UK quantum computing firm gets $4.5m for hydrogen project UK quantum company Phasecraft has been tapped by the US DOE to develop and apply quantum algorithms for catalyst discovery. Phasecraft, a specialist in quantum algorithms, has received a $4.5 million contract with the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to advance quantum computing approaches to simulate and discover novel catalysts for use in the energy sector. The project is aimed to reduce the current reliance on critical minerals, in particular platinum group metals such as iridium, that are used in catalysis. The initial focus is on low cost hydrogen production, with insights expected to apply across syngas production, petroleum refining, metallurgy and other industrial sectors whose economics depend on the chemistry of catalysts. To complete the project, Phasecraft will partner with Johnson Matthey, Harvard and the Boston-based quantum computing company QuEra. "Quantum computing is no longer a distant promise. It’s a working technology, and the question now is which problems it gets pointed at first,” said Ashley Montanaro, co-founder and CEO of Phasecraft. “As industry and governments work together to realise the full promise of quantum computing, we are grateful that ARPA-E has chosen Phasecraft to help solve this critical set of problems on a meaningful timescale.” Also of interest How photonics could give the UK a competitive AI advantage Iberdrola backs quantum computing in Basque Country According to a statement the approach builds on Phasecraft's published work in quantum materials simulation, where tits algorithms have achieved efficiency improvements of up to 43,000,000× over previous quantum methods. Steve Flammia, Principal Quantum Scientist and head of Phasecraft US, adds that hardware-adaptive quantum algorithms hold immense promise for priority problem sets. “Cutting the iridium requirement in industrial electrolysis would meaningfully change the economics of hydrogen fuel and a wider