A new wave of quantum tech startups from Singapore hopes to make a mark

What do you think about when you hear the words “quantum technology”?

Most people might think about quantum computers. The truth, however, is that computing is just one part of it.

There is also quantum sensing, quantum cryptography, quantum communication, as well as a whole host of other applications, all based on the properties of quantum mechanics.

In recent years, Singapore has been attempting to apply quantum physics to commercial uses. A number of quantum tech startups have been emerging in Singapore, and many of them have roots in the country’s Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT).

From left: Lum Chune Yang, Christian Kurtsiefer and Alexander Ling. Lum is CQT’s industry relations advisor, while Kurtsiefer and Ling are both CQT’s principal investigators. All of them are co-founders of S-Fifteen Instruments / Photo credit: CQT

Compared to other branches of physics, the community of quantum physicists worldwide is rather like a small township: it’s tiny, in relative terms. That’s especially true in Singapore, according to the researchers and founders that Tech in Asia spoke with. Most of them, at one point or another, worked at CQT.

Established in December 2007 with support from the government, CQT is a national Research Centre of Excellence (RCE) that enlists physicists, computer scientists, and engineers to do basic research on quantum physics and to build devices based on quantum phenomena.

The quantum technology startups that have recently emerged from the CQT are diverse (in addition to startups outside of the center, such as Supremacy Future Technologies:

• Atomionics is building quantum-based sensing systems for underwater and underground navigation (think GPS, but it operates where no satellite can reach).
• S-Fifteen Instruments is a startup that commercializes proprietary quantum control instruments (devices that synchronize electronic components within a quantum computer) and quantum cryptography hardware (like encryption, but based on quantum mechanics, making the device harder to hack).
• SpeQtral focuses on space-based quantum networks for the delivery of secure encryption keys, as well as securing existing communications networks with a quantum-based encryption layer.
• Horizon Quantum Computing is an early-stage startup focused on building quantum computing software development tools.
• Entropica Labs is developing quantum algorithms and software for the study of genomics: the branch of molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of our DNA.

Genomics is an uncharted territory with notoriously difficult questions to solve due to the sheer amount of variables.

“You count the number of cells in your body, and it numbers in the trillions,” explains Joaquin Keller, co-founder of Entropica Labs. “Within each cell you might have millions of different proteins. You also have trillions of bacteria in your guts and skin. Now, imagine putting all these things in a simulation. We can learn a lot, but the amount of computation you can do on a classical computer, even if it is the fastest supercomputer, is not enough. We are reaching the end of Moore’s Law.”

From left: Entropica Labs cofounders Tommaso Demarie, CEO; Ewan Munro, CTO; and Joaquin Keller / Photo credit: Entropica

According to Tommaso Demarie, Entropica Labs’ CEO and co-founder, its quantum machine learning algorithms will allow biologists to better understand how cells work and interact. This could speed up the development of precision medicine — where treatments are tailored to an individual’s unique DNA — and contribute to a faster, cheaper, and safer development of new drugs and personalized therapies.

What makes the CQT unique?

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