Meet Canada's Innovator of the Year

The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) announced today that Dr. Geordie Rose, founder and Chief Technology Officer of D-Wave Systems Inc. will be receiving the inaugural CIX Innovator of the Year Award for 2011.

With this award, CIX recognizes an individual Canadian who has demonstrated the most compelling technology or business innovation within the sectors of ICT and digital media. Nominations are put forth by the CIX Advisory Board members and are considered and evaluated by the CIX Co-Chairs.

“Dr. Geordie Rose has created truly incredible technology as the inventor of the world’s first functional quantum computer – this is a rare example of a breakthrough that will literally change the way we perceive computing going forward” said Rick Nathan, CIX Co-Chair and Managing Director of Kensington Capital Partners, “After more than 10 years of research and development, 2011 was the break-out year for the Company.”

The development of a quantum computer processor has been a longstanding goal of physicists and computer scientists who, until recently, focused primarily on academic research. This transformative technology is comparable in scope to the shift from vacuum tubes to transistors to silicon chips, with vastly more processing power and the ability to solve complex problems that are simply not possible through today’s advanced supercomputers based on conventional processors. Applications currently under development include machine learning, protein folding, image recognition, and search as well as powerful analytics for “big data” sectors like energy usage, consumer behavior or stock market trading.

The CIX Innovator of the Year Award will be presented to Dr. Rose at the Canadian Innovation Exchange on December 1, at the MaRS Centre in Toronto.