Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat virtually visits CQT

A screenshot of participants during the virtual engagement session. DPM Heng Swee Keat is pictured top left. This picture is from a post by DPM Heng on Facebook about the session.

CQT recently hosted Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat for a virtual visit. DPM Heng came to talk about quantum technologies in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF) with delegates from NRF.

NRF sets the direction of Singapore’s research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) strategies. It established the Research Centres of Excellence programme, under which CQT was established at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2007. DPM Heng is overseeing the closer integration of Singapore’s RIE and industry transformation efforts.

Posting on 22 June 2021 about the virtual engagement session on his Facebook page, DPM Heng commented, “Quantum is a key technology area under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan, which we have built up over the last two decades. Looking to the future, the National Research Foundation Singapore is working with key stakeholders to develop a National Quantum Strategy that further unlocks the potential of this technology.”

The event was hosted by CQT Director José Ignacio Latorre, NUS Provost’s Chair Professor, together with CQT Governing Board Chairman Mr Quek Gim Pew; CQT Founding Director Artur Ekert, Distinguished Professor, NUS; Professor Ho Teck Hua, Senior Deputy President and Provost, NUS; and Professor Chen Tsuhan, Deputy President (Research and Technology), NUS. They were joined by Ms Chan Lai Fung, Permanent Secretary (National Research and Development) and Chairman, A*STAR; and by NRF leadership including Professor Low Teck Seng, Chief Executive Officer; Dr Lim Khiang Wee, Executive Director, Academic Research; Ms Tan Pei Shan, Executive Director, Policy & Planning and Mr Lim Keok Tong, Director, Smart Nation and Digital Economy. Other senior officers from NRF, Ministry of Education and CQT also participated in the event.

During the visit, José Ignacio gave an introduction to CQT’s research and vision for the future. Alexander Ling, CQT Principal Investigator and Quantum Engineering Programme Director, spoke about building the Singapore quantum ecosystem and fostering national collaborations. CQT Principal Investigators Charles Lim and Manas Mukherjee presented plans for some national projects and collaborations with industry. 

The visit concluded with a virtual tour of Principal Investigator Rainer Dumke’s CQT laboratory hosted at the Nanyang Technological University, where members of his research team Rangga Perdana Budoyo, a Research Fellow, Nguyen Hoang Long, a PhD student, and Tan Yuan Zheng, Paul, a Masters student, explained some of the group’s work with superconducting circuits.

DPM Heng includes photos of the group’s lab and 10-qubit chip in his Facebook update: