Our nation’s official Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies this week announced a slew of co-investments aimed at supporting the commercialization and adoption of Canadian-made quantum technologies, including those from Alberta.
Leveraging funding from Canada’s National Quantum Strategy as well as industry partners, these investments support the piloting of quantum solutions “in environments where the technologies will be ‘put to the test,'” according to a statement from the federal government.
“Quantum science is at the leading edge of research and innovation,” believes François-Philippe Champagne, who serves Canada as Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry. “Backed by an investment under the National Quantum Strategy and by industry contributions, DIGITAL, one of Canada’s Global Innovation Clusters, is working with key project partners to help translate quantum science and research into commercial innovations that generate economic benefits and support businesses’ adoption of made-in-Canada solutions.”
Nearly $5 million from Canada, as well as $7 million in partner contributions, is set to support a range of projects.
These initiatives include a collaboration between Lethbridge-based autonomous farming startup Verge Ag and D-Wave Systems, alongside the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, the University of Northern British Columbia, and Mitacs.
The organizations are working together to model and simulate complex agricultural scenarios at scale and in real-time—which could be the world’s first customer-facing, real-world product powered by quantum computing.
Another example is Toronto’s Quantum Bridge Technologies working in collaboration with Metropolitan Technologies, Thales, and the University of Toronto. These entities aim to advance a novel cryptography device for cybersecurity versus “weaponized quantum computing aimed at critical infrastructure.”
And Xanadu Quantum Technologies, Open Quantum Design, and Haiqu are also working on a project. Their goal is to enable open-source access for discovering and pioneering new uses for quantum technology, aiming to make it available to people everywhere.
“Projects like these, using quantum technologies to solve industrial and societal challenges, have the potential to transform numerous sectors and improve the lives of Canadians and of people around the world,” Champagne stated.
DIGITAL brings together businesses, academia, and government agencies to solve industry and society’s biggest challenges. The supercluster has supported the development and commercialization of 185 products and services and more than 730 intellectual property assets and patents since 2018, according to Sue Paish, who functions as CEO of DIGITAL.
“DIGITAL is advancing life sciences and sustainable natural resource industries through the development and deployment of digital technologies,” stated chief executive Paish. “We’re excited to bring together SMEs, technology leaders and customers to grow the potential of Canadian quantum commercialization with these latest investments within sectors that are key to our economic prosperity and security.”
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