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Slowing researchers down with encumbered IP was especially problematic now that the entire world had joined the race to build a useful quantum computer, he said.

Quantum computers harness the strange way matter behaves at the atomic and sub-atomic level, to perform computations that are difficult or impossible for regular computers.

In its report, the CSIRO's strategic consulting arm, CSIRO Futures, estimated that quantum computers, together with related quantum technologies such as quantum sensing and quantum telecommunications, should create a global industry that's conservatively worth $86 billion a year by 2040.

Professor Michelle Simmons says her project to build a quantum computer in silicon can be like the tortoise: slow and steady.Louie Douvis

If it plays its cards right, Australia could have a $4 billion-a-year share of that, CSIRO Futures predicted.

To do that, the Australian quantum technology industry needs to move fast, said Michelle Simmons, Scientia Professor of Quantum Physics in the Faculty of Science at the University of New South Wales. She is trying to build a scalable quantum computer from silicon: a project she likened to being the tortoise in the fable about the hare and the tortoise.

"It's moving incredibly fast out there, and we have to move. Speed is absolutely critical," she said.

But encumbered IP, said Professor Biercuk, is the enemy of speed. His company, Q-Ctrl, only exists because the University of Sydney let him have most of the IP he created, without encumbrance, he said.

"In the few cases where we have had some tangential IP that was owned by the university, the negotiations around that took years. The company literally moved from being nothing other than the paper certification of "Q-Ctrl Pty Ltd", to having customers and products, in the time that we were just trying to negotiate that one licence," he said.

But if this past week's news is any measure, then the Australian quantum industry is indeed moving quickly.

On Friday, the ANU start-up Quantum Brilliance, which is trying to build a scalable, room-temperature quantum computer out of artificial diamonds, said it had partnered with Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Western Australia to help Pawsey's customers prepare themselves for quantum computing.

The same day, the University of Sydney announced that one of its researchers, Dr Benjamin Brown from the School of Physics, had developed a new way to correct errors in quantum computers, using time as the "third dimension" in traditionally two-dimensional error-correction algorithms.

Due to their highly sensitive nature, quantum computers tend to make a lot of errors, and correcting such errors efficiently is expected to be crucial if scientists are to have any chance of building a quantum computer that is powerful enough to do something useful.

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Unis warned to keep their snouts out of the Quantum Computer trough - The Australian Financial Review

Total is stepping up its research into Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies by signing a multi-year partnership with UK start-up Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC). This partnership aims to develop new quantum algorithms to improve materials for CO2 capture.

Totals ambition is to be a major player in CCUS and the Group currently invests up to 10% of its annual research and development effort in this area.

To improve the capture of CO2, Total is working on nanoporous adsorbents, considered to be among the most promising solutions. These materials could eventually be used to trap the CO2 emitted by the Groups industrial operations or those of other players (cement, steel etc.). The CO2 recovered would then be concentrated and reused or stored permanently. These materials could also be used to capture CO2 directly from the air (Direct Air Capture or DAC).

The quantum algorithms which will be developed in the collaboration between Total and CQC will simulate all the physical and chemical mechanisms in these adsorbents as a function of their size, shape and chemical composition, and therefore make it possible to select the most efficient materials to develop.

Currently, such simulations are impossible to perform with a conventional supercomputer, which justifies the use of quantum calculations.

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Total partners with Cambridge Quantum Computing on CO2 capture - Green Car Congress

A physicist at the University of Sydney has achieved something that many researchers previously thought was impossible. He has developed a type of error-correcting code for quantum computers that will free up more hardware.

His solution also delivers an approach that will allow companies to build better quantum microchips. Dr. Benjamin Brown from the School of Physics achieved this impressive feat by applying a three-dimensional code to a two-dimensional framework.

"The trick is to use time as the third dimension. I'm using two physical dimensions and adding in time as the third dimension," Brown said in a statement. "This opens up possibilities we didn't have before."

"It's a bit like knitting," he added. "Each row is like a one-dimensional line. You knit row after row of wool and, over time, this produces a two-dimensional panel of material."

Quantum computing is rampant with errors. As such, one of the biggest obstacles scientists face before they can build machines large enough to solve problems is reducing these errors.

"Because quantum information is so fragile, it produces a lot of errors," said Brown.

