By Meghan O’Connell, Meredith Fore
The Chicago Quantum Exchange has added three new corporate partners to its growing community: Ally Financial, Corning Incorporated, and Toshiba Corporation.
Together, the Chicago Quantum Exchange and its corporate partners advance the science and engineering that is necessary to build and scale quantum technologies and develop practical applications, such as those for quantum computing and communications.
“Innovation in quantum information science requires a strong synergy of partnerships with complementary expertise,” said David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago, senior scientist at Argonne, director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, and director of Q-NEXT, a Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Center. “The addition of new partners and their perspectives will help accelerate discovery and technological development and produce a skilled quantum workforce.”
Ally Financial is a leading digital financial-services company working to change the online banking landscape with innovative digital experiences. By partnering with the Chicago Quantum Exchange, Ally hopes to explore potential quantum technology use cases in areas such as data security, analytical modeling, and portfolio optimization.
“At Ally, we’re continuously looking for ways to innovate, with a sharp focus on our customers’ financial well-being,” said Sathish Muthukrishnan, chief information, data, and digital officer for Ally. “We’re excited to join the Chicago Quantum Exchange, and look forward to exploring quantum technology with industry partners and the research community.”
Corning Incorporated, a world leader in materials science, brings to the Chicago Quantum Exchange its decades of experience in optical communications. This includes advancing optical materials and components to make quantum devices more efficient for computing and communications.
Toshiba, a world leading cyber-physical-system technology company, is developing a global platform for quantum information technology, including Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), based on decades of scientific research on quantum physics. With QKD, two parties can communicate data securely without any risk of it being intercepted, by exchanging secret keys in the form of quantum states. Chicago Quantum Exchange collaborations may leverage Toshiba science and engineering that enables long distance, secure quantum communications, including QKD technology that transmits keys and data on a single fiber.
“Toshiba is thrilled to engage with the Chicago Quantum Exchange and their corporate partners,” said Yasushi Kawakura, vice president and general manager of Toshiba America, Inc. “As a pioneer in quantum key distribution systems, we’re looking forward to developing a test bed for a quantum network that will help usher in the future of the quantum internet.”
By partnering with companies such as Ally, Corning, and Toshiba, the Chicago Quantum Exchange furthers its commitment to growing the quantum economy and fostering collaborations between scientists and engineers that lead to cutting-edge quantum technologies and real-world applications that can transform these industries.
About the Chicago Quantum Exchange:
The Chicago Quantum Exchange is headquartered at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. It is anchored by the University of Chicago, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Northwestern University. Member institutions and corporate partners collaborate on research efforts, host joint workshops to develop new research possibilities, and provide opportunities for training the next generation of quantum scientists and engineers through internships and postdoctoral programs.
Photo Caption: Andrew Shields, head of quantum technology at Toshiba Labs in Cambridge, United Kingdom, speaks at the 2019 Chicago Quantum Summit.