Quantum Computing Report by GQI - Week 45, 2023
Quantum Computing Report
The leader for coverage of quantum computing since 2015, Quantum Computing Report is your home for all things quantum.
IARPA Funds Two Projects with up to $40 Million for Research on Entangled Logical Qubits (ELQ)
The Intelligence Advanced Projects Research Activity (IARPA) is a U.S. government agency that invests in high risk, high payoff research that can help to tackle some of the Intelligence Community’s (IC) most difficult challenges. They launched an Entangled Logical Qubits (ELQ) project earlier this year as a four year program to fund projects which can demonstrate high-fidelity entanglement between two error-corrected logical qubits in a fully fault tolerant manner. The goal will be to first demonstrate the entanglement of two qubits to set the stage for using the same techniques for more qubits and larger systems for a full fault tolerant quantum computer.
The first project is named SuperMOOSE is led by ETH Zurich Professor Andreas Wallraff and will be working with superconducting based qubits. Additional collaborators on this project include MIT, Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Université de Sherbrooke, the Paul Sherrer Institut, Zurich Instruments and Atlantic Quantum. The second project, named MODULARIS, will be led by the coordinated by the University of Innsbruck with additional participants from ETH Zurich and the Paul Sherrer Institut. This project will be based upon ion trap technology.
Additional information about these awards can be seen in several press release including one from ETH Zurich here, from the Paul Sherrer Institut here, from Atlantic Quantum here, and from Zurich Instruments here.
Nu Quantum Raises ￡7M ($8.5M USD) in a Pre-Series A Round
Nu Quantum is a quantum networking startup that was formed as a spinout of the Cavendish Lab at the University of Cambridge. They are focusing on providing the technology that will allow multiple quantum processors to be hooked together in a quantum network with a product they call the Quantum Networking Unit (QNU). The funding The round was led by Amadeus Capital Partners, Expeditions Fund, and IQ Capital, with additional participation from Ahren Innovation Capital; Seraphim Capital; University of Cambridge and Martlet and new investors including Presidio Ventures backed by Sumitomo Corporation, the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), and Deeptech Labs. This funding follows a ￡2.1 million ($2.5M USD) seed round invested in the company in September 2020. The company has posted a news release on their website with additional information about this new investment and it can be seen here.
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Boeing Provides $3.5 Million in Funding to the Chicago Quantum Exchange for Quantum Research and Talent Development
An expanded collaboration between Boeing, a global aerospace company, and the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), a network of academic institutions and national labs that work on quantum information science and engineering (QISE) has been announced. The collaboration aims to support early-career scientists, seed new research projects, and develop next-generation quantum sensors and networks. The collaboration also renews Boeing’s corporate partnership with the CQE, which started in 2019.
The collaboration involves a $3.5 million investment from Boeing, which will fund technical workshops, graduate student and postdoctoral fellowships, and an award for innovative researchers in the field of QISE. The funding will also support the Boeing Quantum Creators Prize, an award that recognizes early-career researchers who explore new ideas in QISE. The prize was launched in 2022 with support from Boeing and has honored 14 researchers so far. The prize aims to increase diversity and inclusion in the field of QISE.
The Chicago region is a strong hub for quantum research and innovation, with the presence of a 124-mile quantum network testbed, four of the 10 quantum research centers funded by the National Quantum Initiative Act, and the first quantum startup accelerator in the nation. It also was designated last week as a U.S. Tech Hub for Quantum Technologyalong with the Colorado region.
A press release announcing this expanded collaboration and funding from Boeing has been posted on the Chicago Quantum Exchange website here.
Analog Quantum Circuits to Receive $3 Million AUD ($1.9M USD) in Funding
Analog Quantum Circuits is a superconducting hardware components startup based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. They were founded in 2022 by a team that came from the University of Queensland. The company develops miniaturized core microwave components such as such as amplifiers, attenuators, circulators, and other components. These components can be integrated on-chip to help enable the scale-up of superconducting quantum processors. Uniseed is Australia’s longest running early-stage commercialisation fund and the Uniseed-managed funds have committed to invest $3 million AUD in the company. Additional information is available in a news release posted on the Uniseed website here and also an article posted on the Australian website startupdaily here.
