Image: Jin-Sung Kim, NVIDIA (supplied)

IBM, NVIDIA, and Microsoft are among the global technology leaders investing heavily in quantum technologies, according to speakers at the Quantum Australia Conference, as Australia and Finland also announce a new jointly-funded quantum partnership.

Run by the national centre for quantum growth, Quantum Australia, the two-day conference convened ~900 investors, policymakers, and global industry leaders across financial services, mining, health and life sciences, defence, transportation, energy, and advanced manufacturing.

They were joined by technologists, investors and entrepreneurs from Australia’s growing quantum ecosystem, which now comprises over 40 quantum-focussed companies alongside a broader pipeline of adjacent and enabling businesses, 26 dedicated research organisations, and the world’s fifth largest quantum workforce, despite Australia representing just 0.3 per cent of the global population.

Industry discussions highlighted applications where quantum technologies are closest to deployment, including quantum-safe security for government and critical infrastructure; precision sensing and timing subsurface sensing for mining and energy; and optimisation use cases in logistics, energy systems and finance, alongside emerging applications in advanced materials and healthcare.

With the capacity to unlock new levels of performance, productivity, efficiency and security, quantum technologies are emerging as a step-change complementing current AI systems, particularly for certain classes of complex optimisation, modelling, and infrastructure challenges.

This trend is already driving greater alignment between governments, research institutions, and industry, with international partnerships emerging as a key mechanism to accelerate deployment and scale.

The cross-border partnership announcement between Australia and Finland was made during Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio’s keynote, after delegations from each country met at the 2024 Quantum Australia Conference.

The collaboration will bring together the CSIRO, VTT (Finland’s national research and technology organisation), and leading Finnish universities, marking a significant step in international collaboration to accelerate quantum research, capability, and commercialisation.

It comes as major economies including the United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union are already pairing research investment with coordinated industry programs designed to accelerate deployment and capture downstream economic value.

Across these markets, early-stage quantum technologies are beginning to be tested in pilot environments to explore improvements in productivity and efficiency across critical sectors.

With national economic security increasingly linked to technological capability, capturing economic value from quantum will require translating research excellence into industrial adoption, as well as coordinating effort across research, industry and government to deliver impact at scale, according to Quantum Australia.

Petra Andrén, CEO of Quantum Australia, said: “Australia has built a globally recognised quantum capability, but the next phase will be determined by where and how these technologies are deployed at scale.

Image: Petra Andrén, CEO of Quantum Australia (supplied)

“Countries that align research, industry demand and government policy will capture the greatest share of economic value. Partnerships like this are critical to ensuring Australia remains part of the global systems where quantum is deployed, commercialised and scaled.

“To support system-level reform, Quantum Australia provides the coordination and delivery capability needed to unlock greater impact from existing investment, connecting actors across the ecosystem and translating capability into real-world outcomes.”

Minister Villie Tavio, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland said: “Finland is known for having one of the most dynamic quantum ecosystems globally, and for its pioneering work on hybrid quantum–supercomputing systems.  I’m happy to lead the delegation which includes leading Finnish research institutions, hardware manufacturers, as well as quantum and high-performance computing experts. Nations that lead in quantum development shape the markets, standards and ethical frameworks of digital infrastructure. And Finland wants to be Australia’s trusted partner in the journey.”

Katie Scott, Senior Technology Leader of Microsoft, said: “AI and quantum are not competing – they are complementary. The real breakthrough will come from combining quantum with AI and high-performance computing to unlock advances in areas like materials, energy, and complex optimisation at unprecedented scale.”

Speaking during the conference:

In a fireside chat during the conference, Dr. Cathy Foley, Australia’s 9th Chief Scientist, said:

Australia has built the base

“What we’ve seen, especially in the university sector since about 2000, is sustained investment in quantum research at the fundamental level, and that has created one of the strongest pipelines of skills and talent anywhere in the world.”

“If you look at many of the big companies globally, you will find Australians leading the way, which shows the depth of capability we have built over decades.”

Image: Dr Cathy Foley (supplied)

The opportunity is to turn research into industry

“Australia has not got a good track record in turning fantastic research into something of broader benefit, but quantum is a hidden miracle story where decades of investment have put us in a position to build an industry.”

“You don’t just get an industry. You have to want it, and what we’ve seen is the quantum community come together, back itself, and build that ecosystem from the ground up.”

“In the five years since 2020, Australia has gone from having a handful of quantum businesses to more than 50, which is something we should be incredibly proud of.”

Government and commercialisation are critical now

“That support from government, not just at the Commonwealth level but also from state governments, has been critical in turning quantum into a strategic priority for the country.”

“I’d also like to see that Quantum Australia will have a pathway for keeping on, because the role it’s played has been really important. It’s a really important part of gathering everyone together and we have to make sure that Quantum Australia is able to sign the MoUs with different countries (by becoming incorporated), because we can’t do it all ourselves.”

“We are now seeing a real shift where researchers are thinking about how to commercialise their work, and that change is transforming how science contributes to the economy.”

“Small improvements can make a massive impact in industries like financial services, because even a fraction of a percent improvement can translate into significant economic value.”