Imperial Business Partners

QuantumTechnologies29 November 2017

An Imperial Business Partners Executive Insight dinner

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Keynote: Seeing the invisible and securing our information: the UK National Quantum Technology Programme

Professor Sir Peter Knight FRSEmeritus Professor of Quantum Optics,Chair of the Quantum Metrology InstituteNational Physical Laboratory & Imperial College London

Sir Peter Knight is Senior Research Investigator at Imperial College and Senior Fellow in Residence at The Royal Society’s Chicheley Hall and a past President of the Institute of Physics. He retired in 2010 as Deputy Rector (Research) at Imperial. He was knighted in 2005 for his work in optical physics and was the 2004 President of the Optical Society of America. He is Editor of Contemporary Physics, a member of the UK Quantum Technology Initiative Strategy Advisory Board, chairs the Quantum Metrology Institute at the National Physical Laboratory, was until 2010 chair of the Defence Scientific Advisory Council and remains a Government science advisor.

His research centres on quantum optics. He has won the Thomas Young Medal and the Glazebrook Medal of the Institute of Physics, the Ives Medal of the OSA and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society. He is a Trustee of the Royal Institution and Council Member at Sussex University.

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Programme of events

Registrations 16.45

Welcome & academic presentationsProfessor Neil Alford (Chair)

Dr Marc Oxborrow

Professor Ed Hinds

Professor Eric Yeatman

Professor Tom Pike

Dr Mario Berta

Professor Myungshik Kim

17.00

Keynote: Professor Sir Peter Knight FRS 19:30

Dinner 20:00

Carriages 21:30

Contact 07590 250 633Julia Zanghieri

170 Queen’s Gate, Kensington, London SW7 5HF

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Ed Hinds studies fundamental problems in physics and develops new methods for producing and manipulating cold atoms and molecules.

His work can be described under three headings: (i) Quantum manipulation of atoms and photons on atom chips; (ii) Production and applications of cold molecules; (iii) Tests of fundamental physical laws.

Professor Ed HindsProfessor of Physics

Professor Nick Jennings CB FREngVice-Provost (Research and Enterprise)

Nick is responsible for promoting, supporting and facilitating the College’s research performance and for leading on the delivery of the Research Strategy. Nick also holds a chair in Artificial Intelligence in the Departments of Computing and Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Before joining Imperial, Nick was the Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton and the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security. Professor Jennings is an internationally-recognized authority in the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cybersecurity and agent-based computing.

Academic SpeakersNeil Alford is currently Associate Provost for Academic Planning and former Vice-Dean for Research in the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London.

His current interests include energy materials, microwave dielectic materials, ferroelectric materials and functional thin films. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and in 2013, he was awarded an MBE for services to Engineering.

Dr Mario BertaLecturer (Assistant Professor) at the Department of Computing

The road to quantum computers

Mario Berta’s research area is the mathematics of quantum information theory, with a focus on quantum communication theory and quantum cryptography. He is interested in connections to mathematical physics, most importantly through the fields of matrix analysis and non-commutative optimization theory.

“In recent years there has been tremendous progress in the design and control of quantum mechanical systems, promising revolutionary applications in information processing in the very near future. In a first step we will start to see a wide variety of small quantum devices with applications ranging from the generation of true physical randomness, physically secure network communication over the quantum internet, as well as novel type of sensors with radically improved sensitivity. In a second step when quantum technologies become even more advanced this will lead to quantum simulators for studying quantum reactions and materials, followed by fully programmable quantum computers outperforming the most powerful classical computers.”

Professor Neil AlfordAssociate Provost for Academic Planning

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Professor Myungshik Kim Chair In Theoretical Quantum Information Science

Talent in a Quantum world: skills and training needs

Myungshik Kim works on quantum optics and quantum information theory. He has held posts at the Sogang University, Essex University, Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and Queen’s University Belfast. Myungshik will present his research into the macroscopic behaviour of physics using the first principles of quantum mechanics.

Marc OxborrowReader in Functional Microwave Materials and Devices

From Masers to Cosmetic Surgery and Back

Mark read physics at the University of Oxford and then earnt a PhD in theoretical physics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA. As his thesis topic, he modelled the atomic structure of metallic alloys known as quasicrystals.

