Prestigious joint initiative will hope to lay strong foundations for creating better materials, energy systems and medical treatments.
A team led by Dr Eleanor Crane from King's Department of Physics has been awarded access to Google's next-generation Willow quantum processor as part of a prestigious joint initiative to explore novel applications for quantum computing.
The team, based at King's, will be co-led by Dr Alexander Schuckert from ENS Paris, following the pair's joint progression from semi-finalists to finalists in the highly competitive international Google XPRIZE competition.
They will study a mathematical analogy for neurons in the brain, informing how quantum computers can be used to study interacting quantum systems. In the future, they hope that this would lay a base of understanding to create better solar cells, more efficient energy grid systems, and discover drugs for previously untreatable diseases.
Launched in December 2025, the call for proposals was created through a collaboration between the National Quantum Computing Centre and Google Quantum AI to support pioneering research that could help accelerate progress toward useful quantum advantage. This is the point at which quantum computers can solve certain problems of practical relevance faster than today's most powerful classical systems.
We are over the moon at working once again with our collaborators at Google, this time on pushing the limits of where quantum computers could exceed the capabilities of classical computers. This is some of the only hardware worldwide currently which would provide such complex simulations, so we are grateful to the NQCC and Google for this opportunity."
Dr Eleanor Crane
The initiative beat proposals from a range of other UK researchers and research consortia seeking access to Google Quantum AI's Willow quantum processor, recognised for its world-leading advances in quantum error correction on a large-scale quantum computer.
The impetus for this foundational science approach to quantum computing comes from the reality that some of the world's most fundamental processes, from how plants transform sunlight into energy, how materials transport electricity quickly, or how molecules bind to each other, rely on the interactions between many particles which make up these materials.
Within these interactions at very small scales, quantum mechanical effects are at play. To solve and model these interactions to increase our understanding of how they happen is very difficult to do with classical computers or even supercomputers. Quantum computers, by relying directly on quantum mechanical effects, help avoid this problem and provide an opportunity to probe life's building blocks with greater clarity.
This initiative reflects the UK's commitment to fostering world-class quantum research and enabling researchers to access advanced quantum computing capabilities. We are excited to support King's College London in exploring innovative applications that could help shape the future of quantum computing."
Dr Michael Cuthbert, Director at the National Quantum Computing Centre
Recently, in the UK, Europe, the US, China, and elsewhere, there have been huge developments in this direction. Quantum computers have started to be built. They are quickly progressing towards useful tasks for society such as helping us build better batteries, solar cells or discover new drugs.
They will explore a mathematical analogy for neurons in the brain, for which they will collaborate with Dr Christopher Timmermann from the UCL Center for Consciousness Research. The group hope to model the quantum mechanical effects of interacting quantum systems and lay the foundation for understanding nature with quantum computers.
By laying out the building blocks required for simulating life's fundamental processes with the Google Willow processor, they hope to light the torch for future groups of scientists to make new discoveries enabled by quantum computers in materials, chemistry, biology and a number of other branches of technology. This may enable others to create a whole host of things for the public good because they'll understand the underlying mechanisms of this science with greater clarity.
King's has made a compelling research proposal, and with the NQCC's invaluable support, we're eager to offer our quantum computing resources and expertise to accelerate this work."
Charina Chou, COO of Google Quantum AI
Congratulating the King's team, Dr Michael Cuthbert, Director at the NQCC commented:
"This initiative reflects the UK's commitment to fostering world-class quantum research and enabling researchers to access advanced quantum computing capabilities. We are excited to support King's College London in exploring innovative applications that could help shape the future of quantum computing."
Charina Chou, COO of Google Quantum AI said:
"We see tremendous potential in quantum computing as a new tool to help scientists make advances across a variety of fields where classical computing hits fundamental limits. King's has made a compelling research proposal, and with the NQCC's invaluable support, we're eager to offer our quantum computing resources and expertise to accelerate this work."
