Ed Husic demands universities reveal Google partnership terms – The Australian Financial Review

The government needs to be funding that kind of research and Im determined to develop a sovereign quantum computing capability here, Mr Husic said.

We dont want this to be like solar technology, where we were pioneers until it went offshore and we lost much of the environmental and economic benefits.

Google Australia confirmed the intellectual property would remain in Australia.

The universities we are working with retain ownership of any intellectual property they create, a Google spokeswoman said.

This funding stems from the commitment Google made last year to support Australias digital future and that is what these collaborations seek to achieve.

Mr Husic has confirmed he plans to direct part of the $1 billion tech investment fund he pledged during the election campaign towards Australias nascent quantum computing industry.

The tech fund is part of the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), a body modelled on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which will invest in tech and innovative manufacturing to help drive a post-pandemic economic recovery.

It is an off-budget measure providing investment support through loans, equity investments and loan guarantees for businesses in critical technologies; taking minority shareholder positions in relevant companies, rather than having majority ownership.

The Australian government should be the main investment partner for these frontier technologies, Mr Husic said.

Rather than partnering with overseas firms, we hope to be a part of the profound economic upside offered by quantum computing and Australias growing capacity to develop it.

Googles collaboration with the universities will underpin its long-term goal to develop bigger, more sophisticated quantum algorithms that can be used in applications such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, making quantum computing useful to the companys core business of selling ads.

Australian universities are building a global reputation as developers of quantum computing.

Earlier this year, Silicon Quantum Computing, which was spun out of the University of NSW in 2017 and is hoping to bank $130 million to continue its development of a quantum computer by 2030.

Internationally, quantum computing is part of the trilateral AUKUS partnership between Australia, the US and Britain which has established working groups to hasten the development of quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and undersea capabilities.

Seventeen trilateral working groups have begun work under the AUKUS banner, with nine focused on conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines, and eight relating to other advanced military capabilities.

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Ed Husic demands universities reveal Google partnership terms - The Australian Financial Review