April 09, 2026 -- The Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) recently announced more than $552 million to 92 research infrastructure projects across Canada, including 11 at the University of Toronto (U of T). Two of the awarded projects at U of T advance cutting-edge quantum technologies and research.

Through its Innovation Fund, CFI supports research institutions including universities, hospitals and non-profit organizations to acquire, develop or maintain their research capacity.

One quantum-related project at U of T focuses on quantum clockworks and is led by Boris Braverman, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and a member of the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC).

Braverman says atomic clocks, the most accurate class of clocks ever developed, underpin systems like global navigation and telecommunications infrastructure.

“Atomic clocks drive the development of very precise quantum sensors,” says Braverman. “Further progress would lead to a wide spectrum of scientific advances.”

The $2.4 million in CFI funds, in addition to an investment from the Ontario Research Fund (ORF), will support building a quantum clock integrating a highly stable optical frequency comb system, which will put researchers at U of T at the forefront of the state-of-the-art in timekeeping.

A second quantum project, led by Stephen Julian and Xiang Li and supported by the CFI together with the ORF, focuses on developing an integrated facility for lattice engineering of quantum materials.

“Led by a team from the physics, chemistry and geology, the goal of this new, nearly $10 million facility is to develop a new generation of quantum materials for applications in quantum technologies and green energy,“ says Julian, who is a professor in the Department of Physics at U of T. Li is an assistant professor, cross-appointed in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, and a CQIQC member.

CFI announced an investment of $3.9 million in this large-scale project, which could unlock new possibilities in quantum computing and next-generation quantum devices.