Various aspects of the idea, dubbed the “Quantum Century project,” were discussed, including the possibility of seeking a UN-declared International Year[4].

A white paper proposal, describing the outlines of a plan to “to make the year 2025 an international celebration of quantum mechanics” was then reviewed and endorsed by the APS Committee on Public Engagement.

Work then began on contacting and assembling a partnership of scientific societies, institutes, and organizations[5] who supported and endorsed the IYQ idea.

Initial discussions on formal UN recognition were held with the Chief of Section for Basic Science, Research, Innovation and Engineering at the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

At the May 2023 UNESCO Executive Board meeting a resolution, co-sponsored by 59 countries, to “welcome and endorse the recommendation to proclaim 2025 international year of quantum science and technology .

[and] recommend that the General Conference at its 42nd session adopts a resolution in this regard.” [6]  This 42nd session of the UNESCO General Conference convened in November of that year and passed a resolution recommending “that the General Assembly of the United Nations, at its seventy-eighth or seventy-ninth session, adopt a resolution declaring 2025 the international year of quantum science and technology.” [7] In Fall 2023 a Founding Partnership structure overseeing the IYQ initiative was formed that came to include the APS, DPG, Optica (formerly OSA), SPIE, the Chinese Optical Society (COS), and the Institute of Physics (IOP).

At the beginning of 2024, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) delegation from Ghana agreed to sponsor a resolution at the 78th session of the UN in New York.