A partnership between academics at the University of Strathclyde and a Glasgow-based laser firm has secured £4.6 million to develop some of the world’s most advanced computers which could be used to accelerate drug design and reduce traffic congestion.
A project being worked on by researchers at Strathclyde and photonics and quantum technology company M Squared has attracted £2.6 million in funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of UK Research and Innovation.
M Squared has invested a further £1.7 million and the university has contributed £300,000.
Applications for the technology developed in the partnership also include accelerated drug design for improved healthcare, novel materials for aerospace and manufacturing, enhanced traffic management or improved efficiency in energy distribution across the National Grid.
The EPSRC funding is under one of a number of ‘Prosperity Partnership’ grants awarded to projects that build links between UK researchers and industry partners.
Strathclyde’s lead in the project is Dr Jonathan Pritchard, a research fellow in the University’s Department of Physics.
He said: “This is great opportunity, both for Strathclyde and for the UK as a whole, to establish new capability by working directly with global leaders in supplying commercial laser systems to quantum computing activities.”
Dr Graeme Malcolm, CEO and founder at M Squared, said: “This partnership is a demonstration of the scientific community harnessing the enormous benefits of collaboration between world-leading research institutions and advanced industry in the quest to develop frontier technologies.
“Cross-sector investment is proving critical for progressing the UK’s quantum computing capabilities, and we are extremely proud to be at the forefront.
“Glasgow has all the requisite components to pioneer the coming quantum era on the world stage and play a globally significant role in shaping the future of these defining years for the trajectory of this technology.”
EPSRC executive chair Professor Lynn Gladden said: “By combining expertise from across academia and industry, the Prosperity Partnerships will break new ground in areas of fundamental research that also provide major commercial opportunities.
“The partnerships announced today demonstrate the critical role that collaboration between UK researchers and industry partners will play in developing the revolutionary technologies of tomorrow.”
Where more conventional computers operate on a binary system of zeroes and ones, quantum computers work on a system of qubits, which can be zeroes and ones simultaneously. As the number of qubits increases, the power of these computers rises dramatically, with each additional atom doubling the computers capacity. The new project is targeting 100 qubits, offering more computational power than even the largest available supercomputer.
Dr Pritchard received a Quantum Technologies Fellowship worth £950,000 in 2015 to support his research in the field. The proposals in his project partly arise from this research during the five-year fellowship.
The funding announcement follows the recent opening by M Squared of a quantum research facility based in Strathclyde’s Inovo building in Glasgow.
Earlier this year it was revealed that M Squared was working on solved one of the great riddles of Scotch whisky – how to stop the ‘angels’ share’ from escaping from casks during the ageing process so distillers can seal the gaps.
It has been working with William Grant & Sons – which makes brands including the Balvenie and Glenfiddich – on technology that can measure how much has leaked out.