Getting rid of these errors entirely is impossible. Instead, researchers are seeking to engineer a new error-tolerant system where useful processing operations outweigh error-correcting ones. This is exactly what Brown achieved.

"My approach to suppressing errors is to use a code that operates across the surface of the architecture in two dimensions. The effect of this is to free up a lot of the hardware from error correction and allow it to get on with the useful stuff," Brown explained.

The result is an approach that could change quantum computing forever.

"This result establishes a new option for performing fault-tolerant gates, which has the potential to greatly reduce overhead and bring practical quantum computing closer," saidDr. Naomi Nickerson, Director of Quantum Architecture at PsiQuantum in Palo Alto, California, who is not connected to the research.

Continue reading here:
Quantum Physicist Invents Code to Achieve the Impossible - Interesting Engineering

The company has performed strongly this month with shares rising from 18 cents to 78 cents on strong daily volumes.

() is a strong ASX market mover today with shares up as much as 35% on the previous close to a new record high of 78 cents.

The previous all-time high was 45 cents on May 1, 2012.

Archer has been performing well this month on the back of strong newsflow with shares up from 18 cents on May 1 and a market cap of approximately $114.1 million.

Trading volumes have also been high with more than 92 million shares traded so far this month compared to a daily average below 1 million for the previous three months.

The announcement on May 5 of an agreement with International Business Machines Corporation () to work together on advancing quantum computing saw more than 20 million shares traded on that day and shares more than doubling to a new 8-year high of 38 cents.

As part of this agreement, Archer is now a member of the IBM Q Network and associated IBM Quantum Experience for Business program.

Archer is the first Australian company developing a quantum computing processor and hardware to join the invitation-only, IBM Q Network.

Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair said: We are the first Australian company building a quantum chip to join into the global IBM Q Network as an ecosystem partner, a group of the very best organisations at the forefront of quantum computing.

Ultimately, we want Australian businesses and consumers to be one of the first beneficiaries of this exciting technology, and now that we are collaborating with IBM, it greatly increases our chances of success.

We look forward to working with IBM and members of the network to address the most fundamental challenges to the wide-scale adoption of quantum computing, using our potentially complementary technologies as starting points.

Also, this month shares rose on news that a licensed European Patent (EP) application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty for AXEs 12CQ quantum computing chip materials technology was proceeding to the substantial examination stage.

The EP Application is set to protect and commercialise intellectual property associated to the 12CQ quantum computing chip materials technology (IP).

Following steps involve procedural matters related to formal compliance and patent examination immediately prior to the patent being able to be granted for protection in Europe.

Last week, the company advised that a bulk sample from the Franklyn Halloysite-Kaolin Project in South Australia had arrived in the US for tests by a leading kaolin minerals industry laboratory.

The sample was collected from drilling at the Franklin project.

Resulting halloysite and kaolin samples from the pilot plant testing will be sent to potential downstream customers for product testing and verification purposes.

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Archer Materials a market mover with shares up as much as 35% to record high - Proactive Investors Australia

These are some examples of where fresh polytechnic and university graduates can apply for research traineeship positions:

Applied Materials-NUS Advanced Materials Corporate Lab

Focuses on finding and commercialising new materials for manufacturing advanced semiconductors.

WIL@NUS Corporate Laboratory

Focuses on engineering microbes and enzymes to produce biochemicals from natural sources in a more sustainable and cost-effective way, to then be used in industries such as food and nutrition.

NUS Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech)

Focuses on advancing health through innovation; involves technology research, such as developing wireless systems for biosensors.

HP-NTU Corporate Lab

Focuses on 3D printing, artificial intelligence and machine learning and cyber security.

Singtel Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence Lab for Enterprises (Scale@NTU)

Aims to develop applications for use in the areas of public safety, smart urban solutions, transport, healthcare and manufacturing.

Taiger Singapore

Aims to help organisations optimise operational efficiencies by automating complex cognitive tasks.

Entropica Labs

Creates models, algorithms and software tools related to quantum computing.

NDR Medical Technology

Develops surgical robotics known as Automated Needle Targeting to assist surgeons during minimally invasive surgery.

SpeQtral

Specialises in quantum technology for satellite-based communication systems.

Lucence Diagnostics

Invents novel liquid biopsy tests for cancer detection and treatment.

Jolene Ang

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Where to apply, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits Times