The Queensland government has delivered a $53 million boost to quantum research and commercialisation in support of PsiQuantum’s endeavor to build the world’s first fault-tolerant, error-corrected quantum computer.
Seven universities and national science agency CSIRO have secured funding in the state’s largest-ever quantum grants program, which will establish Australia’s first-ever photonics chip fab and industry-accessible cryogenic facility.
A national testbed will also be established, offering researchers and industry access to “small-scale quantum processors” to develop and optimise hardware, controls, error correction, novel computing designs and modes.
Announced by Innovation and Science minister Leanne Linard late on Friday, the quantum grants are on top of the $470 million in equity and loans that Queensland has provided to PsiQuantum as part of its joint investment with the federal government.
The $53 million in grants, awarded just days before the government enters the caretaker period, was first flagged in the state’s inaugural quantum and advanced technologies strategy last year, but has also grown since the $50 million program opened in June.
The University of Queensland (UQ), which is where the photonics-based, first fault-tolerant, error-corrected technology being pursued by PsiQuantum was first born, has scored $28.4 million – more than half the available funding.
Griffith University, where PsiQuantum will test components while the warehouse that will house its quantum computer is built, has secured $9.2 million, while the University of Southern Queensland netted $4.9 million.
The full list can be found here.
Most of the funding will flow towards six new “state-of-the-art” research infrastructure facilities funded under the $28.1 million Quantum and Advanced Technologies Commercialisation Infrastructure Program (QCIP).
QCIP is valued at $8.1 million more than in June after the government re-allocated funding that had been set aside for the $15 million Quantum and Advanced Technologies Co-Investment Program (QATCIP). The QATCIP is the only grant program that remains open.
“Due to the excellent proposals we received, funding initially allocated to the QATCIP was reallocated into the QCIP and Quantum 2032 Challenge to support a greater number of meritorious projects”, a Department of Environment, Science and Innovation spokesperson told InnovationAus.com.
UQ has secured funding to establish three of the QCIP facilities, including a $6.4 million National Advanced Photonics Facility that will “provide the first Australian commercial capability in manufacturing and processing nanophotonics and optomechanics”.
A $6 million National Quantum Computing Testbed Facility will also be set up at UQ. It comes just months after local startups backed a testbed model like has already been adopted in the United Kingdom, France and Germany to propel the sector forward.
Griffith University has, meanwhile, secured a $7.5 million update for the Queensland Microtechnology Facility to “fabricate power electronics products for industry and kick-start a new compound semiconductor industry in Queensland”.
Other QCIP projects include a $4.1 million photonics packaging centre led by CSIRO to “pave the way for the commercialisation of photonics”, and a $3.4 million National Cryogenic Electronic Measurement Facility at the University of Southern Queensland.
UQ will also lead the Queensland Quantum Decarbonisation Alliance, a $10 million program that will also involve PsiQuantum, Griffith University and CSIRO, as well as 23 other unnamed partner organisations.
The alliance will fund seven research teams to “accelerate the development and application of quantum technologies to address pressing decarbonisation challenges”, according to a statement from the government.
A further $8.5 million will be provided as part of its Quantum 2032 Challenge, with the funding to flow to UQ ($4.63 million), Griffith University ($1.09 million), and the Queensland University of Technology ($0.95 million).
Transport and logistics optimisation, hydration and thermal regulation monitoring for athletes and the detection of biochemical agents to prevent risk of terrorist attacks are among the Olympics-themed projects to be backed.
UQ, Griffith, QUT, the University of Southern Queensland, the University of Sunshine Coast and James Cook University also scored $600,000 each for 88 scholarships under the Quantum and Advanced Technologies Talent Building Program.
The government has also provided $1.08 million under the QATCIP for a Queensland node of Quantum Australia, the research and commercialisation networking group led by Sydney University. It is also supporting two applications to the the federal government’s Critical Technologies Challenge Program.
Ms Linard said the grants would help position “Queensland as a major hub for quantum technology development and implementation in Australia as the Asia Pacific, and industry leaders on a global scale”.
“Quantum science and technology is predicted to bring billions of dollars in economic opportunity for Queensland, in the forms of economic returns and high-paying jobs,” she said.
Ms Linard added that the then-Beattie Government seeded the state’s economy when it established the first quantum centres of excellence as part of the Smart State Strategy in the early 2000s, but that the grants would reaffirm Queensland as a quantum pioneer.
Queensland chief scientist Professor Kerrie Wilson said that with the state already home to some of the world’s most distinguished and innovative quantum scientists, the grants lay the “foundation for a resilient and innovative economy ready for the future”.
“By affirming our position as ‘The Quantum State’, with our proactive measures such as the Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technologies Strategy, we strengthen our role as industry leaders in the quantum age, ready to adapt, thrive and pave the way forward,” she said.
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