Good afternoon.
I would like to thank the members of the committee for the opportunity to speak with you today.
My name is Philippe St‑Jean, and I am the chief executive officer and co‑founder of Nord Quantique, a company that designs and manufactures an error-tolerant quantum computer. We come from the centre of excellence in quantum technology at the Université de Sherbrooke, the Institut quantique. It's headed by Dr. Alexandre Blais, who appeared before this committee last week.
Several of the witnesses who have presented their views to this committee have already made it clear that Canada has an interest in promoting the development of its expertise in quantum computing. I will therefore focus on the aspects that specifically concern the development of these computers within Canadian companies already engaged in this field.
As mentioned earlier, Canada can be proud of the quality of academic research in quantum computing that is taking place in our centres of excellence. The challenge now is to ensure that this expertise also translates into industrial and commercial success, and thus to establish what should be the federal government's roadmap in this direction.
Our needs can be broken down into two points.
Obviously, we need access to the necessary funds to develop this technology, especially since we are competing with ambitious programs put forward by other governments elsewhere in the world.
More importantly, our future success will depend on the support of the ecosystems surrounding the centres of excellence in quantum technology from which we are emerging. Leased access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and laboratories, the specialized equipment there, the experts who work there and their knowledge, and the young talent who develop there and grow our ranks is key to success. For us, this is the Canadian approach. This collaboration has allowed us to remain competitive despite the considerable private sector investment in our international competitors.
The crucial contribution of these centres of excellence was brilliantly described and highlighted by Dr. Laflamme at a recent conference organized by NanoCanada, Quantum Days. I invite the members of the committee to watch or rewatch this presentation.
Let's face facts about the Canadian commercial quantum sector. We all have a difficult road ahead of us. All companies developing quantum computers are facing a dry spell in which they must develop the technology without being able to sustain the effort with sufficient short-term revenues. It is therefore critical that the government act and help us, either directly as a first user of the prototype computers we are developing, or as an intermediary by facilitating its access to the early user and scientific community in Canada.
It is also important that this support be effective and agile. Unfortunately, the constraints of existing programs can sometimes create excessive delays.
The risk, for example, is that in the time between the submission of a good project, its evaluation, its approval and access to funds, the project itself may have lost relevance, as things move very fast in this sector.
The scale at which these projects are funded should be comparable to that enjoyed by our international competitors in their respective countries.
Finally, we also need to help change the mindset of Canadian private investors so that they understand that they have everything to gain by placing part of their investments into longer-term breakthrough technologies. That's how we need to think.
I'd like to end on an optimistic note. Last week, Dr. Alexandre Blais emphasized to this committee the importance of managing expectations, noting that we cannot do everything in Canada and that we must therefore focus our efforts intelligently. For us, this means that it is important to support our centres of excellence, but above all to foster the development of ecosystems around these centres, which in turn provide fertile ground for emerging Canadian companies in the quantum sector.
I want to emphasize one important point. This management of expectations does not mean that Canada is limited to a background or ancillary role in the development of the first error-tolerant commercial quantum computers. Canada is truly in this race and is in a very good position. Based on the current situation and status, we can confidently say that the first commercially viable quantum computers will emerge in two countries, Canada and the United States. For this scenario to become a reality, we must act now to support this transition from scientific research to the industrial and commercial development of this technology.