Arqit and NEOM enter an MoU to build & trial ‘Cognitive City’ quantum security system

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between Arqit Quantum Inc. and NEOM Tech and Digital Company to develop and test the ‘Cognitive City’ quantum security system.

Arqit Founder and Chairman, David Williams, said: “For the world to progress, people and businesses across all parts of the economy must be able to make costless, instant transfers, and seamless transactions, as well as have instantaneous access to all their information, and control who uses it and when.

“However, technology cannot be trusted until the cyber security threats of today and tomorrow are fully addressed. That’s what Arqit has achieved with our new distributed ledger technology (DLT), Quantum Blockchain, designed to deliver financial payments and smart contracts in a way that is sustainable, energy-efficient and can manage instantaneous transactions at close to zero cost.

“NEOM is without doubt leading the world in the development of cognitive communities, and therefore the perfect launch partner for this technology”

Mansoor Hanif, Executive Director of Emerging Technologies for NEOM’s Technology and Digital Company, said: “At NEOM, we strive to accelerate human progress every single day and we are excited to trial the world’s first quantum secure cognitive city system.

“While blockchain-based technologies are making rapid progress around the world, many solutions have a negative impact on the climate and are not ready for a quantum future. It is essential that NEOM’s infrastructure is both quantum safe and energy efficient.”

In this trial, the two organisations will work together to develop new software capable of safeguarding cognitive cities from cyber-attacks from the most advanced computers that will be available in the coming years.

The quantum system will be designed and tested in NEOM, the cognitive city – a city built from the ground up with AI woven into its fabric that analyses the city’s use and tries to improve people’ lives on a continuous basis.

Following a successful trial at NEOM in the first half of 2022, the technology might be exported to other cognitive cities throughout the world, offering billions of people with a highly secure way to authenticate, identify, and secure all types of gadgets while fully safeguarding their privacy.

When compared to non-quantum secure encryption, processing cycles are lowered by an estimated 99 percent using Arqit’s technology. The blockchain-based method also saves a lot of electricity.

British Telecom, Sumitomo Corporation, the UK Government, the US Government, Northrop Grumman, and Honeywell are just a few of Arqit’s clients.