Innovate UK has awarded TreQ and a consortium of partners, including Rigetti, Oxford Ionics, Q-CTRL and Qruise, £1.65m to develop an Open Architecture Quantum (OAQ) testbed.
The grant was announced last week by Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for science, innovation and technology, within a £121m investment in quantum technology.
It is part of the Quantum Missions Pilot, which aims to break down technological barriers to commercialising quantum technologies in line with the UK’s National Quantum Strategy.
Together, the consortium will create a system for integrating and evaluating both quantum software and hardware components, including processors.
“The OAQ Testbed pushes the bounds of quantum computing systems,” said Dr Joseph Rahamim, director of systems engineering at TreQ, who is leading the project.
“By integrating software and hardware built by several companies, we expand the focus beyond processors to the systems engineering required to develop the supply chain, engage more innovators, and accelerate development.”
The consortium will build a versatile system that supports eight different configurations by combining two quantum processors, two control systems and two quantum software stacks.
Subodh Kulkarni, CEO at Rigetti, added: “Open architecture systems are essential to accelerating quantum computing development.
“We’re delighted to contribute our Novera QPU to a testbed that will give companies and institutions a flexible platform to evaluate new ideas.”
TreQ will design, build, and operate the testbed in its facility in Milton Park, Oxfordshire.
The project will also deliver an open specification for low-level quantum workflows, creating a common interface between quantum software and hardware, including different processor technologies, both beginning with superconducting and Oxford Ionics’s trapped ion qubits.
This is the second award of a UK grant to TreQ this year, after the company was named as one of 28 startups backed by The Science and Technology Facilities Council in January as part of a £2m drive to bring new innovations to market faster.
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