Paris, 2 November 2022 – French start-up Quandela and leading French energy company EDF have signed a partnership agreement to study the contribution of photonic computing to numerical simulations of hydroelectric dam deformation. The use of this breakthrough technology could increase the accuracy of the simulations, speed up the calculations and reduce the energy consumption of the same calculations. In the longer term, the ambition is to generalize the simulation models to other types of industrial applications and to extend photonic calculation to Machine Learning used in particular in consumption forecasting.
EDF was one of the first French industrial players to invest in quantum technologies. This was done in 2018, with a mindset of improving computing performance for energy management and supporting French and European players. It is in this context that EDF and Quandela, the European leader in photonic quantum computing, began their collaboration very early on, and this partnership marks a new stage.
Today Quandela counts many expert theoreticians, engineers, and programmers in its teams – a unique model that allows us to meet the challenges of leading industrial players such as EDF.
“This partnership enables us to apply the knowledge of our engineers to industrial issues. EDF and Quandela are perfectly complementary. We put our expertise in differential equation solving and algorithm development as well as our first full-stack photonic quantum computers at EDF’s disposal. In return, we benefit from the knowledge and expertise acquired by EDF’s R&D teams for decades” says Valérian Giesz, co-founder and CEO of Quandela.
“EDF is an innovative company. Our R&D has almost 2000 employees worldwide and was born at the same time as the company. We started investing in quantum technologies 4 years ago now. A partnership with Quandela, which we know well and whose technology is the result of 20 years of research at the CNRS, seemed obvious. EDF has been interested in simulation for 40 years: the calculations and equations developed are the result of decades of research and effort. Quandela’s know-how, complementary to ours, allows us to form a rich and solid partnership to continue to advance on these subjects” adds Stéphane Tanguy, Director of Information Systems and Technologies at EDF R&D.
About Quandela
Quandela, entreprise leader dans le domaine du calcul quantique, propose des solutions de niveau industriel. Quandela conçoit, construit et fournit des systèmes quantiques prêts à l’emploi pour les datacenters, des processeurs quantiques accessibles via le cloud, et des services d’accès aux algorithmes.
Fondée en 2017 par la professeure Pascale Senellart, directrice de recherche au Centre de nanosciences et nanotechnologies (C2N) du CNRS, Niccolo Somaschi et Valérian Giesz, experts de renommée internationale en physique quantique, Quandela emploie plus de 100 collaborateurs de 20 nationalités différentes, en majorité des chercheurs et des ingénieurs en optique, algorithmes et sciences de l’information.
Quandela s’engage à rendre l’informatique quantique accessible à tous pour relever les défis industriels et sociétaux les plus complexes.
Pour en savoir plus : www.quandela.com
GB
Quandela, a leader in quantum computing, specializes in industry-grade quantum computing solutions. Quandela designs, builds, and supplies datacenter-ready quantum computing systems, cloud-accessible quantum processors, and algorithm with industrial value.
Founded in 2017 by Professor Pascale Senellart, Research Director at the Centre for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies (C2N) at CNRS, Niccolo Somaschi and Valerian Giesz, internationally renowned experts in quantum physics, Quandela currently has over 100 employees from 20 different nationalities, mostly researchers and engineers in optical, algorithm and data science.
Quandela is committed to making advanced quantum computing accessible and beneficial for all, empowering innovators to solve the most complex industrial and societal challenges.
About EDF
A major player in the energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated energy company, active in all business lines: generation, transmission, distribution, trading, energy sales and energy services. As the world leader in low-carbon energy, the Group has developed a diversified production mix based mainly on nuclear and renewable energy (including hydro) and invests in new technologies to support the energy transition. EDF’s raison d’être is to build a CO2-neutral energy future that reconciles preservation of the planet, well-being, and development, thanks to electricity and innovative solutions and services. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to around 38.5 million customers1 , including 29.3 million in France. In 2021, it had a consolidated turnover of 84.5 billion euros.
