CQT Director conferred ST Engineering Distinguished Professorship

In a ceremony on 1 December 2022, Vincent Chong, Group President and CEO of ST Engineering (left) awarded the Distinguished Professorship to CQT Director José Ignacio Latorre (right).

CQT Director José Ignacio Latorre has been conferred a Distinguished Professorship by Singapore-based company ST Engineering. He is just one of four recipients of the inaugural awards. Announced on 1 December 2022, the awards recognise researchers “with outstanding contributions to the strategic goal of achieving impactful research translation”.

José Ignacio is recognised for his contributions in accelerating the translation of research in quantum technologies. He is Lead Principal Investigator for Singapore’s National Quantum Computing Hub (NQCH), driving efforts to build Singapore’s capabilities in quantum computing.

NQCH is one of three national platforms launched under the Quantum Engineering Programme (QEP). Its researchers develop quantum computing hardware and middleware and explore applications through industry collaborations. Quantum computing is expected to have applications ranging from cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, to quantum chemistry and finance.

ST Engineering is already participating in the National Quantum-Safe Network supported by QEP and led from CQT.

“My focus is to help build the new quantum computing paradigm,” says José Ignacio. “I hope to modestly help make Singapore more relevant in the quantum landscape. This will require concrete actions, and I'm looking forward to defining projects that bring quantum solutions to the economy.”

He is the only recipient from the National University of Singapore (NUS) where he is also Professor. The other recipients are Professor Wang Dan Wei from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) who works on robotics and autonomous systems, Professor Tony Quek from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) who works on wireless communications, and Dr Andrew Ngo from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) who works on infrared technology and advanced materials. Hear more from José Ignacio about his work in this video prepared by ST Engineering.

The four researchers are among 70 researchers working on translational projects under Research Translation @ ST Engineering, a research collaboration partnership between the company with NUS, NTU, SUTD, and A*STAR. The collaboration focuses on customer-centric product R&D with the aim to accelerate development of technologies for real-world impact.

“In the same way that ST Engineering is synonymous with strong engineering capabilities and innovation, we hope that the ST Engineering Distinguished Professor award will be synonymous with impactful research translation for industry applications. Our goal is to establish an association that will seed longer-term collaborations between the professors and our Group in catalysing the translation of research outcomes for real-world applications, as well as enriching the professors’ industry experience,” said Dr Lee Shiang Long, Group Chief Technology and Digital Officer of ST Engineering.