A University of the Witwatersrand- (Wits-) led consortium has been awarded R54-million in funding by the Department of Science and Innovation to set up a national quantum technologies initiative. This funding will be disbursed between now and March 2025 and is intended to be a first tranche of funding for the project, designated the South African Quantum Technologies Initiative (SA QuTI).

The other universities involved in SA QuTI are the University of Zululand, Stellenbosch University, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Quantum nodes will be established at each of these, as well as at Wits. In due course, further such nodes will also be created. Wits will manage SA QuTI and administer and distribute the assigned funds.

“We managed to convince the government that quantum research is too important to leave to a small research group, and that they should invest in a national programme,” said Wits School of Physics professor and initiative proposal writer Andrew Forbes. “It means we can drive the technology and get many quantum nodes up to scratch.”

Quantum technologies are an emerging field of science and engineering which seek to exploit the peculiar nature of quantum mechanics, which explains the behaviour of subatomic particles. Quantum computers can handle problems that are too complex for even the most powerful digital electronics (‘classical’) supercomputers. (Complex problems are those involving lots of variables with complicated interactions between them.)

“Quantum algorithms take a new approach to these sorts of complex problems – creating multidimensional spaces where the patterns linking individual data points emerge,” explained US group IBM, one of the leaders in quantum computing, on its website. “Classical computers cannot create these computational spaces, so they cannot find these patterns.”

SA QuTI will be focused on quantum technology, and not on quantum science. It will further be focused on writing quantum software and not on developing quantum hardware. There will be a special focus on obtaining access to quantum computers, on human capital development, on the development of emerging leaders and on advocacy for quantum technologies. The initiative will also support the deployment, through startup entities, of quantum sensing and metrology, and quantum communications.

“The aim is to develop people who can do something with the science, so that we can be part of the quantum revolution and develop a quantum economy,” explained Forbes. “It is important to see this not as a physics initiative. We want to involve people with different skill sets, wherever they are so that we can build a vibrant quantum community and a viable quantum industry.”