Commercialisation
Commercialisation of quantum computing and communication research in Australia
Australian researchers are at the forefront of quantum information research and CQC²T is on a mission to support world-leading IP and create economic value in Australia. CQC²T’s ultimate aim is to ensure that the Australian economy benefits from the full range of quantum information systems and industry solutions developed in Australia.
According to the CSIRO Growing Australia’s Quantum Technology Industry report, Australia’s world class research and quantum start-ups have the potential to develop into a competitive industry with long-term economic growth opportunities.
Quantum computing presents the largest long-term opportunity, with potential to create 10,000 jobs and A$2.5 billion in annual revenue by 2040, while spurring breakthroughs in drug development, industrial processes and machine learning.
Centre researchers have been instrumental in setting up three Australian quantum information technology companies: Silicon Quantum Computing established
in 2017, QuintessenceLabs established in 2007 and a recent start-up, Aqacia in 2020. These companies work very closely with the Centre enabling the translation of Centre research to commecial outcomes.
Australia’s First Silicon Quantum Company
Silicon Quantum Computing Pty. Ltd. (SQC) is using its global leadership in atomic scale manufacturing to win the race to engineer the World’s first full-stack quantum computer – building the future, atom by atom, for the betterment of all humankind. SQC is working to create and commercialise a silicon-based quantum computer based on world leading intellectual property initially developed at the Australian Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology. SQC’s goals are to deliver: By 2023 – the first 10 Qubit Quantum Integrated Circuit in silicon; By 2028 – a commercial 100 Qubit Quantum Processor; By 2032 – a programmable Universal Quantum Computer. SQC is led by Founder and Director Professor Michelle Simmons, has a team of more than 40 researchers and engineers developing its unique, proprietary technology, and is funded and supported by its shareholders – the Australian Commonwealth Government, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Telstra Corporation, UNSW Sydney and the NSW State Government. info@sqc.com.au
The Global Leader in Quantum Cybersecurity
QuintessenceLabs is a spin-off company founded in 2007 from the ANU Quantum Optics Group. It is currently headquartered in Canberra, Australia and has offices in San Jose, California. QuintessenceLabs produces encryption key and policy management products that conform to the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP), as well as a hardware quantum random number generator, development of a quantum key distribution (QKD) system, and other encryption solutions that include automatic key zeroization. The company is exporting these information security products to companies in Australia and the USA. Some of its commercial partners include PKWare, NetDocuments, VMware, Penten and Westpac. QuintessenceLabs was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer in 2018 and a Global Innovator in 2020. info@quintessencelabs.com
Accelerating Technologies through Machine Learning
Aqacia is a machine learning startup that spun out of the quantum memory program at CQC²T, founded by Dr Aaron Tranter, Professor Ping Koy Lam and Professor Ben Buchler from ANU. Aqacia builds on the machine learning technology that was originally designed to optimise a magneto-optical trap. In a feedback loop setting, the neural network based technology is capable of simultaneously optimising up to thousands of parameters in complex processes. It can also be configured for deep learning for pattern recognition. Aqacia is now utilising this technology in the renewable sector with applications in predictive modelling of chaotic wind patterns for wind energy generation and optical recognition of defects in solar panels. Aqacia will continue to push into the quantum domain harnessing the powerful deep learning approach to enable and accelerate technologies in quantum computation and quantum communication. For more information contact info@aqacia.com.
Delivering revolutionary quantum computing technology to the world
Diraq is a world leader in silicon quantum dot quantum computing. Our team are world leaders in building quantum processors using electron spins in CMOS quantum dots, having invented this revolutionary technology in Sydney, Australia, filing a network of patents beginning in 2014.
It was on our UNSW campus that silicon-based quantum computers were invented. There is a fundamental advantage to the Diraq platform: our technology leverages more than 50 years and trillions of dollars invested in the semiconductor industry. The factories that build the silicon chips for classical computers today can build our quantum chips tomorrow. Our processors work at the nanometer scales that other approaches can never hope to achieve. Diraq has established the core IP in quantum computing hardware that can be manufactured at scale using existing silicon chip manufacturing plants.
This means highly efficient, tightly packed quantum processor stacks of a similar size to a single server rack that drives the cloud now. The transformational applications of quantum computing will require many millions, and ultimately billions, of qubits. Diraq’s silicon-based technology is arguably the only pathway to the billions of qubits needed to realise quantum computing’s huge economic potential. Find out more here.