QuantumCore, a new startup spun out of research at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo, is accelerating its push toward commercialization with $10.7 million in dilutive and non-dilutive funding and a public listing after launching just more than six months ago.
The company was founded by IQC faculty Dr. Christopher Wilson, Chief Technology Officer and Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Eugene Profis, CEO.
It is developing an amplifier that boosts read-out signals produced by a superconducting quantum chip at near absolute zero temperatures and gets the signal into room temperature. This could solve one of the many hard engineering challenges in quantum computing.
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Five IQC faculty have received more than $1.8 million in funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance Quantum grants program.
The funding goes to a wide variety of quantum sensing and quantum computing simulation projects.
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IQC at the University of Waterloo joins the global quantum community to celebrate World Quantum Day!
IQC is a world leader in the second quantum revolution. Founded in 2002, as part of a broad vision of Mike Lazaridis and his wife, Ophelia, it was one of the earliest global centres of quantum information research and technology. Since then, Waterloo has emerged as Canada’s full-stack quantum ecosystem, anchored by IQC.
Waterloo’s Quantum Valley thrives because of its close-knit community of partnerships, including collaborations between IQC and Perimeter Institute.
#worldquantumday
Congratulations to IQC PhD student Alex Maierean on receiving the 2026 Women in Defence and Security Scholarship and Canadian Global Affairs Institute Fellowship.
The scholarship recognizes outstanding women who are pursuing careers related to Canada’s defence and security.
Alex shared her thoughts with IQC about the significance of the award. Read via news link in bio!
The Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo welcomes the National Research Council Canada (NRC) investment of more than $161 million over five years to advance Canada’s leadership in quantum technology for defence and security applications.
The funding is part of the federal government’s $900 million commitment for defence innovation announced this week in Ottawa.
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Ever wondered how we sense the unseen in space or deep underwater?
Phantom Photonics has developed remote sensing technology for industries operating in extreme environments like underwater or in space.
Co-founded by Alex Maierean, PhD student at the Institute of Quantum Computing, her Velocity startup is developing ultra-sensitive quantum sensors that can filter out background noise and detect the faintest signals, even down to a single photon — the smallest unit of light.
Full story at the link in bio. 🔗
The Quantum Co-laboratory linking specialized research infrastructure and unique expertise across the country has entered a second five-year term and now includes the University of Calgary Institute for Quantum Science and Technology (IQST), alongside IQC, Institut quantique - Université de Sherbrooke and UBC Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (Blusson QMI).
The initiative provides users from academia, industry, and government with access to world-leading expertise and advanced infrastructure required for quantum innovation, while serving as a national platform to develop the workforce needed to translate quantum capabilities into economic value for Canada.
IQC welcomes back Dr. John Watrous as the institute’s Director of Education and Training — a new role that is set to expand the institute’s academic strength and educational reach.
Watrous was IQC Faculty and Professor in University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics from 2006 to 2021 and made significant contributions to quantum information and quantum computation, particularly for his foundational work on quantum interactive proof systems research.
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A new paper from researchers at Transformative Quantum Technologies (TQT) is set to further pave the way for 2D quantum materials to be switched fully electrically, without the need for additional magnetic fields, accelerating towards fully electrical spintronics.
The research was led by IQC Faculty Dr. Guo-Xing Miao, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
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Temperatures across Canada are expected to plunge this weekend due to a polar vortex weather system.
While frigid, the forecasted low of close to −30 °C in the Waterloo Region is balmy compared to temperatures some IQC researchers at the @uofwaterloo use in their work:
▫️ Superconducting materials in quantum computing and other experiments are fabricated and designed to run in a dilution refrigerator around 0.01 Kelvin, less than a degree above absolute zero (-273°C). That is twenty-four thousand times colder than we’re expecting this weekend and one hundred times colder than the depths of outer space.
▫️To understand how quantum particles interact they are cooled way down with lasers and studied at ultra-cold temperatures another one-hundred thousand times colder, as low as 100 nanoKelvin.
Stay warm and learn more about superconducting in quantum computing research!
Happy New Year from IQC!
Human curiosity drives innovation—and quantum research is opening new frontiers. IQC researchers are harnessing the power of quantum systems to tackle challenges beyond classical limits: from secure communications to advanced sensors and next-generation materials.
Together, we’re shaping the future of technology and discovery.
To mark 100 years since the development of quantum mechanics and celebrate Waterloo’s quantum ecosystem, IQC and Perimeter Institute co-hosted The Year of Quantum Across Canada: From Fundamental Science to Applications earlier this year, bringing researchers together to explore how foundational research drives new technologies.
