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Imperial visits San Francisco to showcase quantum and deep tech expertise
Senior leaders from Imperial College London have travelled to the US to highlight the university’s expertise in quantum research and deep tech entrepreneurship for San Francisco Tech Week.
As a world-leader in deep tech, Imperial is home to researchers working at the cutting-edge of quantum technology which could lead to major advances for secure communications systems, ultra-sensitive sensors and computing.
The trip to San Francisco provided an opportunity to showcase how Imperial is using quantum technology to discover practical solutions to real world challenges, and building partnerships across academia, industry, tech, philanthropy and government in the UK, US and beyond.
San Francisco Tech Week is a city-wide technology festival which provides a space for independently hosted events, attracting an audience of global entrepreneurs, startups, industry leaders, tech commentators and investors from around the world.
Imperial hosted and participated in a range of events and activity during the week, including:
- An alumni and startup roundtable on Imperial Innovation in the Bay Area.
- An in-conversation event with PsiQuantum and tour of their facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- A panel on London’s AI and deep tech ecosystem, featuring Imperial’s Vice-President (Strategic Engagement and Communications) Amanda Wolthuizen.
- Engagement with some of the Bay Area’s biggest tech companies and US national labs and academic partners.
- Convening tech and industry leaders, Imperial Global USA board members and venture capitalists at the GBx Gala.
- A five-day programme of activity for a cohort of Imperial startup founders.
The trip was led by Imperial Global USA – Imperial’s science and tech hub in San Francisco which acts as a platform for partnerships and connections between innovation ecosystems in the UK and US.
Vice President (Strategic Engagement and Communications) Amanda Wolthuizen speaking on a panel for London’s AI and deep tech ecosystem
The quantum frontier
While quantum computing is moving at increasing speed from theoretical promise to industrial reality, experts still do not know which approach will lead to the first scalable and commercially viable machine.
“Quantum technologies will reshape a great deal about how we live and work, and Imperial has the people, the facilities and the partnerships to help lead that change.”Professor Peter HaynesProvost of Imperial College London
For San Francisco Tech Week, Professor Terry Rudolph, from Imperial’s Department of Physics, Co-Founder and Chief Architect of the technology company PsiQuantum, joined Imperial’s Provost Professor Peter Haynes for an event on the potential applications of quantum computing and how deep tech research can create high-value startups and spinouts.
PsiQuantum is one of the few companies working to build a large-scale, error-corrected quantum computer using photons of light.
Professor Peter Haynes said: “Quantum technologies will reshape a great deal about how we live and work, and Imperial has the people, the facilities and the partnerships to help lead that change.
“Through QuEST, our Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology, we are working right across that span. From discovery science at the frontier, to quantum navigation that can deliver precise positioning, to the expertise government now draws on directly.
“The same community doing the fundamental physics is building the applications and helping shape the policy, and that combination is what makes Imperial unique.”
Professor Terry Rudolph giving a presentation on PsiQuantum in San Francisco
The event also highlighted the importance of the new Centre for AI-Driven Innovation (CADI) – a partnership between Imperial and the World Economic Forum, supported by UK’s Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, which will work to accelerate the adoption and diffusion of high-impact AI across critical sectors.
Through CADI, Imperial aims to connect cutting-edge AI innovators with the partners and resources needed to make sure their ideas have the greatest possible impact, with an initial focus on life sciences, robotics in advanced manufacturing, and clean energy.
Professor Peter Haynes visiting PsiQuantum’s facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area
Supporting future tech leaders
Alongside its world-changing research, Imperial also plays a role in preparing future leaders for industry and innovation and nurturing entrepreneurship in its staff and student community.
As part of San Francisco Tech Week, founders from five startups developed in the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem travelled to the US to build international connections and tap into new channels of investment.
The startups for the San Francisco Venture Trek, led by Imperial Enterprise Lab and Imperial Global USA, were selected for their work in deep tech – a category of innovation rooted in substantial scientific discovery or complex engineering.
The centrepiece of the Venture Trek trip was a roundtable event called From Research to Real-World Impact: Imperial Innovation in the Bay Area, hosted by Professor Haynes, which explored the practical realities and opportunities presented by launching or expanding a company in the Bay Area.
The startup founders from Imperial taking part in the Venture Trek to San Francisco
The startups were joined by Imperial alumni who have established successful companies in the Bay Area, alongside Imperial research and innovation partners and representatives from across the San Francisco UK tech community, including London & Partners, for awide-ranging conversation covering technical aspects of entrepreneurship, such as legal structures for international expansion, and cultural differences between US and UK investors.
The founders were also encouraged to define clearly what return on investment will look like from their startups and how this will be achieved, and reminded to be bold with setting out what they need from funders, rather than only responding to investor expectations.
The five startups travelling to the US were:
- Brilliant Dyes – a sustainable dye technology using microalgae which offers a sustainable alternative to conventional textile colourants, represented by co-founder & CEO Redwan Rahaman.
- Cardiovolt.ai – a system to teach artificial intelligence to read electrocardiograms (ECGs), providing a tool for identifying cardiovascular risk earlier, represented by co-founders Boroumand Zeidaabadi and Libor Pastika.
- Embed Biotech – a bioelectronics company which is developing smart implants to enhance bone healing after orthopaedic surgery, represented by founder & CEO Tom Hall.
- EvoTouch – an interactive soft-robotic simulator which offers realistic touch, diverse virtual patients and sensor-driven feedback for clinical education, represented by co-founder Elyse Marshall.
- Sealeo – a seaweed-based alternative to single-use packaging for temperature-sensitive medicines like vaccines and insulin, represented by co-founder Diana Epel.
Imperial and GBx
Through Imperial Global USA, Imperial is a member of GBx – a network that brings together British founders, technology executives and investors based in, or expanding to, the Bay Area.
Founded in 2016, GBx exists to support British entrepreneurs in the region, giving new UK founders a network to plug into as they establish themselves in the US, and provides a forum on emerging tech issues that can inform UK Government policy thinking.
As part of San Francisco Tech Week, Imperial Global USA Chair Wendy Tan White co‑hosted Imperial tables at the GBx Gala, alongside Imperial leadership, to celebrate UK‑US tech partnerships.
At the Gala’s Best in British Tech Awards, the technology company Starcloud, co-founded by Imperial alum Dr Ezra Feilden, won the Trailblazer Award in the growth‑stage category. Dr Feilden completed both his MSc in Materials Science & Engineering and his PhD in Materials Engineering at Imperial.
Starcloud is building data centres in space to address the energy bottleneck facing AI. The company has launched the first Nvidia H100 GPU into space and trained the first AI model in orbit, and became the fastest ever Y Combinator company to reach unicorn status, doing so in just 17 months. It recently raised $250m at a $2.3bn valuation, with backing from Benchmark and Nvidia.
Imperial Global USA Chair Wendy Tan White
More on Imperial Global USA
Earlier this week, Imperial Global USA announced that two new Academic Co-Directors have been appointed to help steer the strategy and evolution of the hub.
Dr James Kinross, from the Department of Surgery and Cancer, and Professor Karen Polizzi, from the Department of Chemical Engineering, will use their expertise to support the hub’s work on enhancing Imperial’s research partnerships with US academic and industrial partners.
Read an introduction blog from Dr James Kinross here and Professor Karen Polizzi here.
To find more information on the hub’s work,visit Imperial’s websiteandfollow Imperial Global USA’s activity on LinkedIn.
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Conrad Duncan
Administration/Non-faculty departments
- Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6860
- Email: c.duncan@imperial.ac.uk
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