Into Innovation Award: Winner of innovation prize develops unique quantum chip for the secure communication and quantum computers of the future

A new world-leading quantum chip with major commercial potential – and his ability to turn research into business – has earned Professor Peter Lodahl the newly established Into Innovation Award.

Secure communication networks of the future. New digital solutions for everything from energy consumption to drug development. The ability to bridge research and business. Added together, all these elements have earned Professor Peter Lodahl from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen the new innovation prize, the Into Innovation Award, worth DKK 2.2 million.

Peter Lodahl has dedicated his career to some of the most fundamental questions in quantum physics: How can light and matter learn to communicate – and can that communication be used to create a new generation of technologies? The answer came after decades of ground-breaking research. Lodahl developed the world’s most precise single-photon source, a microscopic chip-based system capable of emitting photons one at a time with extreme precision. The technology is key to building quantum computers and secure communication networks that can safely transfer information.

In 2016 Lodahl took the step from research to business and founded Sparrow Quantum, where he is now Chief Quantum Officer. There, he translated his research into a concrete product: The leading single-photon chip on the market.

With the Into Innovation Award, Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund honours a researcher or an innovator employed at a Danish institution or a group of Danish collaborators who have either founded start-ups or scale-ups themselves or helped others get started.

Read more about the Into Innovation Award

Christina Egelund, Minister for Higher Education and Science, says:

-With his quantum chip, Peter Lodahl opens up boundless opportunities for getting computers to solve problems we would never be able to solve today. This is not merely an upgrade of our classical computer – it is world-class innovation. In Lodahl’s own words, it is a computer on steroids. At the same time, Peter Lodahl has translated his research into a company built on openness and partnership. This is exactly the kind of innovative mind Europe needs in the global technological race. I therefore look forward to presenting Peter Lodahl with the Into Innovation Award.

The winner, Professor Peter Lodahl, says:

-It is a great honour to receive such a prestigious prize. It is also a direct recognition of the many fantastic, talented, ambitious, and at the same time collaborative and kind young researchers who over the past 20 years at both the Niels Bohr Institute and Sparrow Quantum have delved so deeply into this advanced technology. Their work means that we are today among the absolute world elite.

Chair of Innovation Fund Denmark Anders Eldrup says:

-Peter Lodahl has delivered a remarkable scientific discovery within quantum physics, a field of research of crucial importance for the development of future technologies. At the same time, he has played a central role in translating the discovery into a growth company with global reach. This is exactly the combination of scientific breakthrough and the courage to create real change that Denmark and Europe need. Warm congratulations to Peter Lodahl on the well-deserved prize.

Facts about the winner

  • Peter Lodahl is Professor and Deputy Centre Leader at the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Hybrid Quantum Networks (Hy-Q), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, and Head of Solid-Q, a Novo Nordisk Foundation Challenge Programme.
  • Founded Sparrow Quantum in 2016, where he is now Chief Quantum Officer.

Facts about the Into Innovation Award

  • The Into Innovation Award honours a researcher, innovator or group of collaborators who have either helped found knowledge-based start-ups or scale-ups themselves or played a significant role in helping others establish start-ups based on research.
  • The prize is awarded to researchers or innovators employed at Danish knowledge institutions such as universities, university hospitals, sector research institutions, university colleges, business academies, art academies and maritime educational institutions or GTS institutes. It may also be awarded to candidates who have fully committed themselves to their start-ups and work full-time in the company, or to groups of collaborators from knowledge institutions, start-ups or other sector.
  • In 2025 the prize consists of an honorary award of DKK 200,000 and an amount of DKK 2 million which may be used for research and innovation activities within the recipients’ field or within new start-ups/scale-ups.
  • Innovation Fund Denmark has contributed DKK 1 million to the prize.
  • Nominations for the Into Innovation Award are assessed by the board of Innovation Fund Denmark, which subsequently recommends the best candidates to the Minister for Higher Education and Science.

The Into Innovation Award will be presented on 15 December at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.

For further information:

Press enquiries may be directed to the press office of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science: +45 7231 8181 or presse@ufm.dk.