We have great news to share with you all, the Australian Government’s Australia Economic Accelerator (AEA) grants for Innovate projects have been announced and The Australian National University was one of the worthy recipients. The grant will enable capabilities for Quantum Free-Space Adaptive Optics: Enabling quantum communication over turbulent channels. 

Kate Ferguson, ANU Institute for Space | InSpace Associate Director of Strategic Projects and Associate Professor Francis Bennet spoke about how they were both looking forward to working on this project, "We're excited to be partnering with QuintessenceLabs (QLabs) through this program to achieve quantum secure communications over a free-space optical channel. As part of this project, we’re establishing a 10 km free-space testbed between Mt Stromlo and the The Australian National University campus to prove the performance of the QLabs qOptica quantum key distribution system in this environment, raising the TRL of the combined system and providing infrastructure to continue quantum communication capability development."

More than $93 million in grants have been awarded for projects that are part of a broader push to fast-track commercialisation of Australian research in critical areas like renewables, agriculture, medical technology, defence and critical minerals.

https://www.aea.gov.au/news/australian-government-backs-bold-ideas-solve-real-world-challenges