Title
Anian Virtual Lab

CoPED ID
b0a7a71e-d3fa-454f-9423-e41b5aa7df14

Status
Closed


Value
£118,764

Start Date
Sept. 30, 2020

End Date
Dec. 31, 2020

Description

More Like This


The UK government has recently identified several important industries for significant investment and innovation. These industries are vital for the UK's future economic, social, and environmental prosperity. The government has also set ambitious environmental targets, including the achievement of net-zero emissions by 2050 to end the UK's contribution to global warming. One of these industries is battery technology. £246m has been allocated to the Faraday Battery Challenge, addressing research in areas such as battery materials identification, enhancement, and recycling. £153m has also been allocated to quantum technologies, including the enhancement of conventional computers with quantum computing capabilities. This is a fundamentally different approach to computing, using the properties of quantum systems to provide massive improvements in computational speed and accuracy. However, as for many industries, battery and quantum technologies have suffered disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has stalled research progress and made it harder to future-proof the batteries industry through engagement with disruptive technology like quantum computing. Our project uses quantum computing to address a long-standing bottleneck faced by researchers who develop battery materials. They find it challenging to accurately and efficiently identify and screen new battery materials. Current methods are very unreliable and involve a 'trial and error' approach. It takes several years to verify new battery materials in the lab. This is highly costly and time-consuming for a materials development company. Global annual spend on materials screening, selection, and performance testing exceeds £40bn (Boston Consulting Group 2019). We will create, develop and commercialise a quantum-enhanced battery materials screening product. It will be set up in a 'virtual lab' environment, so that researchers do not need to be physically present in a lab to conduct their research during the pandemic. We will fully integrate our product into the existing processes of two clean energy materials companies - Johnson Matthey and Merck -- to check that it works. We will therefore create an unrivalled "quantum-ready" product, "Anian VL", developed to support customer needs and providing commercial advantage in these challenging times. More broadly, our ambition is to create a game-changing product and make it available to major battery materials companies to make their research easier and quicker. This will lead to societal and economic benefits aligned to cleaner, more sustainable technology.

River Lane Research Ltd LEAD_ORG
River Lane Research Ltd PARTICIPANT_ORG
Riverlane Ltd LEAD_ORG
Riverlane Ltd PARTICIPANT_ORG

Subjects by relevance
  1. Innovations
  2. Technology
  3. Accumulators
  4. Emissions
  5. Sustainable development
  6. Batteries
  7. Industry
  8. Product development

Extracted key phrases
  1. Anian Virtual Lab
  2. Battery material screening product
  3. Major battery material company
  4. New battery material
  5. UK government
  6. Battery material identification
  7. Battery industry
  8. Battery technology
  9. Important industry
  10. Clean energy material company
  11. Quantum technology
  12. Quantum computing capability
  13. Material development company
  14. Quantum system
  15. Ambitious environmental target

Related Pages

UKRI project entry

UK Project Locations