A spinout from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) aims to commercialize a microchip that could help unleash the full potential of quantum computers.
Lismikro has developed an innovative low-power microchip to solve the hardware bottleneck and enable quantum computers to better solve the world’s biggest computational challenges.
“Our novel low-power architecture is capable of scaling the control electronics beyond today’s 100 qubits for superconducting, ion trap, and photonic quantum processors,” says Shaorui Li, researcher at Fermilab and founder of Lismikro.
Quantum has a wide range of applications, from autonomous driving to drug discovery.
“For drug discovery, people are working tirelessly with different combinations. It’s trial and error,” says Lin. “With quantum, this can be done much faster.”
Lismikro was recently awarded a $200,000 co-investment from the George Shultz Innovation Fund (GSIF) at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The start-up has also received mentorship and support from Compass, a Polsky program designed for early-stage start-ups.
“An experienced mentor helped me avoid many potential issues, and excellent coaches and directors helped us generate well-received pitch decks and connected us to VCs,” Lin says. “Without Compass, I couldn’t accelerate at this speed.”
Lismikro also participated in the Lab Innovation Fellowship program supported by the University of Chicago Joint Task Force Initiative, a program dedicated to helping Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory bring their technologies to the marketplace.
“For our first Fermilab participant of the Lab Innovation Fellowship, we needed to identify an exemplary entrepreneurially minded individual,” says Mauricio Suarez, deputy head of technology development and industry engagement at Fermilab. “We are delighted to have chosen Dr. Shaorui Li for this task.”
Source: Polsky
