The investment in a new, powerful quantum computing hub in Denmark aims to provide a significant boost to biotech and medical research in the Nordics, according to the CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) and the Novo Nordisk Foundation have announced plans to invest €80 million in a Level 2 quantum computer. Named after the Norse god Magni, the computer is expected to be operational by 2026–2027.

Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, told Euractiv that the investment aims to provide a significant boost to biotech and medical research in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland.

Computer power
It is also a necessary step in generating an even more powerful computer: a level 3 quantum computer, which is expected to be ready for use by 2030 and will be a thousand times more powerful than a level 2 computer.

“Being squeezed from both the West and the East, from both the US and China, Europe is in a vulnerable position and falling behind, as the Draghi report shows. Therefore, we in Denmark would like to do our utmost to restore and strengthen our position in the Nordics.”

Also, Morten Bødskov, Danish Minister of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, stated that, “With the investment in the world’s strongest quantum computer, we are making a solid shift in the global quantum race.”

He added, “This will benefit all of Europe. We need to harness the untapped possibilities of quantum technology for Danish and European businesses, society, and security. Denmark and the EU must lead the race in developing new technologies.”

EU-US collaboration
Although primarily European, the Magne project will involve two American companies.

The California-based Atom Computing will build and deliver quantum hardware for Magne, while Microsoft will integrate its Azure cloud platform software, tailored to Atom Computing’s neutral atom technology.

TheNovo Nordisk Foundation CEO said that all data input, such as individual health journals, will be stored in Denmark and shall not migrate outside its borders.

“No data is ever leaving Denmark,” he stated.

At the same time, the next generation, the level 3 quantum computer, is planned to be fully based on European technology.

Keeping research in Europe
The investors are setting up a company called QuNorth to house the Magne computer in Copenhagen.

Magne will be used alongside AI and hybrid computing; the latter could, for example, integrate public and private clouds or systems, or digital and analogue components of different sorts.

The quantum computing hub in the Danish capital will, according to Thomsen, invite both public and private researchers to conduct advanced calculations to solve complex problems, such as those at the subatomic or molecular level, and study protein mechanisms in medical research.

“We would especially like to stimulate private and public partnerships and to keep innovation in Europe.”

At the same time, “unethical research” would probably not be allowed, but such a definition is not yet set.

Empowering the Nordics
Marie Arsenian-Henriksson, Vice President for Research at the renowned Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet (KI), told Euractiv that the new initiative creates “very favourable conditions for researchers and industrial partners in the Nordics within health and life science,” adding that:

“The QuNorth initiative consolidates and further develops the Nordic region’s position as a global leader in Quantum Life Science and helps us to translate advanced quantum technology into concrete societal benefits in the field of health.”

This is also the view of Juleen R. Zierath, an American professor at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at KI, and affiliated with a research centre at the University of Copenhagen, financed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. She is not directly involved in the Magne project.

Usually, she explained, it is very difficult for researchers to access such modern and powerful tools.

“The new quantum computing resources will be very important and open up opportunities to find new medical advances for Nordic researchers in the future. It will be a lift for the whole ecosystem of life science –natural science, tech science and medical science – in the Nordics,” she said.

Not without caveats
Even so, Juleen R. Zierath also pointed to the risk of trusting AI and quantum computing too much, as answers and solutions depend on what data a researcher puts into these systems.

“Researchers and students need to have a basic understanding of how to conduct science, and that one needs to put in the highest and most accurate level of information to get the best possible outputs.”

Magne will be 100% Danish-owned, with EIFO and the Novo Nordisk Foundation each investing approximately €40 million in the establishment of QuNorth.

QuNorth plans to build a small organisation of around 10 employees, whose primary task will be to ensure optimal utilisation of Magne across commercial and academic users in the Nordic region. The search for a CEO for the new company is set to start soon. Euractiv