Lockheed Martin Canada has entered into a partnership with Université de Sherbrooke’s Institut Quantique (IQ) to become the newest member of its IBM Quantum Network.
This partnership also includes a $1.3 million investment from Lockheed Martin. The investment will support new research and applications in the field of quantum computing with IQ and the Université de Sherbrooke.
“Lockheed Martin’s growing team of quantum scientists and engineers are eager to participate in the IBM Quantum Hub and extend our collaboration with researchers at the Université de Sherbrooke,” said Kristen Pudenz, Lockheed Martin’s corporate lead for quantum. “This agreement will be an asset to our development of industrial quantum computing applications.”
Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company. It has been active in the quantum space for a few years, working with a number of post-secondary institutions. It was also an early customer of Canadian quantum company D-Wave.
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The company will work with IQ’s scientific director, professor Alexandre Blais, and his research team “to explore the potential offered by quantum algorithms.”
The IQ is a research institute at the Université de Sherbrooke with more than 250 members working to help the transition from science to quantum technologies, particularly in quantum computing, materials and engineering. In June 2020, it became the first and only organization in Canada to join the IBM Q Network as an IBM Q Hub.
The IBM quantum network is a global network of companies, academic institutions, startups and research labs that work with IBM to advance quantum computing. There are 17 global hubs that are part of the network.
Even outside of its IBM hub status, the Université de Sherbrooke has been working for several years to develop an ecosystem that combines quantum science, quantum materials manufacturing and scale up efforts.
This is not the first time the Université de Sherbrooke and Lockheed Martin have worked together. Lockheed Martin collaborated with the Université de Sherbrooke in quantum information by sponsoring research contracts between 2012 to 2015.