Super.tech Selected for $1.65M SBIR Phase II DOE Grant
CHICAGO, IL—Super.tech, a quantum software company, was selected to receive a $1.65M Small Business Innovation Research grant from the US Department of Energy.
The quantum computing industry is entering an exciting phase of growth and has the potential to solve problems that are currently too large or complex even for supercomputers. Super.tech accelerates that growth, providing the societal and industry benefits sooner than otherwise possible. A pragmatic, interdisciplinary team with strong academic roots, Super.tech takes a unique approach to solving the big problems facing quantum computing.
American small business plays a critical role in facilitating the transition from discovery to innovation, helping create a bridge between the scientific laboratory and the commercial marketplace. DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards strive to transform DOE-supported science and technology breakthroughs into viable products and services. The awards also support the development of specialized technologies and instruments that aid in scientific discovery.
Funded through the DOE's SBIR programs, today's selections are for Phase II research and development. Small businesses that demonstrated technical feasibility for innovations during their Phase I grants competed for funding for prototype or processes development during Phase II. In addition, prior Phase II awardees competed for second or third Phase II awards to continue prototype and process development. The median Phase II award is $1,100,000 for a period of two years. The funding for the selected projects comes from the DOE's Office of Science.
This Phase II grant comes shortly after Super.tech released their second product, SupermarQ. SupermarQ is a suite of benchmarks that measure a machine's performance on a range of applications. These applications mirror real-world problems in a variety of domains such as finance, chemistry, energy, and encryption. Their work was featured in a recent thought piece by consulting firm BCG. The paper reads, "Application benchmarks can help end users and investors evaluate the performance of an entire system and measure performance based on real-world use cases, thus providing significant value beyond merely assessing quantum advantage."
The company's first product, SuperstaQ, is a hardware-agnostic software platform that connects applications to quantum computers and delivers performance gains via optimizations that span the entire system stack, down to the analog pulses that control techniques that operate on quantum hardware.
"SuperstaQ will play a unique role in bridging the gap from quantum hardware to practical applications," said Pranav Gokhale, Co-founder and CEO of Super.tech. "By setting new records for quantum performance, SuperstaQ showcases the vital role that software will play in the path toward commercially-relevant quantum speedups."
About Super.tech
Super.tech is a Chicago-based quantum software company. Super.tech's software makes quantum computing solutions accessible without the need for quantum expertise, accelerating the commercial adoption of this burgeoning technology. The company was spun out of pioneering quantum computing research from EPiQC, an NSF Expedition in Computing at the University of Chicago. Super.tech is embedded in Argonne National Laboratory's Chain Reaction Innovations program and is also incubated by Duality, the first accelerator dedicated exclusively to supporting quantum startups, operated by the Chicago Quantum Exchange and UChicago's Polsky Center.
Provided by University of Chicago