English

Français (French)

MEMBERSHIP

JOIN

Events

News and Ideas

Our Supporters

About CIFAR

CIFAR hosts prominent Chinese scientists at QIS meeting

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Lindsay Jolivet

Andrew Yao, the Dean of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghau University, attended the Waterloo meeting.
Laura Matthews

Researchers attend a session of the meeting. Laura Matthews

The meeting was held in the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, a state-of-the-art research facility. Scott McManus/IQC

Vito Logiudice, Director of Operations for the quantum nanofabrication facilities at the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, gives a tour of the clean room facility, which contains as few as 100 particles per cubic foot in some areas. Scott McManus/IQC

CIFAR and the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo hosted a delegation of prominent scientists from China for a four-day meeting to exchange ideas in quantum information science. The meeting was two years in the making and built on the linkages that CIFAR researchers have been steadily making with Chinese counterparts.

The researchers, representing five countries and three continents, discussed fundamental aspects of quantum information theory, experiments, devices and cryptography. The meeting was held in the new Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, a state-of-the-art facility which has achieved rigorous standards—including controls for vibration, temperature, humidity, and electromagnetic radiation – that enable exacting experimental research.

CIFAR Program Director and Executive Director of IQC Raymond Laflamme believes that global collaborations are vital to the development of the field, which he emphasizes is still relatively new.

“Countries the world over are recognizing the enormous potential this field has to impact society, which would be on a scale analogous to the technology revolution of the ‘60s and ‘70s,” says Laflamme. “And it will be the countries that invest early in scientific development which will stand to reap the greatest benefits.”

In January of 2014, China announced five national innovation centres, including a centre in the fields of quantum information and technology.

The Chinese delegates at the Waterloo meeting came from three institutes: the Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghau University, Beijing, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) located in Hefei, Anhui, and the National Laboratory of Beijing Computational Science Research Centre (CSRC). CSRC is a state-operated facility, while the two universities are part of the C-9 group, the leading research-intensive universities of China.

A senior member of the delegation was Andrew Yao, the Dean of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghau University. Yao is an acclaimed computer scientist, winner of the A.M. Turing Award in 2000 – considered the Nobel in theoretical computer science —for his work on complexity theory, which has been fundamental for the advancement of the science of cryptography. In his opening remarks at the CIFAR meeting, Yao explained that his mission at Tsinghau University was to build a world class capacity from the ground up, and critical to that was attracting top talent to the Institute.

According to Laflamme there are many indicators quantum information science is now a global endeavour, including the many connections now established between Canada and China. Two faculty at Tsinghau University have previous ties to Canada: Xiongfeng Ma completed his PhD under CIFAR Associate Fellow Hoi-Kwong Lo (University of Toronto) and Giulio Chiribella held a previous appointment at the Perimeter Institute and IQC. Xianhua Peng from USTC has just begun a one-year sabbatical at IQC. CIFAR Senior Fellow Barry Sanders (University of Calgary) is the QianRen Chair Professor at USTC . IQC now has a formal graduate student exchange agreement with Tsinghau. Laflamme explains that the connections have been developing quickly over the past five years.

According to Senior VP Research Pekka Sinervo, CIFAR also expects to see even more links and collaborations established with scientists in China. He currently contributes to the China-Canada Joint Committee for Cooperation in Science & Technology led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, which facilitated the travel of a number of the guests from China.

China has been garnering world attention with its rapid ascent as a research powerhouse. According to a new OECD report, China is on track to be the world’s top R&D spender by around 2019. Along with Korea, China is currently the primary destinations of scientific authors leaving the United States, and from 1996-2011 has experienced a net “brain gain”.

“There are many talented researchers in China eager to collaborate with top researchers here in Canada,” says Sinervo. “Collaboration is a win-win proposition for all.”

– Laura Matthews

inShare0

This entry was posted in Focus. Bookmark the permalink.

« Return to CIFAR News and Ideas

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

SUBSCRIBE

Receive News & Ideas in your mailbox every month

Current Issue

Issue No. 18, December 2014

Past Issues

Issue No. 17, November 2014

Issue No. 16, October 2014

Issue No. 15, September 2014

Issue No. 14, June 2014

Issue No. 13, May 2014

Issue No. 12, April 2014

Issue No. 11, March 2014

Issue No. 10, February 2014

Issue No. 9, December 2013

Issue No. 8, November 2013

Issue No. 7, June 2013

Issue No. 6, May 2013

Issue No. 5, April 2013

Issue No. 4, March 2013

Issue No. 3, February 2013

Issue No. 2, December 2012

Issue No. 1, November 2012

Newsletter Sections

CIFAR Advances

News

President’s Message

Focus

Comment

Ideas

Twitter @CIFAR_News

@CIFAR_News

Probing the mystery of dying scallops and oysters by @sinoceros with CIFAR Senior Fellow @Virosphere2012 http://t.co/SnWOOfNABz

@CIFAR_News

RT @Margin_Notes: Important to remember: high-quality governance essential to citizens' happiness, well-being, study finds http://t.co/16rv…

@CIFAR_News

#Quantum Information Science has huge potential and countries that invest early will benefit: CIFAR senior fellow http://t.co/2nKRzv2ssn

View All Tweets