Chattanooga’s quantum commercialization studio kicks off with four teams
A startup commercializing quantum encryption technology licensed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory is one of four companies selected for the inaugural cohort of CO.LAB Q.
The Company Lab (CO.LAB) announced the cohort of four founders for the new CO.LAB Q accelerator in Chattanooga. The first-of-its-kind accelerator first announced the 12-month quantum commercialization studio in August, with the first cohort beginning work in November.
Each team will follow an individualized roadmap connecting its technology to quantum infrastructure, technical experts, customers, pilot opportunities and capital.
“Quantum companies don’t fail for lack of science. They stall in the gap between a breakthrough and a paying customer,” said CO.LAB CEO Tasia Malakasis. “These four teams are working on problems that matter right here in the Tennessee Valley: securing the grid, monitoring critical assets and making quantum computing usable. Our job over the next twelve months is to put them in front of the infrastructure, partners and customers that turn that work into commercial proof.”
The cohort:
- Ridge Quantum is commercializing ORNL-licensed continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) built on telecom-oriented components. The technology targets utilities, critical infrastructure, defense and enterprise security teams. During the studio, the company will validate deployment on EPB’s fiber and quantum network and define an operational security use case.
- Superquantum is building software for fault-tolerant quantum resource estimation, optimization, orchestration and execution. Its customers include quantum hardware makers, platform providers and application developers. The company will benchmark its compiler and execution tools across hardware and build a commercial path to platform users.
- Esoteriq is developing Rune, software that estimates the cost of encoding real-world data for quantum computers and shows whether a dataset is viable for quantum execution. The company will test workload feasibility on quantum hardware using representative customer data and work to secure a design partner.
- Kottackal offers a secure sensing and intelligence platform that combines quantum and classical sensors, secure networking, data fusion and AI. It serves energy and battery operators, industrial infrastructure and defense. The company will work toward an asset-monitoring pilot with regional energy and industrial partners.
CO.LAB Q’s founding partners are EPB, Quantinuum, Davidson Technologies and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. ORNL provides access to researchers and specialized hardware. Classiq and Quantum Machines contribute quantum software design and control-system expertise.
That gives cohort companies access to quantum computing, a commercial quantum network, defense and national laboratory expertise, research talent and the full hardware and software stack. Teams will also be connected with potential customers across the Tennessee Valley Authority and the region’s energy, mobility and defense industries.
CO.LAB and ORNL signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this year to speed commercialization of lab technologies in quantum, energy and transportation.
“The latest example of Chattanooga’s thriving innovation ecosystem is CO.LAB Q’s Commercialization Studio,” said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. “By matching quantum startups with the world-class infrastructure, technical expertise and real-world opportunities to test and scale solutions, the accelerator program will help create skilled jobs and new investment in Chattanooga.”
Like what you've read?
Forward to a friend!