its meaning. The industrial doctorate places research in a space where the scientific question coexists, from the beginning, with the material conditions of its possible application. In the case of Núria Urgell, this means working in an environment where theory, experiment and real technology are not separate layers, but parts of the same process.
IDEADED brings an industrial dimension that gives consistency to the project. The company works in semiconductors and deep technology, and this means that Núria’s research is not disconnected from the technological context in which quantum technologies will have to fit . Her thesis is not understood only as an academic exercise, but as research connected to specific problems and real limitations, in a space where she can move between theoretical and experimental projects. As she herself says, “ working within the company means that all of this is connected to specific problems and real limitations .”
This also explains why the project places so much emphasis on feasibility. It is not enough for a model to be elegant or mathematically sound. Once it has passed through the laboratory filter, it must continue to be useful. This is where collaboration with the company adds value: it forces you to reformulate the questions with a more realistic perspective and to think, from the beginning, about the limits of the system. Núria herself makes this clear when she talks about her day-to-day life: “ In my case, for example, I can move between theoretical and experimental projects, and that is precisely what I value the most. ” This mobility is one of the great strengths of the industrial doctorate, because it allows you to understand how ideas are translated into specific procedures and, at the same time, how the limitations of the real world force you to refine the theory. It is a way of doing research that requires rigor, but also flexibility.
Optimal quantum control to bring theory to the laboratory
The core of the project is less abstract than it might seem at first glance. Núria Urgell ‘s research is not just about the question of what can be done in quantum, but also about how to make a protocol work when it leaves the theoretical model and has to be executed in a specific physical system. This is where optimal quantum control comes in, and especially its temporal dimension: completing an operation before the system degrades.
The industrial doctorate places this research in an environment where theoretical formulation and experimental conditions do not advance separately. This connection is relevant because, in quantum technologies, the quality of a model depends not only on its mathematical coherence, but also on the possibility of identifying which parameters can be controlled , which magnitudes can be measured and what limitations the experimental platform imposes. “ I was interested in the challenge of feasibility ” , explains the doctoral student. And she clarifies it even further: “ My work focuses on optimal control, to find the fastest way to execute an operation (such as a quantum gate) before the system degrades. ” This is, in fact, the key to the project: not to pursue an elegant idea in the abstract, but to find a sequence of actions that is fast and robust enough to work in a real experimental environment.
In quantum technologies, time is not just an efficiency variable. It is a condition of possibility. Systems are sensitive and small perturbations or limitations in the assembly can alter their evolution. Therefore, the challenge is not only to define what should happen in an ideal model, but to design a sequence that can be executed with the real resources available . Urgell formulates it precisely: “ We are not just looking for it to work on paper, but for the protocol to be executable on real platforms where every nanosecond counts .”, placing the research in the field of implementation: what can be done, with what tools and within what limits. In addition, he describes the challenge with an honesty that is unusual in stories about advanced technology: “ I would say that more than managing pressure, what is needed is to manage expectations well .” A sentence that sums up the spirit of his project well. In a field like quantum, where the story of the future often runs faster than the actual deployment capacity, the industrial doctoral student insists on focusing on what can be done today, with the tools available today.
Asked how to explain the idea of her project to someone with no background in physics, she resorts to a simple image: “Imagine you have to cross a river in a very small boat to reach an exact point on the other side before it gets dark and you lose your bearings.”. The metaphor serves to understand a central idea of quantum control: it is not just about reaching the desired result, but about doing so with a sensitive system, in a limited time and with imperfect control instruments. This is the point at which his research gains an applied dimension. “From my perspective”, adds the doctoral student, “Control is what allows a theoretical idea to be converted into a real, precise and repeatable operation.” A quote that could almost function as a definition of the project, summarizing well its ambition and also its limit: to ensure that the theory does not remain a correct formulation, but rather becomes an action that can be tested, validated and, eventually, transferred.
"Control is what allows a theoretical idea to be converted into a real, precise and repeatable operation."
Limitations, robustness and feasibility
In quantum physics, theoretical models allow us to imagine very precise protocols under ideal conditions, but the real problem appears when these protocols have to be brought to the laboratory . It is at this step where the limitations emerge: not all parameters can be controlled with precision, the experimental setup has imperfections and the behavior of the system can deviate from what the model predicts. Núria Urgell’s research starts precisely from this gap between the blackboard and reality, and aims to reduce it with control protocols that are executable with the available tools.
The doctoral student highlights that the available systems are limited and that, for this reason, her work seeks robust control sequences, capable of achieving the expected result even when the system does not respond exactly as the model predicts. She explains this with a very clear formulation: “ The challenge is that on the board you can imagine that you control every detail, but in reality the ‘buttons’ that we can actually touch in the laboratory are very limited. ” In this context, robustness becomes a central criterion. A protocol is not useful only because it works in an ideal scenario; it must also do so when the system deviates slightly from the expected conditions or when the hardware imposes restrictions. For this reason, Urgell emphasizes that “ we look for control sequences that are robust due to their own structure .” The objective is for the operation to achieve the expected result even if the experiment is not perfect.
Conducting research between theory, experiment and business
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is that it forces us to rethink what it means to do a doctoral thesis when the research is not carried out only within the university . In the case of Núria Urgell, the doctorate maintains all the rigor of a thesis in quantum physics, but is done in an environment where implementation restrictions weigh heavily from the beginning. This changes the way questions are formulated and also the way we understand what a useful contribution is.
For Urgell, this position between university and business has a formative value that is difficult to reproduce in other itineraries. In a field like quantum, still closely linked to fundamental research and the development of theoretical models, the connection with the university remains essential. But the fact of developing the thesis within a company allows you to incorporate another dimension: that of specific problems, technological priorities and the limitations that appear when an idea approaches its possible implementation. “ An industrial doctorate gives you a perspective that is very difficult to have through any other route” , he says. This perspective combines, on the one hand, “ all the depth of a doctorate ” and contact with the questions that the field formulates from the university; and, on the other, the possibility of working in a business environment where research is connected to real problems and constraints.
There is also a less visible, but very important learning: understanding how a company works from the inside . Núria highlights that this experience allows her to see how real decisions are made, how lines of work are prioritized and what factors, beyond the purely scientific dimension, mark the evolution of projects. It is a dimension that broadens doctoral training and makes it more transversal. That is why the project cannot be read only as a thesis on quantum control. It is also a training exercise in an environment where knowledge advances in contact with industrial reality. And this has a clear value for the research system: it forms profiles capable of understanding the language of the university and that of the company, and of moving between the two with solvency.
In conclusion, Núria Urgell Ollé’s project allows us to observe, on a concrete scale, some of the challenges that advanced technologies linked to microelectronics, semiconductors and quantum are currently facing: training specialized talent, bringing research closer to real implementation conditions and facilitating dialogue between the academic environment and the business. In her case, this connection is concrete in a thesis on optimal quantum control that does not seek to present quantum as an immediate promise, but rather to work on a precise question: how to better take advantage of current platforms and how to design protocols that take into account, from the beginning, the limitations of real systems.
The result is an approach to the industrial doctorate that combines highly complex research, learning in a real technological environment and building links within the program. As the doctoral student herself summarizes, this combination offers “ a much more transversal and applied training ”. In a sector where specialized knowledge, experimental capacity and talent are decisive factors, this is one of the most relevant contributions of the model.
"An industrial doctorate gives you a perspective that is very difficult to get through any other route."
