The Centre for Quantum Computing and Technology, established in June 2025, conducts research to apply quantum physics to develop innovative technologies. Subsumed under Quantum Technology, various innovations arose from the Second Quantum Revolution which started to emerge late in the 20th Century, based in particular on quantum properties of superposition and entanglement. Systems based on these quantum properties will provide the most important technological advances in the 21st Century.
Quantum Computing technically falls under Quantum Technology, but stands alone as a field in itself because of the unprecedented supercomputing power it promises. On the one hand, quantum computing is concerned with devices that store and process quantum information in the form of quantum bits, or qubits. An international race is on to build ever larger quantum computers, with billions of dollars being invested. On the other hand, there is software, with extensive research on use cases in areas such as health, finance, and logistics. Quantum Computing also threatens to break conventional cryptographic codes, which are based on mathematical complexity.
The two other categories of Quantum Technology are Quantum Communication and Quantum Sensing. Quantum Communication is exemplified by Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), which transmits cryptographic keys provably secure against cybercrime and unbreakable for quantum computers. Quantum Sensing involves a range of sensors that are far more sensitive and smaller than current sensors, and allow, for example, for non-invasive medical diagnostics among many applications in medicine, manufacturing and environmental monitoring.
The vision of the Centre is to be globally-competitive in its research, to provide a talent pipeline for training of local graduates, and to commercialise quantum technology with the objective to create a South African quantum computing and technology economy. We aim to attract and create a critical mass of world-class expertise, and to develop state-of-the-art laboratory and manufacturing infrastructure. This will be done in an all-Africa collaboration that aims to place Africa in the global arena of quantum technology.
Projects in the pipeline are to be a reseller for Swiss IDQ, the world leader in QKD, to assemble QKD systems in partnership with the Netherlands-based Single Quantum, and to sell and develop quantum sensing devices in partnership with the Stockholm-based Quantum Scopes. In Quantum Computing we are working on optimisation of manufacturing logistics, applications of quantum chemistry, analysis of ecological systems and pattern recognition. In addition, we aspire to be an international centre for Verification and Validation of quantum devices, and ultimately to be part of a collaboration to build Africa’s first quantum computer.
The Centre will be a forum for multidisciplinary research at UKZN, and aims to generate income to support its students and research. The Centre aspires to create a local quantum technology industry that generates wealth, jobs and strategic independence for the region, producing devices and computing capability to solve a range of economic, social and environmental problems. Creating both local expertise and manufacturing capacity in quantum technology will add to productivity, prosperity and enhanced well-being for South African society, providing and exporting improved and non-invasive medical diagnostics and treatment, creating new drugs and materials, securing communication against cybercrime, and designing more efficient logistics, transport and manufacturing, among many other benefits.