The federal government has released Australia’s first National Quantum Strategy.
The announcement backs up the National Reconstruction Fund which will provide targeted investment of $1 billion for critical technologies like quantum.
The Strategy will be the north star to help guide collaboration between research pioneers, industry partners, start-ups and the government into the future.
It identifies five priority areas: Investing in research and development and commercialisation, securing infrastructure and materials, growing a skilled workforce, supporting national interests and promoting a trusted, ethical, inclusive ecosystem.
The Strategy is based on extensive consultation across industry, researchers and the community led by Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley and with guidance from the National Quantum Advisory Committee.
If Australia gets this right, it’s estimated quantum industries could create 19,400 direct jobs, with $5.9 billion of revenue by 2045.
Quantum technology uses the study of the smallest building blocks in nature, subatomic particles, to help solve some of the biggest challenges we face such as:
- Cutting the time and cost of developing new medicines
- Helping the transition to net zero with more efficient battery storage
- Safeguarding cyber infrastructure
“I can’t emphasise this enough, quantum technologies will be truly transformative. We are already seeing how quantum sensing equipment is making a huge difference for industry. In time, quantum computing will unleash incredible computing power that can phenomenally outperform traditional computing. By pairing a National Quantum Strategy with the National Reconstruction Fund we’re aiming to turn Australia into a global technology leader, building stronger industry and creating jobs for the future,” said Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science.
You can read the full report here.
