Digital, AI and quantum technologies: 2025–2026 Annual Report

As the world shifts toward electric vehicles and renewable energy grids, there is a growing demand for batteries that can store significantly more power. High-capacity battery materials called lithium-excess cathodes are a promising solution, but they suffer from rapid degradation and mysterious losses of voltage. To fix these flaws, scientists need to know what is happening at the atomic level during charging cycles. Combining quantum computing with advanced materials science could be the key to creating longer-lasting, faster-charging batteries—and keeping Canada at the forefront of clean energy innovation.

In 2025–2026, NRC researchers co-led a collaboration with Toronto-based Xanadu Quantum Technologies and the University of Toronto to demonstrate how quantum algorithms can be used to simulate complex battery behaviours that are impossible to model using conventional methods.

Resonant inelastic x‑ray scattering (RIXS) is a technique that lets scientists "see" how electrons behave in materials such as battery cathodes. Shining a specialized x‑ray beam onto the material excites the electrons inside; by measuring the scattered light, researchers get access to the material's internal chemical structure. This is especially useful for studying why high-capacity batteries degrade with every charge-discharge cycle. But traditional computers struggle to capture the highly complex interactions between electrons, leading to inaccurate RIXS simulations.

"The project team's algorithm uses a quantum computer to model those interactions directly, using quantum mechanics, to make these simulations more efficient and realistic," says Yaser Abu‑Lebdeh, NRC senior research officer and co-lead on this project. "In simple terms, we have developed a way for quantum computers to give scientists a clearer, more detailed picture of what is happening inside next-generation battery materials."

Adaptability and flexibility help keep quantum practical

It is important that any quantum algorithms developed through this project are practical in the near term. Working together, the project team modified an algorithm that originally would have taken decades to run so it would take only a few weeks—a very reasonable time scale for such calculations.

Through this adaptability, we were able to demonstrate that a RIXS simulation could indeed be executed on a quantum computer with realistic resource requirements, confirming our results were not just scientifically interesting but also technically achievable in the near future.

"When we saw the simulated spectra align with experimental expectations and realized the results could be reproduced, it confirmed that quantum computing could truly transform materials research," says Abu‑Lebdeh. "When we published our findings in our article Quantum algorithm for simulating resonant inelastic X-ray scattering in battery materials, that is when it all came together, validating our efforts and opening the door to new possibilities for battery innovation."

Initiatives such as these will help achieve Canada's National Quantum Strategy mission to advance quantum computing hardware and software for the benefit of Canadian industry, governments and citizens. In the long term, this work will accelerate the design and development of safer, more efficient batteries. For people across Canada, that means cleaner transportation and more resilient energy systems. It is also strengthening Canada's innovation ecosystem, connecting specialized academic theory to industrial applications to solve some of the most pressing challenges in the transition to clean energy and fulfill a key piece of the national strategy to secure the battery supply chain.

"Canada is leading the way in using quantum computing to solve real-world energy challenges. By applying cutting-edge quantum algorithms to understand how advanced batteries work and fail, we are helping design the next generation of cleaner, longer-lasting energy storage systems—and supporting a stronger, greener economy."

While autonomous vehicles promise safer, more efficient transportation, their reliance on AI opens the door to new cyber security risks. To address those risks, we are testing how well the AI-based decision-making systems of these vehicles can withstand different kinds of cyber attacks without putting real drivers in harm's way.

Partnering with Transport Canada and the University of Waterloo, we built a virtual testing environment that mimics real-world driving conditions. In this virtual space, we evaluated how a vehicle's AI algorithms responded to threats such as data manipulation and network intrusion. Having identified the weak spots, the project team is now creating custom defence strategies to protect AI-based systems from attacks, sharing the results with Transport Canada to improve how autonomous vehicles are regulated. In the future, the virtual testing space could be used to assess the security of robotic technologies in health care and other settings.

In December 2025, the Government of Canada announced Phase 1 of the Canadian Quantum Champions Program—and the NRC will play a significant part in its delivery. The program is designed to support top quantum companies and talent developed here in Canada, which will help our country stay at the forefront of this emerging field.

In the first phase of the program, the government will invest up to $92 million in 4 Canadian companies (Anyon Systems, Nord Quantique, Photonic and Xanadu Quantum Technologies) to accelerate the development of quantum computers capable of solving real-world industrial problems. Our role is to establish the Benchmarking Quantum Platform, with our experts working closely with the funded companies to assess the performance and scalability of their technologies, which will be key to building reliable, fault-tolerant quantum computers in Canada.

New research conducted in close partnership with the University of Warwick, in the UK, and our Internet of Things: Quantum Sensors Challenge program could lead to extremely low-power chips for quantum processing, AI hardware and advanced electronic semiconductor devices. Most modern semiconductor chips are made with silicon. As electronic devices get smaller and more densely packed with transistors, silicon is reaching its physical limit in how well it can stop electrical energy from being lost as heat. In response, the project team engineered a nanometre-thin layer of germanium that, when placed on top of a silicon wafer, enables electrical charges to move with nearly zero resistance.

By combining the superior conductive properties of germanium with the benefits of silicon's well-established manufacturing processes, we open the door for chips that run faster and waste less energy as well as quantum devices that are fully compatible with existing silicon technology.

The NRC is a lead partner of the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, conducting research to support the safe development and integration of AI into society. In 2025–2026, we tackled some of the most pressing challenges in AI safety, including AI-generated misinformation. We developed new approaches for detecting deepfakes and for tracking where and how AI-generated content is made. We also worked to improve the design of AI-generated explanations so they can support safe decision making by end users rather than creating a false sense of trust.

By collaborating with AI safety institutes around the world as well as businesses and universities across the country, we are delivering the practical tools and expertise Canada needs to keep pace with the rapid evolution of AI.