Oxford spinouts enter a new era
Finding new drugs and making them more effective; medicine is one area where quantum computing could benefit us all.
According to Ilana Wisby, founding CEO of Oxford Quantum Circuits: “The power of quantum computing will enable us to transform the modern laboratory through massively enhanced material modelling and discovery, providing tremendous impact and innovation in enabling drug discovery.”
Oxfordshire has a world-leading portfolio of quantum companies pushing the boundaries, with the ability to unearth seemingly impossible discoveries, developments and approaches.
Quantum is a game changer because it can solve problems that are beyond classical computing, which stores information as binary states within individual bits. Quantum computers have a fundamentally different approach to storing and processing data, utilising quantum phenomena superposition, entanglement and interference, stored within quantum bits (Qubits) to manipulate information.
A good (and very Oxford!) analogy of the power of quantum is to imagine searching for a hidden golden ticket within the University of Oxford’s famous and extensive Bodleian Library: a classical computer would look through each book in turn, whereas an advanced quantum computer could simply open every book at once. There are 13 million printed items in the Bodleian Library.
In medicine and drug discovery, quantum has the potential to speed up the creation of new drugs and make them available when and where they are needed the most. It will help scientists explore new therapeutical frontiers, prepare for new global health challenges, and make medicine more efficient and effective. According to the World Economic Forum’s National Quantum Blueprint, its promise, coupled with AI, could “unlock a transformative journey to better healthcare, society and humanity.”
Surrounded by a unique and supportive ecosystem – which includes the £93 million UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) at Harwell Campus – Oxfordshire is one of the world’s largest centres for quantum science. Harwell’s Quantum Cluster, with its key facilities such as RAL Space, STFC Cryogenics and the Central Laser Facility, is making the campus the UK’s top location for cultivating quantum-related enterprises. The combination of facilities can help overcome the challenges to scaling quantum computers, such as their requirement of having extremely low temperatures to keep individual qubits stable.
Oxfordshire-based companies at the forefront of quantum technology globally include:
- Oxford Quantum Circuits, whose quantum computer is the only one of its kind commercially available in the UK. The company, led by Ilana Wisby, is enabling breakthroughs in areas including predictive medicine. It aims to have ten machines in 10 countries within 10 years.
- Oxford Ionics, which has developed high-performance qubits composed of individual atoms is supplying a quantum computer to the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre in Harwell, Oxfordshire, with the aim of developing new applications.
- Quantum Motion, spun out of Oxford’s Department of Materials is developing scalable architecture to move the field beyond the current quantum computers.
- PQShield, spun out of Oxford’s Mathematical Institute by Dr Ali El Kaafarani, uses sophisticated maths to develop secure, world-leading ‘post-quantum’ cryptosystems. The team has the largest assembly of post-quantum crypto specialists in the world.
- Orca Computing, spun out of research developed at the University of Oxford in 2019, is working to make quantum computing a practical reality by developing scalable quantum architecture using photonics – the manipulation of light – as its basis, an approach that has truly transformative potential.
To build practical quantum computers, scientists will – a big challenge to scaling up. QuantrolOx’s AI software automates the ‘tuning’ process to help millions of physical qubits work in constant harmony, allowing quicker feedback and better performance.
With exciting companies such as these working at the forefront of a new technology, the potential here is huge – especially when coupled with Oxfordshire’s status as a global leader in life sciences. The region is one of Europe’s most successful life sciences clusters, with a track record in establishing and attracting world-leading life sciences businesses.