Four companies will be in the first cohort of a yearlong program The Company Lab says will draw cutting-edge quantum computing teams to Chattanooga to develop commercial uses for the emerging technology.
The program was launched in August, and the CO.LAB Q cohort starts this week, CO.LAB said in a news release.
Here are the companies selected and what they plan to do, according to CO.LAB:
- RidgeQuantum is developing communications-security technology licensed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It uses quantum technology to share encryption keys that help protect information sent over networks. It plans to test deployment on EPB’s fiber and quantum network and identify a security application. Potential customers include utilities, defense organizations and businesses handling sensitive information.
- Superquantum is building software that helps quantum hardware makers, platform providers and developers plan and run tasks on future error-corrected quantum computers, including figuring out how much computing capacity a task would require. It plans to compare its tools’ performance across quantum hardware and work on getting them to customers.
- esoteriq is developing software called Rune that estimates the resources needed to prepare real-world data for quantum computing — and whether using a quantum computer is feasible for that dataset. It plans to test the software with representative customer data and find a partner to help develop and test the product.
- Kottackal is developing a system that combines quantum and conventional sensors, secure networking, and AI to monitor equipment or infrastructure. It plans to work toward a pilot project with regional energy and industrial partners.
(READ MORE: EPB recruits Novonix’s Robert Long as president overseeing quantum)
Quantum computing holds promise for a wide range of commercial, security and medical advancements, such as route optimization for trucking companies, fraud detection in finance and development of pharmaceuticals, Chattanooga utility EPB said during an October Quantum in Business conference in Chattanooga.