Cisco Investments Joins the Series A Investment Round in Aliro Quantum
Earlier in October we reported that Aliro Quantum had received a Series A venture investment from?Accenture Ventures?and Flybridge Leaders Fund. The round has now been joined by Cisco Investments. Cisco is a very large company involved with classical computer networking and has been watching the quantum networking space for some time. They have now decided to make their first quantum investment with Aliro Quantum that provides customers with a product called AliroNet, the world’s first full-stack multi-purpose end-to-end entanglement-based secure network solution. Unlike standalone venture capital firms, Cisco Investments is participating as a strategic investor and can additionally contribute expertise in networking, systems engineering, and systems integration to help accelerate Aliro’s technology development and marketing efforts. A press release provided by Aliro announcing their new venture investor is available here and a blog posting by Cisco Investments featuring an interview with Dr. Prineha Narang, founder and CTO of Aliro, can be accessed here.
Multiverse, OQC, and Moody’s Analytics Win Innovate UK Award to Develop Large-scale Flood Prediction Models using Quantum Computing
Multiverse Computing, Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), and Moody’s Analytics will team up to develop two-dimensional hydrodynamical models that numerically solve Shallow Water Equations (SWE) to improve to flood risk assessment and help make management of flood conditions better and more accurate. These calculations are too complex for traditional classical techniques to make accurately so the team will be looking at Quantum Physics-Informed Neural Network (QPINN) and Variational Quantum Circuit (VQC) algorithms with hybrid classical/quantum processing to see if that approach can do it better. Moody’s estimates that flood losses cost ￡700 million ($850M USD) in the UK every year. In this project Multiverse will be lead contractor and software developer, OQC will supply the quantum hardware, and Moody’s Analytics will provide industry expertise, data requirements, and insights on computational efficiency. This initial Innovate UK grant is a Phase 1 award for a three month period which will finish at the end of November. At that time, the team will need to demonstrate enough progress to warrant a Phase 2 award which would last for 15 months. More information about the award can be found in a news release available here.
QuEra Wins Two Grants from DARPA as Part of the Imagining Practical Applications for a Quantum Tomorrow (IMPAQT) Program
QuEra Computing, a company that develops neutral-atom quantum computers, has received two grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as part of the Imagining Practical Applications for a Quantum Tomorrow (IMPAQT) program.?The program aims to explore novel quantum algorithms and applications that can be implemented on near-term quantum platforms.
The first grant is for a project on “Quantum Reservoir Learning using Neutral Atoms and its Applications”. This project will extend QuEra’s previous work on quantum machine learning, where they demonstrated how to classify handwritten digits using their neutral-atom hardware.?The project will scale up the method and apply it to more realistic problems, such as image recognition and natural language processing.
The second grant is for a project on “Error-Corrected Quantum Architectures Based on Transversal Logical Gates”. This project will investigate how to improve the reliability and scalability of quantum computation using transversal logical gates, which are special operations that can correct errors without disturbing the quantum information.?The project will analyze the performance of these gates on QuEra’s neutral-atom hardware and compare them to other error-correction schemes.
In addition, QuEra has five partners that have also received DARPA IMPAQT grants for their projects which will use QuEra’s neutral-atom hardware.?These include the following partners and projects.
QuEra’s technology is based on large-scale arrays of neutral atoms, which are atoms that have no electric charge. QuEra uses rubidium atoms, which are trapped in a vacuum chamber by laser beams.?The atoms can be manipulated by changing the intensity and frequency of the lasers, creating qubits that can store and process quantum information.
QuEra’s hardware has several advantages over other quantum platforms, such as superconducting circuits or trapped ions. For example, QuEra can create qubits with high coherence, which means they can preserve their quantum state for longer times.?QuEra can also reconfigure the layout of the qubits using its field-programmable qubit array (FPQA) technology, which allows for more flexibility and efficiency in quantum computation.
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QuEra currently offers access on the Amazon Braket cloud system to its Aquila-class machines, which have up to 256 qubits. The company is also working on scaling up its hardware to achieve higher numbers of qubits and higher performance.?QuEra’s software package, Bloqade, helps users express and test their quantum problems on the hardware.
Additional information can be found in a press release posted on the QuEra website here.
