Quantum News Briefs: December 1, 2023: Aquark Technologies Chosen by NATO’s $1bn DIANA Accelerator; Crypto Quantique and Blaitek Partner to create a new quantum-safe cybersecurity solution; Cisco’s SVP Roger Biscay Joins Qrypt’s Board of Advisors and MORE!
Quantum News Briefs: December 1, 2023:
Aquark Technologies Chosen by NATO’s $1bn DIANA Accelerator
NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) has announced the selection of 44 companies out of 1300 applicants for its 2023 accelerator program, which addresses global challenges such as climate change and food shortages through dual-use technologies. Among the selected is Aquark Technologies, a Southampton-based startup specializing in miniaturizing systems for quantum technologies and the only UK quantum company chosen. Aquark’s CEO, Andrei Dragomir, expressed enthusiasm for the opportunity to expand their groundbreaking technology in both defense and civil sectors. The company recently demonstrated the successful operation of a quantum sensor on a drone, showcasing the feasibility of portable, high-performance quantum sensors. Aquark will participate in the ‘undersea sensing and surveillance’ challenge, one of DIANA’s first challenges, including energy resilience and secure information sharing.
Crypto Quantique and Blaitek Partner to create a new quantum-safe cybersecurity solution
Crypto Quantique and Blaitek have partnered to develop a quantum-safe cybersecurity solution, combining Crypto’s IoT security platform QuarkLink with Blaitek’s cloud services. This collaboration aims to provide a secure network for over-the-air updates across device lifecycles. The new system employs cryptographic algorithms to guard against attacks from quantum computers, ensuring robust security in anticipation of the quantum computing era. Crypto Quantique’s integration of post-quantum cryptography into QuarkLink represents a proactive step towards maintaining security effectiveness against potential quantum-powered threats. This partnership is particularly significant as EU nations tighten cybersecurity regulations ahead of the forthcoming EU Cyber Resilience Act, which sets mandatory security standards for connected devices and imposes fines for non-compliance.
Cisco’s SVP, Corporate Treasurer and Head of Global Corporate Security, Roger Biscay, Joins Qrypt’s Board of Advisors
Qrypt, a leader in quantum-secure encryption, announced that Roger Biscay, SVP and Head of Global Corporate Security at Cisco, will join its Board of Advisors. Biscay’s extensive experience at Cisco, including over two decades, has seen him manage financial activities, risk management, and technology architecture. He was key in guiding Cisco through significant financial challenges, including the 2000 and 2008 financial crises and the 2020 global pandemic. Biscay’s strategic and financial management expertise is expected to benefit Qrypt greatly. The company, known for its breakthrough quantum-secure encryption solution developed in collaboration with top labs, aims to revolutionize data protection by eliminating traditional key transmission processes. Qrypt’s CEO, Kevin Chalker, highlighted Biscay’s combination of technology and financial market expertise as a valuable asset in their mission to make quantum encryption widely accessible.
Quantum tool opens door to uncharted phenomena
Researchers led by Peter Zoller at the University of Innsbruck and the Austrian Academy of Sciences have developed a new approach to understanding entanglement in quantum materials better. Entanglement, where particles become interconnected and cannot be described individually, is a key feature in determining the properties of materials. Using an ion trap quantum simulator with 51 particles, the team replicated real material in a controlled lab environment, with their results published in Nature. This allowed them to observe effects previously only theoretical. Their method, which involves fewer measurements to extract entanglement information, uses temperature profiles to determine the degree of entanglement. Particles that interact strongly with the environment are ‘hot,’ indicating high entanglement. This breakthrough offers a powerful tool for studying large-scale entanglement in quantum matter and can be executed with existing quantum simulators, a task too complex for classical computers.
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the Managing Editor at Inside Quantum Technology and the Science Communicator at JILA (a partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and NIST). Her writing beats include deep tech, quantum computing, and AI. Her work has been featured in Scientific American, Discover Magazine, New Scientist, Ars Technica, and more.
