Who will be the first nation to build the Quantum computer? A race has exploded on the international stage as countries clamour to crack the solution to the super-computer.
The Australian Research Council Special Research Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, based in Sydney, has received AU$9 million funding from the federal government to help research and develop the project.
"The Government is investing serious amounts of money because the benefits are so enormous we can't afford not to be involved," the Centre's Director, Professor Robert Clark said.
"Australia is at the forefront of this technology."
The Australian Government has invested AU$9 million into the Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, and a further AU$3 million will be injected over a nine year period.
According to Professor Clark, a race has exploded internationally to be the first nation to build the quantum computer, which will potentially be billions of times faster than the conventional computer.
According to Clark, quantum computing is the solution to unleashing unprecedented computer power in which the applications would be enormous.
"People are already talking about the quantum Internet," he said.
It is expected to solve the difficult problems associated with massive amounts of data and the limitations of existing technologies.
"Today's technologies are likely to be obsolete in a few years and it is critical the Commonwealth Government supports the research into next generation technology-setting the template for the communications of the future," The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston said in a statement.
The University of NSW, the University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne are all contributing to the project, which involves a team of 80 researchers.
The Centre also has formal links with Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.
"They have complimentary technology there and provide the link to the United States Silicon Valley industry and the Government," Clark said.
According to Clark, the centre is conducting research into a concept of how a quantum computer might be theoretically constructed.
We've already had some major breakthroughs in moving towards constructing the building blocks."
"We will be coming up with a blue print - to be scaled up by industry - to large Quantum computers in the future," he said.
"It's just at the R&D stage now, with the investment by nations it will
emerge into the real world in the same way PCs have," Clark said.
