To mark World Quantum Day on 14 April, the Infinity team took part in a special all-day event at the University of Twente.
Considering our focus on quantum startups, we decided to do something a little bit different and hold a lightning-fast startup creation workshop!
Splitting the attendees into three teams, we gave each a problem that can be solved with quantum technology. They then had just 20 minutes to work on a product and business, and a pitch to sell their idea to a panel of judges.
Given the tiny timescale, the teams did brilliantly, with three really good pitches to our panel of judges:
- QuiX Quantum’s Devin Smith
- QDNL’s Richard van Harderwijk
- Infinity's own Iain Thompson
The winning team called themselves Q Synth, and we asked some of the team members from the day to share more about what they came up with.
Anastasia de Vries, Account Manager High Tech and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, had a quick clear ‘micropitch’ for the ‘startup’: it wanted to “enable personalised, quick, and precise diagnostics through quantum tech”.
Mark Zijlstra, senior scientist at TNO, also part of the Q Syth team, shared a more salesy description that would make for great website copy if this was a real startup..
“At Q-synth, we are transforming the landscape of personalized medicine with our state-of-the-art digital simulations of cell biology. Utilising advanced multiscale physics models and the groundbreaking capabilities of quantum computing, we provide pharmaceutical companies with precise, high-fidelity simulations that expedite drug discovery and development.”
Going a bit deeper, here’s how one Q Synth team member–Dr. Daniel Stadler, CEO of EIN Quantum NRW–describes it..
“Q Synth was offering a cloud based, quantum backed tool for rapid molecular design for pharmaceutical applications. By implementing quantum simulation into the AI workstream, Q Synth increases the revenue of its’ clients through a 30% speed up in the design phase. Hence, the company offers unfair advantage during the most critical bottle neck: the process of drug design and allows clients to be first to reach clinical trials and approval. Since we offer the service as a licensed QaaS software-tool, no hardware investments are needed, you simply register and start earning money.”
…all very impressive for 20 minutes!
Of course, a real startup concept would require MUCH more work to formulate properly, but as one piece of feedback we got from the session put it, the session was “a really good example on why practical training is so important, especially in the early stage of business formation. Pitching your idea to people that are not involved in your own bubble, helps to identify weaknesses of your product idea and allow you to form a better view on the actual business case.”
Thanks to everyone who took part.