ParityQC Awarded Contract from DLR to Develop New QC Methods of Molecular Simulation
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has created a project called QuantiCom (Quantum Computing for Materials Science and Engineering) to research the use of quantum computers for rapid development of new materials. One of the subprojects of this endeavor is called QuantiCom Q2H which is intended to demonstrate the use of quantum computing for performing atomic level simulations of molecules. ParityQC has won a three year contract that goes through 2026 to develop quantum algorithms for performing these simulations and will start with two small molecules, hydrogen and water. Once they have developed a quantum based simulation algorithm, they will then compare the results with current classicalal HPC (high performance computing) methods to determine if the quantum approach can provide better results. It is hoped that the new algorithms resulting from this research can be then applied in the future to the more complex types of materials used in aircraft and spacecraft that are of high interest at DLR. Advances that help development of lighter, stronger, and more durable materials are always welcome in the aerospace industry, particularly if they can also be produced at a lower cost. A press release from ParityQC announcing receipt of the award is available here.
Rigetti Computing Receives an Innovate UK Award to Research Using QC for Money Laundering Detection
Rigetti Computing announced that it was awarded an Innovate UK grant as part of the Feasibility Studies in Quantum Computing Applications competition. The grant will support a project to enhance quantum machine learning methods for money laundering detection, a critical method for identifying and preventing financial crime.
Rigetti UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rigetti Computing, will collaborate with HSBC, the Quantum Software Lab (QSL) based at the University of Edinburgh, and the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) in this project. The consortium aims to improve the performance of current-state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms by using quantum computing techniques. The project will focus on extending current anomaly detection quantum machine learning models to detect anomalous behavior indicating money laundering. The project started on September 1, 2023 and will last 18 months.
Money laundering poses a significant threat to financial institutions and society. Machine learning technology has the power to detect and prevent financial crime by flagging suspicious transactions and adapting to ever-changing criminal behavior. Quantum computing has the potential to enhance existing classical computing workflows, and in turn could offer improved machine learning methods.
In addition to leveraging Rigetti’s quantum processing units (QPUs) and quantum software, the consortium will also benefit from HSBC’s deep domain knowledge, benchmarks and classical and quantum machine learning for anomaly detection expertise, with the University of Edinburgh’s quantum algorithm expertise, and the NQCC’s extensive network of quantum computing opportunities and resources. In addition to improving anti-money laundering methods, the consortium aims to substantially strengthen the UK quantum ecosystem and the UK’s global position as a leader in the quantum computing sector.
PASQAL Contributes $500,000 CAD ($366K USD) to Create a Research Chair in Quantum Computing at the Université de Sherbrooke
PASQAL, a global leader in neutral atom quantum computing, is supporting the Faculty of Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS), a leader in education and applied research in Canada, to create a research chair in applied quantum computing. The chair holder will develop quantum software solutions for industry, using PASQAL’s hardware and technology. PASQAL is setting up a facility to manufacture quantum processors at Espace Quantique 1 of DistriQ – Quantum Innovation Zone in Sherbrooke, Canada. This will help accelerate the adoption of neutral atom quantum computing in the North American market. The research chair is part of PASQAL’s strategy to deliver real-world applications and quantum advantage in the short term. PASQAL is contributing $500,000 CAD to the position, which will be matched by Canadian federal and/or provincial granting agencies. The Faculty of Engineering, UdeS, is known for its collaborative research, technology transfer, and student training. It has several research centers and institutes, including the Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT), the Institut quantique (IQ), and the Centre de collaboration MiQro Innovation (C2MI). A press release from PASQAL announcing this support can be viewed here.
NobleAI Collaborates with Microsoft Azure Quantum Elements for Chemical and Materials Discovery
NobleAI is a software company that uses AI to provide customized materials discovery platforms for the chemical and materials industry. Examples of models they have created include NobleChemistry to create commercial ?chemical formulations, NobleBattery for battery development and performance evaluation, and NobleEnergy to solve complex problems for the energy industry. Their customers include large enterprises in the chemical and energy industries and they help these organizations improve their product development by shortening development times, help identify ways of improving the performance of the materials, and also helping to make the new materials and chemicals more environmentally sustainable. The company closed a $17.6 million Series A funding round earlier this year with investor including M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund, Chevron Technology Ventures, and other venture firms.