After postdoctoral appointments at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen then (back) at Oxford, he worked for fourteen years at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington –mainly in areas supporting atomic frequency standards.

Now at Imperial, Mark is engaged in the development of extremely low-noise microwave amplifiers based on organic paramagnetic materials for applications in space communication and medical diagnostics.

Professor Eric YeatmanHead of Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Engineering applications

Eric M. Yeatman FREng, FIEEE has been a member of academic staff in Imperial College London since 1989, and Professor of Micro-Engineering since 2005. He was appointed Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in Sept. 2015. He has published more than 200 papers and patents on optical devices and materials, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and other topics. In 2011 he was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal, and was made a Fellow of the Academy in 2012. He is Co-Director of the college’s Digital Economy Lab. His current research interests are in energy sources for wireless devices, radio frequency and photonic MEMS, sensor networks, and 2D materials.

“Quantum technology is of great interest to young scientists and engineers around the world. Having run Imperial’s EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training for nearly a decade, I have witnessed just how enthusiastic the young people are in applying quantum mechanics to develop new technologies. In just 30 years research efforts have grown by more than a few thousand times, and we are now seeing fundamentally new technologies, made possible only through quantum mechanics, are quickly becoming a reality.”

“Quantum technologies are becoming increasingly relevant to Electrical Engineering, and Engineering more broadly, for two reasons: advances in materials and engineering techniques are enabling quantum devices to become much more practical for applications; and advances in conventional technologies such as sensors are making quantum effects increasingly important. In the former category, a good example is work on Masers (microwave lasers), where new materials and system designs are allowing a high degree of miniaturisation, leading to rugged and portable systems with a wide range of applications. Another important example is in quantum communication and computation – such systems are reaching the levels of performance where new work is needed in coding, control, and information theory to prepare for their adoption in practical applications. In the second category, as an example we have leading work in miniaturised silicon seismic sensors – here the sensitivities are now so high that the performance is mainly limited by quantum effects.”

Professor Tom PikeProfessor of Microengineering

Gravity sensing with Silicon, from Mars to Earth

Tom Pike’s research interests include the development of instruments to explore our surroundings from the molecular scale to the structure of entire planets. Current projects include the fabrication of silicon microseismometers to investigate Mars, the NetLander SEIS-SP project, and development of a chemical microscope combining Raman spectroscopy with atomic-force Microscopy, the Raman-AFM.

“We’ve been developing extremely sensitive silicon sensors to measure seismic activity on Mars. These sensors are due for launch next year, and we’re now applying this technology to gravity mapping on Earth. While the ultimate limits to performance are set by quantum effects in the sensor, we have demonstrated the sensitivity to directly measure mass motion through gravity sensing.”

Academic Speakers

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Name Job Title CompanyMain responsibilities and areas of

interest in current role

Jibran Ahmed Head of R&D Capco

Cutting edge technologies such as machine

learning, blockchain, quantum computing etc.

and potential applicability to Financial Services

David Chambers Director SET AWE

Ben Canagaretna Group Chief Actuary Barbican Insurance Actuarial & Exposure Management

Trevor CrossChief Technology

OfficerTeledyne e2v

Focusing on future technologies and external

research partnerships, and leading Teledyne-

e2v’s Quantum Technologies programme

KK Gupta MD Barclays Bank Plc

Chief Data Officer for Barclays UK – main areas

of interest are enterprise data platforms,

artificial intelligence / machine learning, digital

marketing, customer communications, risk and

finance and management and governance of

data.

Rajiv GuptaSr. Systems

Administrator

Edwardian Hotels

London

Managing Group's IT infrastructure. Interests:

Technology, AI, Machine Learning.

