Australia’s Chief Scientist Cathy Foley said the decision to invest $1 billion of taxpayer funds in PsiQuantum was made after assessments showed it was “a country mile ahead” in the global race to build a functioning quantum computer.
“It took a while to make sure I was talking to the actual experts because they didn’t realise I knew what I was talking about. “For Queensland, this is our moonshot ... our Project Apollo,” he said. “Just as project Apollo impacted space travel and all the scientific and technological advancements that came from that … so, too, quantum computing have a transformational impact on information technology.”
“The government cannot stop here, it needs to invest across the Australian quantum industry because there’s some challenging technology, and it needs to invest across different technology areas and not take the risk of putting everything on one bet,” Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and founder of Diraq, said.
Dr Horsley said Australia had a small quantum industry in global terms, and the addition of PsiQuantum would help with access to overseas talent and supplies. Quantum experts who would previously have been nervous about relocating to Australia to work for a local firm would take comfort in the fact that there were other big operators if they needed to change jobs.
His firm describes itself as keen to invest “somewhere between improbable and impossible,” and he said PsiQuantum had hit all of its targets since he came on board as an investor.Blackbird Ventures partner Michael Tolo, who has also backed PsiQuantum, first dealt with the company as an associate at Playground.
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