dougfinke

Progress report three years after the launch of the national strategy for quantum technologies and launch of the PROQCIMA program In a bid to make France the center of gravity of the global quantum industry, the government has launched a French National Strategy for quantum that included projected investments of €1 billion ($1.1B USD) from the government over a four year period with additional investments being made by the private sector. France has made considerable progress is enjoying significant quantum startup activity and private funding in the country as well as gains in attracting and developing talent. To further accelerate progress [...]

QAI Ventures just celebrated its first anniversary as a $50 million, early-stage venture fund and startup accelerator. Anca Albu is the chief marketing officer at QAI Ventures and works with entrepreneurs to help them craft compelling stories about their work. She helped build the largest and most active angel investor network in Switzerland, so she knows what it takes to build a community of funders, mentors and supporters around a new industry. In this episode, she explains lessons learned after one year, the importance of storytelling for quantum leaders, and what’s next for her team. Transcript Veronica Combs: Hello, and welcome [...]

Google Quantum AI along with additional support from the Geneva Science Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) Foundation is sponsoring a 3 year, $5 million prize competition to encourage development of novel algorithms, new applications, or ways of implementing enhanced performance of quantum solutions that can help solve real-world challenges. The contest will be administered by the XPRIZE Foundation, a non-profit set up in 1994 to host public competitions intended to encourage technical breakthroughs. As stated in the contest guidelines: To win the prize, teams must develop a new (or meaningfully improved) application of quantum computers that addresses a computationally complex problem and demonstrate [...]

Picture of the Direc-3 Entropy Quantum Computer. Credit: QCI Quantum Computing Inc. (QCi) has launched Dirac-3, a quantum optimization platform designed to solve complex problems using nonlinear quantum optics. The system encodes a problem into its photonic architecture and modulates the interaction between variables, ultimately finding an optimal solution. Unique to Dirac is its ability to solve integer problems using up to 964 quantum digits (qudits) with each qudit capable of 200 discrete modes, expanding the use of quantum technology beyond quantum bits (qubits). The system is designed to solve complex problems using nonlinear quantum optics. It encodes a problem into [...]

SBQuantum, a company developing diamond quantum magnetometers, and Silicon Microgravity, a company developing innovative inertial and gravity sensors, have partnered to accelerate mining exploration using quantum sensing. Their project, QUAMINEX (Quantum Accelerated Mining Exploration), involves the development of a drone-based system of sensors that combine magnetics and gravimetry. This system will improve the location and analysis of underground mineral deposits, reducing the time and capital required for field operations and improving 3D geological readouts. The dual sensor systems can be deployed via drone to detect underground deposits of strategic minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, platinum, and rare earths. The [...]

The BioInnovation Institute (BII), is an international non-profit foundation in Denmark that incubates and accelerates world-class life science research. They have just announced that twelve companies have been selected to join their 12 month Venture Lab acceleration program which supports startup companies with business acceleration, scientific, and team development. The program also provides each startup with a €500 thousand ($541K USD) convertible loan and access to BII's labs and offices in Copenhagen. Of the twelve companies, three of them work in quantum technology including Alea Quantum Technologies, a company developing quantum random number generators, DiaSense, a company working on diamond-magnetic microscopes for [...]

IonQ announced their Q4 and full year 2023 financial results showing strong growth from the previous year. For Q4'2023 they recorded revenue of $6.1 million versus $6.1 million in Q3'2023 and $3.8 million in Q4'2022. For the full year of 2023 they achieved revenue of $22 million almost double the full year 2022 amount of $11.1 million. The 2024 revenues were at the high end of the forecast they made during their Q3 report last November. However, the company's Net Loss also increased from the previous year. The Q4'2023 Net Loss was $41.9 million versus $18.6 in Q4'2022 and for the [...]

Picture of ORNL's Summit Supercomputer Riverlane and Rigetti Computing are collaborating on a project led by the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to explore the integration of quantum computers with large-scale supercomputing centers. The project will build the first-ever benchmarking suite, ‘QStone’, to measure the performance of a joint High-Performance Computing (HPC) + Quantum system. This suite will be run on ORNL’s Summit, the fifth fastest supercomputer in the world. The quantum components will use simulated hardware based on key elements of Riverlane’s ‘Quantum Error Correction Stack’ and real remote hardware located at Rigetti’s headquarters in California. [...]

In October 2023 the Biden Administration announced the designation of 31 Tech Hubs as part Phase 1 of a program that was previously authorized in the 2022 Chips and Science Act. The purpose of the Tech Hubs program is to invest an amount of approximately $500 million over a five year period in a few U.S. regions that are focused on creating critical technology ecosystems across a few key technology focus areas and create good jobs for American workers. Quantum technology was deemed one of those key technologies and among the 31 designees, the Elevate Quantum Colorado group and The Bloch [...]