November 18, 2024 -- Quantum pioneer Diraq has won the Defence, Dual-Use Technology and Space category at the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence for its tech advancements that could see the potential of quantum computing reach a commercial reality.

The InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence were presented at a black-tie gala dinner at The Venue Alexandria in Sydney on Wednesday night.

The Sydney-based tech firm took out the gong on the back of its revolutionary technology that is able to utilise existing chip manufacturing facilities to make components for quantum computers.

The Defence, Dual-Use Technology and Space award was sponsored by Q-CTRL. The award was presented on the night by Q-CTRL founder and chief executive Professor Michael Biercuk.

Diraq is competing with some of the big tech companies in the world in the race to build the first commercial quantum computer.

Its edge lies with its innovations which combine the abilities of chip manufacturers, cloud computing companies and software algorithm providers.

This means Diraq is aiming to condense the full power of a quantum computer onto a single chip, rather than the football-sized buildings required by some of its biggest rivals.

Led by chief executive and founder Professor Andrew Dzurak, Diraq now holds 60 patents worldwide across 11 patent families, and has raised more than $203 million.

Professor Dzurak has undertaken decades of quantum research at UNSW on the use of electron spins in CMOS quantum dots.

The company is based in New South Wales and now has 36 technical and commercial staff on its team, along with 15 UNSW-based PhD students.

The award win is on top of a huge milestone for Diraq earlier this year, with the company announcing a record 99.9 percent control accuracy for qubit manufacturing, representing the highest single qubit fidelity demonstrated to date for a silicon spin qubit.

This also served to validate the technology developed by Diraq, and that it can be manufactured using existing silicon chip foundries.

The tech company also earlier this year closed a $33 million extended Series A funding round, led by Quantonation, a dedicated quantum tech VC fund. This was on top of a $30.6 million Series A round led by Allectus Capital.