Bengaluru: India’s quantum skilling model just changed. Instead of training one classroom at a time, QNu Labs, a global leader in full-stack sovereign quantum cybersecurity, incubated at IIT Madras Research Park and backed by the National Quantum Mission (NQM), has trained and certified SRM Institute of Science and Technology’s first cohort of faculty qualified to deliver professional Quantum Communication courses.
The engagement also establishes a dedicated Quantum Communications Lab at SRMIST, equipped with real, industry-grade quantum-safe products – the same technology deployed across India’s defence and banking networks. Students and researchers now have genuine hardware to build on, not simulations, fuelling research, innovation, and industry-ready talent from day one.
Skilling the faculty, not just the students, is what lets a university scale quantum education from one certified batch to hundreds of quantum professionals entering the workforce over the coming academic year. This lab exists because a group of SRM faculty members chose to be students again — showing the curiosity to take on an unfamiliar discipline and the sustained effort to complete rigorous certification, and it is their initiative that will carry quantum education forward at SRM.
This work sits within India’s National Quantum Mission: building both the quantum-safe technology that secures the nation and the teaching capacity that carries its quantum future forward.
The milestone was marked in the presence of Dr JBV Reddy, Head, Quantum Technology Cell, National Quantum Mission; leadership from T-Hub, SRM’s Vice Chancellor, Dr Venkata Chalapathy B and faculty, Sunil Gupta, CEO & Co-founder, QNu Labs; Sunil Bhide, Head of QNu Academy, and senior QNu team members.
Dr JBV Reddy, Head, Quantum Technology Cell, National Quantum Mission, DST, stated, “National Quantum Mission was envisioned to make India a leader in quantum technologies. This lab at SRM, built with DST’s support and QNu Labs’ expertise, is a landmark step in that journey, taking quantum research out of isolated centres and into the hands of the students who will define India’s quantum future.”
Dr C. Muthamizhchelvan, Vice Chancellor, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, commented, “This partnership gives our students access to sovereign, deployed quantum technology — not just textbooks. It’s how SRM prepares the next generation to lead the field globally, from India with QNu Labs.”
Sunil Gupta, CEO & Co-founder, QNu Labs, said, “The future belongs to nations that invest in knowledge before they need it. Today, with this laboratory, SRM Institute of Science and Technology and QNu Labs are investing in exactly that future — one that is secure, sovereign, and powered by Indian innovation.”
