Technology Trending – Metaverse VC funding, quantum computing opportunities and benefits
Daesung’s launch of a metaverse fund in Korea, new quantum computing use cases under investigation and a quantum developed energy efficient window coating are in the week’s technology radar.
Daesung to fund the metaverse
Korean energy and industrial giant Daesung through its venture capital arm Daesung Private Equity is planning to invest in the metaverse with a 110 billion won ($83.5 million) fund.
The ‘Metaverse Scale-up Fund’ as it is named, which also will have the participation of the Korean state via the Korea Venture Investment Corporation and is said to be the country’s largest private fund in the sector, is intended to put investments into Web 3 technology, including distributed ledgers, digital twins, artificial intelligence and extended reality (XR – a combination of virtual and augmented reality).
“Metaverse is already considered to be an industry-wide game changer rather than being simply a newly emerging field,” Daesung Group chairman Younghoon David Kim has been quoted as saying.
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“Through this fund, Daesung Group will hold a strategic leadership position in the growth of the metaverse.”
Quantum computing opportunities for the energy sector …
Quantum computing is being used increasingly in the energy sector for a range of applications with its ability to undertake complex computations more rapidly or beyond the ability of traditional techniques.
The latest company to investigate its use is Uniper, which is partnering with Terra Quantum to explore a range of real world use cases including liquefied natural gas (LNG) scheduling and forecasting and the optimisation of biomass plant processes through improved CO2 emission predictions.
In the case of the LNG logistics, the companies aim to tackle the complex optimisation problems that could enable an enhancement in delivery capacity at lower costs.
In the biomass plant use case, a hybrid quantum machine learning model is being applied to Uniper’s operation platform, which already utilises artificial intelligence for plant process optimisation based on analysis of plant data and sensor measurements to predict the CO2 emissions and peaks.
A third use case being considered is to use quantum enhanced Monte Carlo simulations – a mathematical technique to determine probable outcomes – to improve the valuation of options and complex derivatives for Uniper’s energy trading division.
… and a quantum computing real world benefit
In a real world outcome University of Notre Dame engineers have utilised quantum computing combined with machine learning to develop a transparent window coating that blocks heat and saves energy.
The coating is made up of multiple ultra-thin layers of materials that must be assembled in a precise configuration. By constructing a computational model of the coating, the researchers were able to test each possible configuration of layers in a fraction of a second to identify the optimum combination and order of materials.
Guided by these results, they fabricated the new coating by layering silica, alumina and titanium oxide on a glass base, topping it off with the same polymer used to make contact lenses. The result was a 1.2μm-thick coating that is said to outperform all other heat-reducing glass coatings on the market with a reduction of electricity cooling costs of up to one-third in hot climates compared to conventional glass windows.
“I think the quantum computing strategy is as important as the material itself. Using this approach, we were able to find the best-in-class material, design a radiative cooler and experimentally prove its cooling effect,” said Tengfei Luo, Professor of Energy Studies at the University of Notre Dame, who led the work.
With cooling accounting for around 15% of global energy consumption, coated windows are set to become more and more widely used as the drive for energy efficiency accelerates.