Partha GopalakrishnanAssociate Vice

PresidentInfosys Limited Energy, Resources and Renewables

Patrick Gill Senior NPL FellowNational Physical

LaboratoryCo-Director of NPL Quantum Metrology Institute

Nils Hempler Head Of Innovation M Squared Lasers Innovation

JT Janssen Director of ResearchNational Physical

LaboratoryQuantum

Anke Lohmann Founder Anchored In quantum technologies and photonics

Jonathan Legh-SmithHead of Partnerships &

Strategic ResearchBT

Charles Laing R&D CapcoNext generation technology used for financial

services - blockchain, machine learning and

enhanced data analytics

Mike Muskett Distinguished Advisor BP Emerging Technology

Graeme Malcolm Chief Executive Officer M Squared Lasers

Name Job Title CompanyMain responsibilities and areas of

interest in current role

Stephen Marland

Manager, emerging

technology and

innovation

National Grid Emerging technologies CleanTech Innovation

Ziad Melhem Alliances ManagerOxford Instruments

NanoScience

Collaborative R&D, Strategic Projects, Quantum

Technologies, 2D Materials, Quantum Standard

Measurements, High Magnet Technology,

Commercialisation of Superconducting and

Cryogenic applications

Derrick Nirmalan Associate Director Huawei Future computing technology

Nik PishavadiaDirector of Corporate

Engagement

Imperial College

London

Science, technology, corporate engagement,

business services

Nathan Potter Principal Engineer MBDA UK

Development and investigation of emerging

technologies, including commissioning of

research in areas of interest to MBDA strategic

goals.

Paul Stone Technology Director BP

I am a Technology Director reporting to the Chief

Digital Innovation Officer in BP. I am

responsible for Quantum Technologies and

Artificial Intelligence

Augustine Syn Senior VP ST Engineering (Europe) Business partnership and investments

Jeff Tijssen Head of FinTech Capco FinTech

Steve Tylor HeadRobo Capital

Management

Peter VincentTechnology Strategy

ManagerBAE Systems

Technology Horizon Scanning and stimulating

innovation and collaboration across our global

businesses

Peter WilliamsGroup Technology

DirectorINEOS Technology innovation

Alisdair Wallis Senior Data Scientist TescoAcademic Collaboration, Modelling and

Simulation, Data Science

Yi Yue

Counsellor Defence

Science and

Technology

Australian High

CommissionDefence Science and Technology

Ayman Yousef IT ManagerEdwardian hotels

LondonIT Management

Julia ZanghieriIBP programme

manager

Imperial College

London

Programme development and membership

stewardship

Attendee List

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Tech Foresight in Conversation:The Future of Quantum

Tech Foresight in Conversation is a new Tech Foresight series, where we ask a selected academic from Imperial College London a set of questions. These are short conversations grounding us in the present and inspiring us to imagine the probable and possible futures. This series opens the door to Imperial’s laboratories, uncovering technology futures that go beyond magazine predictions.

Quantum Technologies, Quantum Computing, Quantum Mechanics. Today, Quantum as a phrase is used liberally to talk about a coming revolution in the space of physics and engineering. But might it herald a new science fiction future? Or are we already using a type of quantum device in our pockets? And which industries may be disrupted?

Tech Foresight spoke to Professor Neil Alford, the Associate Provost for Academic Planning and former Vice-Dean for Research in the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London, to find out more and hear his perspective on the future of Quantum and to understand some of its potential promises…

Why should we care about quantum technologies?

If you are using any technology with a semiconductor, and everyone does, then you are using a quantum technology. When we talk about quantum, we tend to assume that it is confined to research labs, but it is pervasive and present in most modern technology. This abundance is merely the beginning of the future of quantum as there are extensive investments being made across the industry. For example, the UK is investing £350 million for the first phase of a quantum programme that ends in Autumn 2019. The applications of quantum stand for enormous potential, and we are still exploring what they may be. What are some general assumptions that people tend to make when they talk about quantum technologies?

It depends on who is talking and how much knowledge they have. For a practitioner, quantum mechanics is something that is essential and describes the world of the extremely small, where classical or Newtonian physics no longer apply. The biggest leap of faith for the layman is that quantum mechanics really does work and is not just mathematical weirdness. Even if the real physics behind quantum mechanics may be hard to grasp, most of us already own a quantum device. Computers and smartphones, such as iPhones, already use semiconductors that wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for quantum mechanics. When we describe the structure of a semiconductor, we use quantum mechanics. But they are not deliberately designed to take advantage of quantum mechanics, which is a big opportunity.

