Invited talk at Cumberland Lodge for Kings College Physics Society
I had the pleasure of speaking at the 2019 Maxwell Society’s annual gathering at Cumberland Lodge.
The theme of the weekend was “The second quantum revolution” and featured talks from Dr. James Millen, Dr. Matty Hoban, Dr. Janet Anders, and Dr Alexander Franklin.
My talk was titled Jack of all trades: how to commercialise quantum technology
Abstract: There has been significant investment from industry and governments to bring forth quantum technologies to the commercial market. This so-called ‘second quantum revolution’ aims to exploit recent advancements in our ability to detect, manipulate and simulate quantum objects for both software and hardware applications. In this talk I will describe the commercial appetite for quantum technology and how this can potentially transform society through the discovery of new drugs, ultraprecision quantum sensing, and surpassing the best classical supercomputers. I will discuss the successes of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme including lessons that can be learnt from this £270 million government initiative. Using examples from my own experience taking an experiment from lab to outdoor field-trial, I will explain why multidisciplinary skills are crucial for commercialising quantum technology and how being a ‘jack of all trades’ has allowed me to start a quantum spin-out company.
Of course me and James brought along The Quantum Workshop, our outreach demo that uses lasers as optical tweezers to levitate objects!
And for those that don’t know - myself, James and Matty first met at Imperial College in 2006 as undergrads (James and Matty slightly older than me but met via the Alternative Music Society!).
Links to researchers:
Dr James Millen (levitated optomechanics & electro-mechanics, KCL) spoke on Why isn’t the world more weird?
Dr Matty Hoban (computer science, quantum computing, Goldsmiths Uni.) spoke on THE INVASION OF THE QUANTUM COMPUTER
Dr Janet Anders (Non-equilibrium thermodynamics, Exeter Uni) spoke on Quantum Thermodynamics and Information at the nanoscale
Dr Alexander Franklin (Physics & philosophy, KCL) spoke on The physics and philosophy of quantum collapse