The company has announced that it will be offering its platform with the recently announced Microsoft Azure Quantum Elements which provides access to both high performance computing (HPC) and quantum processors for accelerating the calculations. NobleAI is one of the early users of Microsoft Quantum Elements which was just announced last June. Microsoft’s goal with Azure Quantum Elements is to compress 250 years of chemistry into the next 25. The chemical and materials industries spend many tens of billion of dollars in R&D. The belief is that through the use of advanced HPC, quantum computing, and AI this R&D can become significantly more efficient and help companies develop new products more quickly and at a lower cost.
A news release provided by NobleAI announcing their collaboration with Microsoft is available here.
Q-CTRL and the Quad Investors Network Will Provide Free Black Opal Licenses to Students at Certain Educational Institutions in Australia and the U.S.
Q-CTRL has previously developed an online quantum learning platform called Black Opal to teach students about quantum technology and make quantum computing accessible to everyone. The program teaches fundamental concepts needed to understand quantum computing and includes an interactive visual coding environment that allows students to better understand qubit operations. There is a basic version available for free, but the Pro version is priced at $19.99 per month or about $120 for a full year license.
In order to promote diversity and inclusion to make the technology more accessible, Q-CTRL has teamed up with the Quad Investors Network to provide fully subsidized licenses of Black Opal to students who attend ?Technical and Further Education (TAFE) vocational training institutions in Australia and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the US. The?IBM-HBCU Quantum Center?will support this initiative and facilitate Black Opal access to its member institutions.?Implementation of this program will start in 2024 and it is expected the program will eventually be expanded to other educational institutions in the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan in the future.
Additional information can be found in a press release posted on the Q-CTRL website here.
Who’s News: Management Updates at Rigetti Computing, Alice & Bob, Infleqtion, and IonQ
Rigetti Computing has appointed Thomas J. Iannotti as their new Chairman of the Board. He is also currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Applied Materials Inc. Mr. Iannotti has extensive experience in the computing industry and had served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Services, at Hewlett-Packard Company before his retirements from that company. Earlier in his career, he had worked at Digital Equipment Corporation and Compaq Computer. Mr. Iannotti’s predecessor, Cathy McCarthy, will continue to serve on the Rigetti Board of Directors. A press release announcing his appointment is available here.
As part of their expansion into North America, Alice & Bob, have named Blaise Vignon as the President of Alice & Bob USA. He will be opening a company office in Boston, Massachusetts and will lead the company’s North American business development efforts. Mr. Vignon has been the company’s Chief Product Officer since 2022. He has prior experience at Microsoft, Boston Consulting Group, Nvidia, and several startup companies in the Paris, France region. A news release from Alice & Bob announcing their North American expansion and Mr. Vignon’s selection to lead it can be seen here.
Infleqtion has named Dr. Tim Ballance as President and Dr. Marco Palumbo as Director of Business Development at Infleqtion UK. Dr. Ballance has been with Infleqtion/Coldquanta in their Oxford, UK office since 2017 and has held a number of roles including Lead Scientist, Director of UK R&D, and General Manager. Under his guidance the Infleqtion UK team has won a several projects. Dr. Palumbo joins Infleqtion from Innovate UK where he served as Innovation Lead in the Quantum Technologies Challenge team. Before that he served as a Licensing and Ventures Manager at Oxford University Innovation where he helped create and served as a board observer for several companies that had spun out of the university. His role will include developing new partnerships for Infleqtion in the UK. A press release from Infleqtion announcing Dr. Ballance’s appointment can be accessed here and another press release announcing the appointment of Dr. Palumbo can be view here.
IonQ has announced that Dr. Chris Monroe, a co-founder and Chief Science Officer of the company will be leaving the company to return back to his academic and policy pursuits at Duke University. Dr. Monroe helped start the company in 2015 and was also was one of the early researchers in ion trap quantum technology which he first started studying 20 years ago. Besides being involved with the advanced ion trap research at the Monroe Lab at Duke, he will also be involved with quantum workforce education and providing advise to quantum institutes worldwide. A press release from IonQ announcing he will be departing the company is available here.
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