Quantum Future | Part I: Australia at the forefront

“Commercialising of quantum computing will necessarily require an environment where you must work together with other companies, not only to innovate, but to have all the control systems, error correction as well as the hardware all working together to provide a working quantum computer.” — Dr Simone Shu-Yen Lee

Foundations of quantum computing

As the massive impacts of AI innovation continue to remain on everybody’s lips, an innovation with even greater potential quietly develops, fuelled by startups across the globe with Australia leading the charge – the quantum computer. But what exactly is quantum computing, and what makes its potential so powerful?

“All quantum computers are based on the idea or principle of a qubit,” says Mitchell Stott, a Patent Attorney at Griffith Hack. “Unlike a classic bit found in computing, which is either a 0 or a 1, a qubit can exist in a superposition of both 0 and 1 at the same time. Different quantum computing approaches vary in how they implement and control that qubit.”

Put simply, this superposition allows quantum computers to perform calculation that a classical computer cannot, potentially enabling them to process billions or trillions of variables simultaneously, digesting enormously complex requests efficiently, and massively speeding up scientific modelling.

Though their potential is very exciting, quantum computing remains at a highly foundational stage. Some areas of fascination for researchers in the space include determining the right materials on which to build qubits, and how to improve the conditions in which they work to pave the way for scalability.

“The race is on to find the platform technology on which quantum computing is going to be scalable and usable at room temperature in the future,” says Dr Simone Shu-Yen Lee, a Principal and Patent Attorney at Griffith Hack. “Silicon is only one of a myriad of materials that have been suggested for use in quantum computers. We’re seeing a variety of technologies and techniques reflected in recently filed patent applications providing a variety of different platforms and materials in which you can try and make a quantum computer. and multiple methods to make it error free, fast and hopefully scalable.”

Though a popular example, backed by much existing research, silicon is not free from challenges.

“Developing a basic qubit using silicon is done by implementing or doping a phosphorous atom into a silicon substrate and then isolating that as the qubit. This is quite a good approach as all classic computing is built upon silicon as a substrate, so a lot of the fabrication techniques that already exist for computing are in place, offering a good platform for growth,” says Mitchell.

“A lot of those approaches for developing the qubit require near 0 Kelvin temperatures, which is typically achieved using helium to drive that cooling – this poses a problem for the approaches to isolating a qubit that require these temperatures, as helium is not renewable, and therefore the available helium is depleting and will eventually run out. Furthermore, the current temperatures required are not achievable for the hope of one day scaling quantum computers down to the level for personal application,” he adds.

It’s clear that the development of this technology is far from public use. The existing quantum computers are large, clunky and require intense cooling techniques, and their use is limited to researchers and computer scientists, who are across the specific algorithms required for their use. “Noise” (interference that makes qubits unreliable) is another common challenge in the development of qubits.

“Right now, when qubits are measured, noise makes it difficult to accurately determine their state,” says Mitchell. “Although a qubit is meant to be a combination of 0 and 1, that noise makes precise measurement challenging. Because of this, multiple noisy physical qubits can be coupled together to provide a single fault-tolerant logical qubit. That’s what allows researchers to produce usable results,.”

Protecting innovation in its foundation

As mentioned, quantum computing is currently in its infancy – so how are innovators protecting these critical ideas? Both the development and monitoring of qubits is a start.

“A lot of the patent applications that we’re seeing now are really for establishing how to make a qubit. They’re foundational and focused on the different ways you can approach building these parts efficiently,” says Lee.

“To protect foundational technologies, innovators must use patents and trade secrets in a very deliberate and strategic way – what we may discover is that the patent application might just be the tip of an iceberg of what their real technology is. They may wish to keep some of that technology in-house or within their own commercial network. They are likely using trade secrets to protect the algorithmic work, or their plans to scale.”
Dr Simone Shu-Yen Lee

Protecting qubits alone can require a highly strategic approach.

“When using multiple qubits together, the current approach is to build modules made up of these qubits and then link the modules together. Each module might contain a small number of logical qubits. These modules are cooled separately and then connected so they can communicate with each other, allowing the system to scale into something genuinely usable. In this context, patents would be focused on both developing the qubit itself and then trying to scaleup modules of qubits to interact with each other and trying to control the qubits,” Mitchell states.

“Patent protection in the field of quantum computing is an interesting challenge, as there’s no actual commercially viable product yet – and there might not be for another 20 years (though we hope it’s closer to 10). At this stage it’s about considering how to protect different aspects of it, as innovators can’t make money off it yet,” he concludes.

The scale of these different aspects is massive. Lee uses the development of aeroplanes as a prudent comparison.

“There are a lot of highly specialised parts that go into an aeroplane. Some companies only make the alloy of a part, which is then sent elsewhere to be machined, and to another place to be put together. Hundreds and thousands of parts are used in building a plane – and nowhere as specialised a technology as a potential quantum computer,” she states.

“Commercialising of quantum computing will necessarily require an environment where you must work together with other companies, not only to innovate, but to have all the control systems, error correction as well as the hardware all working together to provide a working quantum computer. It will be important to have your intellectual property in order if you want to collaborate with other companies or have leverage in a commercial situation. It is an essential step in cementing these deals.”

Australia’s significant role

Many nations are realising the potential of quantum computing as it continues to evolve, with startups emerging in the UK, the US and beyond. They are looking to Australia for guidance.

“Australia has had amazing tertiary education and knowledge in this research space – I have the PhD that I have because of the investment the Australian government has placed in funding and research into quantum optics across many universities for the last few decades. For a country of only 28 million, it’s an amazing achievement to see over 20 incredible quantum technology startups” says Lee.

“Australia’s government has made the biggest investment of any government globally into quantum computing, and there have been a lot of grants along the way,” says Mitchell.

The Australia government’s investments in quantum computing have included:

$18.4 million to create Quantum Australia, an organisation created in 2024 to drive the growth of Australia’s quantum ecosystem by delivering programs that support the National Quantum Strategy.
$15 million towards Australian startup, Silicon Quantum Computing
$470 million in equity and loans in US (Australian co-founded) startup PsiQuantum to deliver and deliver a quantum computer in Brisbane.

“We have also seen a lot of investment from privacy industry – a promising sign of how big this industry will be,” Lee adds.

CSIRO has predicted that the commercialisation of quantum technologies coming out of Australia could create an industry worth nearly $6 billion by 2045. With such high potential to shape critical industries, and high financial prospects, it’s no wonder innovators are investing in the protection of quantum ideas.