• Over 30 years strategic support for quantum
• Over 13 world leading quantum research programs
• Over 6,000 quantum-related publications over last 10 years
• Track record of producing global quantum leaders

Quantum technology is rapidly becoming one the most important and transformative technologies developed in our lifetime. While the science that underpins quantum is complex, it can be found in many common applications that we use or depend upon to enrich our lives every day. For example, the technology found in our mobile phones and medical imaging machines (MRIs) have their origins in the laws of quantum theory.

Queensland is at the forefront of quantum and advanced technology research in Australia and has a long history of investing in the future of our brightest minds. Today, Queensland researchers can be found in quantum related fields right across the world and in all disciplines. These range from fundamental quantum physics research to applied science and innovation that is impacting how we go about many aspects of our lives.

New developments in quantum science have brought with them more potential applications, some of which are challenging what is currently possible using conventional technology. As such, quantum and the advanced technologies that underpin it are attracting considerable global interest.

The Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technologies Strategy (PDF, 2.9MB) , developed in partnership with Queensland universities, builds on Queensland’s strengths in quantum research and advanced technology development.

Quantum Innovation Queensland (QIQ)

Quantum Innovation Queensland (QIQ) is the collaborative vehicle for developing the Queensland quantum ecosystem by providing advice to government on the implementation of the Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technology Strategy.

World leading quantum collaborative research programs

Queensland is at the centre of Australia’s quantum industry. Our universities host the headquarters of two of the four national, quantum-related Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence and have a significant presence in the other two.

Queensland has industry-facing advanced fabrication and materials capabilities across five universities, including those at the Queensland node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility, which is essential to turn quantum-related intellectual property into engineered products.

Queensland also has significant strengths in the development and fabrication of compound semiconductors, superconductors, and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS).

Headquartered in Queensland, EQUS – the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems, has 10 of its chief investigators in Queensland. EQUS specialises in quantum error correction, quantum computing architectures, characterising and modelling noise in quantum computing systems, quantum machine learning, integrated optics, e-beam lithography cryogenics (including dilution refrigerators), design and fabrications of superconducting devices, quantum optics, quantum sensing, and device packaging and testing.

The ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology (QUBIC), led by The University of Queensland, is developing paradigm-shifting quantum technologies to observe biological processes. With six Queensland chief investigators and over 30 partnering research and industry organisations, the centre's research programs are focused on quantum-enabled neural imaging, quantum effects in biology, single protein dynamics and control and the development of multi-modal quantum microscopes to transform our understanding of how large-scale cellular behaviours emerge from the nanoscale dynamics of molecular machines.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) has research nodes at Griffith University and The University of Queensland and three chief investigators. CQC2T undertakes research in quantum cryptography, scalable photonic quantum computing, quantum memories and quantum communications.

Queensland also has one chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET), which brings together physicists, electrical engineers, chemists, and material scientists across seven Australian universities to develop ultra-low energy electronics to reduce energy use in information technology.

Track record of producing global quantum leaders

Queensland produces global quantum leaders:

• Professor Gerard Milburn made the first proposal for a quantum gate in 1989 and is widely considered the founder of optical quantum computing
• Professor Andrew White demonstrated the first entangling quantum-logic gate in 2003
• Professor Howard Wiseman is one of the founders of quantum control
• Industry founders and leaders of quantum computing at Xanadu, PsiQuantum and IBM.

Network of research institutions and infrastructure – Team Queensland

Queensland is renowned for its strong collaborative culture supported by cutting-edge infrastructure.

Accessible, state-of-the-art scientific infrastructure is a vital component of modern innovation ecosystems. It empowers academic and industry researchers, facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration, and accelerates the translation of discoveries into new businesses and jobs.

Queensland’s universities work together under the Queensland Major Research Infrastructure Alliance that ensures that the state’s major scientific facilities function as a shared resource.

The shared quantum-related facilities include those at:

• Queensland Micro- and Nano Technology Centre
• Centre for Materials Science
• Applied Superconductivity Laboratory
• Centre for Organic Photonics and Electronics
• Nodes of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at Griffith University and The University of Queensland
• Central Analytic Research Facility
• Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
• Institute for Advanced Engineering and Space Sciences

Support for quantum and advanced technologies in Queensland

30+ years of cutting-edge quantum research in Queensland

Over the past 30 years, Queensland has steadily built a reputation for being at the global frontier in science and advanced technologies in areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and synthetic biology. Now, quantum technologies are emerging from Queensland laboratories, with potential to deliver transformative benefits across a wide range of domains.

Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technologies Strategy

The $76 million Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technologies Strategy (PDF, 2.9MB) , launched in 2023, will harness Queensland’s expertise in quantum technologies for accelerated economic growth and transformative solutions to some of our most pressing challenges. It builds on Queensland’s strengths and focuses on supporting those elements of the quantum industry ecosystem that support the translation of quantum science and advanced technologies out of the laboratory and into applications that benefit our community in the real world.

The strategy has five key pillars to further develop Queensland’s deep science capability, research commercialisation, quantum workforce development, engagement and missions, and investment.

The programs of the Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technologies Strategy include:

• the Queensland Quantum Foundry to support a quantum and advanced technologies incubator to foster science-led startup company development and scale-up
• the Quantum Bioinnovator to translate quantum biotechnologies into biomedical and bioeconomy applications
• the Commercialisation Infrastructure Program for co-investment alongside the Australian Government, universities and industry in testing and fabrication infrastructure to support prototyping and small batch production of quantum and advanced technology devices
• an Innovation PhD program to attract and retain talented prospective scientist-founders, with an emphasis on supporting women and other under-represented groups
• the Quantum Olympics Challenge to showcase Queensland quantum technologies during the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games
• the Quantum and Advanced Technologies Co-investment Program to co-invest in relevant science and translation initiatives alongside the Australian Government and other funders.

The Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technologies Strategy complements the broad national effort underway to build Australia’s sovereign capability in quantum technologies. The National Quantum Strategy (2023–2030) provides a framework and long-term vision for Australia to realise the opportunities represented by quantum technologies.

Talent pipeline for quantum and advanced technology

Queensland has established pathways for training the researchers and quantum leaders of the future.

The talent pipeline starts in our schools and can lead to a multitude of options for a rewarding career in Queensland quantum. Technicians, researchers, and industrialists all play pivotal roles in the development and advancement of quantum and advanced technologies. Queensland has a strong supply of quantum and advanced technologies training from school physics and engineering subjects to TAFE programs for technicians, and undergraduate to post-doctoral level in almost all fields of quantum-related technology.

Many of Queensland’s universities offer under- and post-graduate training in quantum related disciplines including quantum physics, lasers and photonics, micro-fabrication and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), power systems and engineering and semiconductors such as the courses at Queensland University of Technology, University of Queensland, Griffith University and the University of Southern Queensland.

From their earliest years students in Queensland engage with STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) under the strategy for STEM in Queensland state schools and teachers access resources via the STEM Hub.