Notes Notes

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What are the current limitations that need to be overcome? How do you see these changing in the next 5, 10, 15 years?There is still a great deal of uncertainty around making quantum computing work. Firstly, the qubit has only been observed at extremely low cryogenic temperatures. A qubit is a quantum bit, the counterpart in quantum computing to the binary digit or bit of classical computing. Each qubit utilized could take a superposition of both 0 and 1 which means that it can do more complex calculations in a shorter amount of time.Secondly, the number of qubits observed would not be enough to run a quantum computer. The challenge here is to start observing more qubits in less extreme environments.A more explorative challenge is that we don’t yet know what we can do with quantum computing. Several universities are now working on quantum simulators. These use quantum effects to run through models of what we may be able to do if we had quantum computers. We still don’t know the full application of quantum, and there may be new and unique applications that we haven’t yet imagined.

What industries will be impacted first? What will be impacted the most drastically?ICT will be majorly impacted by quantum computing, as it will herald a step-change in cybersecurity and quantum encryption. With a secure quantum encryption, we will see a world where business becomes devoid of fraud and every transaction will be extremely secure. For businesses, this will enable us to deal with sensitive information without any potential risks.Sensors that are quantum-enabled will most likely start entering the market in the next 5-10 years. These will be so accurate that they will be able to pick up the smallest anomalies within densities or even sound waves. This could be revolutionary when needing to find out where underground infrastructure such as pipes (metallic or plastic) are located. They’ll be able to pick up tiny differences in density so will be able to locate– for example, landmines – even if there’s no metal in the landmine.

If you imagine the world in 20 years, what are some of the changes that may be heralded due to quantum technologies? How would we engage and think about the world differently?I think that in 20 years’ time we will be living in a different type of world, and quantum will have influenced a number of industries from the core and thus impacted us. For one, in the business world, we will see quantum encryption change the way we do transactions – both with our finances and information. Day-to-day business will be easier without risk of fraud. Perhaps, this might help move beyond the risk aversion structures in place in many industries.Our computers today are great, but they are restrictive in what they can do. It takes time to do complex calculations. Quantum will move beyond this and vastly improve speed and computing power. I often imagine it as the next big data revolution, but with revolutionary power that can calculate extremely complex algorithms in an exceptionally short time-frame. It will impact any sector that touches mathematics – medical, infrastructure, fluid mechanics, transport – you name it. I believe that what we think quantum can do will further evolve as smart and well-funded research groups push the boundaries of quantum. How might quantum technologies impact the way we live our lives?When the world has everyday quantum-enabled devices - that will be when things can truly change. On a basic level, these devices can be smarter and more precise versions of the devices we already have in our pockets. On a more exciting level, we can’t even imagine yet what these quantum-enabled devices could do for us. We need smart people to think how these accurate sensors and smart calculations can enable new ways to live – going beyond the narrative of a smart mirror or IoT-enabled houses.As these devices are expensive, we may first see them in hospitals. Like the tricorders Spock uses in Star Trek, quantum engineering will enable devices that by the click of a button can measure your health in minute detail. Small devices that replace MRI scans and other bulky devices, enabling hospitals to be more compact and compressed allowing medics to carry out complicated procedures in harsh and restricted environments. These devices could easily sniff out your cancer with a simple click. I would suggest that each industry starts thinking about what quantum could enable them to do. They should create their own quantum-enabled futures and imagine the possibilities of what the technology might do for them. Importantly, do they want to wait and see, or bet big as the likes of Alibaba?

If you would like to learn more about tech foresight or would like to subscribe to this series, please email us at techforesight@imperial.ac.uk

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The IBP programme combines academic excellence and business innovation to generate powerful debates and inspirational discussions. By bringing together worldclass research minds with business strategists and policy makers at the top of their game, the programme provides a unique approach to problem solving. Members can access a range of specialist services through their relationship with IBP, including professional development, mentoring and consultancy. The programme benefits any business operating within a research-driven industry and covers anything from strategic issues to the impact of science and technology on business, policy and society.

Notes

What’s next?> Systems that learn 27th February 2018> Women @ Imperial 7th March 2018> The Future of Finance 19th April 2018> Entrepreneurship at Imperial 24th April 2018

Stay In Touch:Julia Zanghieri IBP Programme Manager T: +44 (0) 20 7594 2910, M: +44(0)7590 250 633 E: j.zanghieri@imperial.ac.uk

www.imperial-business-partners.com

Members:We are constantly seeking to bring new voices to discussions and we are proud to have the below organisations as long-term collaborators and fellow provocateurs:

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