The Israel Innovation Authority announced on Sunday that it has selected Tel Aviv-based Quantum Machines to establish the Israeli Quantum Computing Center, in a three-year project that will cost 100 million shekels ($29 million) to complete.
The center will be a first-of-its-kind hub for developing three distinct quantum technologies, with all three efforts managed and coordinated by the center’s management, the IAA said in a statement.
The center represents a “substantial leap” for Israeli civilian technology, said Israeli Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen.
“The strategic support provided by the Israel Innovation Authority along with additional actions taken by my office, the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, including collaborations with the United States in this field, will enable us to advance Israel’s industry and secure its technological leadership,” said Farkash-Hacohen.
IAA chairman Ami Appelbaum stated, “The goal of this program is to establish Israel’s capabilities in a future infrastructure technology, and support the development of both the Israeli industry and academia via quantum computing.”
According to Appelbaum, the center “will enable Israeli industry and academia to access research and development infrastructure that will advance existing technological innovation in the industry by leaps and bounds.”
The new facility “is the answer to an existing strategic market failure, and is part of the authority’s policy of enabling the industry to maintain its leading position at the forefront of breakthrough and disruptive technologies,” he said.
The center will provide access—for the first time worldwide—to research and development on all hardware and software layers for three distinct quantum processing methods (superconducting qubits, cold ions and optic computers), according to the IAA statement.
The center will put a full-stack quantum computer at the disposal of Israeli academia and industry for direct computations, and will provide a cloud access option in the future, the statement said.
