U of Sussex Signs Universal Quantum as Latest Spin-Out Company
(HPC.Wire) The University of Sussex has joined the quantum race by making Universal Quantum its latest spin-out company signing. The innovative computer tech company, spearheaded by quantum computing experts and Sussex scientists, Professor Winfried Hensinger and Dr Sebastian Weidt, is intent on building the world’s first large-scale quantum computer.
Having already attracted £3.6 million in commercial investment funding from key players in the tech industry in a hotly contested seed-funding campaign, Universal Quantum is an exciting new addition to the University spin-out portfolio and puts Sussex firmly on the quantum technology map.
This week saw the partnership – originally announced in June this year – become official as Professor Hensinger and Professor Keith Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Sussex, signed the contracts between the University and Universal Quantum, overseen by Director of Research and Enterprise, Dr Sue Baxter and Universal Quantum CEO, Dr Sebastian Weidt.
“The Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies is one of the leading academic centres for the development of practical quantum technologies with a fantastic record of industry collaboration and this new partnership will further strengthen its record of creating transformational products with the potential to change the way we live and work”
Professor Hensinger and Dr Weidt have developed a radical new approach to building a quantum computer. While some companies have created small quantum machines, Universal Quantum believes that only its technology has a realistic opportunity of being scaled up into machines large enough to unleash the huge potential of quantum computing.
Key to Universal Quantum’s appeal are some fundamental differences in its approach to building a large-scale quantum computer compared to the rest of the field. Competing approaches may require billions of laser beams for calculations, operate at extremely cold temperatures marginally above absolute zero (-273C), which can prohibit scaling up to many quantum bits (qubits), and complex engineering to connect individual quantum computing modules through optical fibre links.
