the Nano and Quantum Technologies Laboratory
at Wake Forest University

Who We Are…  What We Do...  Why We Do It...

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Future Shock and Frontier Tech

 

In the last two decades our world has been witness to the emergence of multiple technologies with a disruptive potential on a planetary scale. The astonishing pace of this technological development challenges our ability to understand its impacts and its opportunities. Moreover, the pace of development continues to quicken,  These innovations are brought about by new modalities in multidisciplinary research and advanced manufacturing, and they enable exciting possibilities for mankind to live sustainably, to grow into more equitable societies and to address existential threats to survival. But they can also represent an irreparable change in the very nature of our species.

 

It is the rate at which our understanding and embrace of technology changes that defines today's creative environment and sets the stage for societal transformation. As the areas of Nanotechnology, Synthetic Intelligence (AI and machine learning), Quantum Information Sciences, Restorative and Regenerative Biotechnologies, Green-Worlds Tech, Human-Technology Interfaces, and Advanced Manufacturing, continue to accelerate in their intersection and evolution, they drive a revolution not only in what we create, but in how we create it. This revolution is even now, reshaping our world, and transforming our economies. It will establish industries and build communities that we could previously have never imagined. 

 

Importantly, our technologies are becoming inextricably linked with who we are. They are beginning to define our very individuality. This means the ethics and morals that have for so long served the human condition, will also be pressed to evolve in expected ways in our world to come. How do we live and thrive in these new societies? How do we manage our lives within the technological marvel that is thrust upon us? Knowing this, is the key to success in tomorrow’s economies. That knowledge begins with understanding the technologies themselves.

 

The If/Then World

 

If our community is to be relevant in this future world, if we are to generate the leaders of future economies and the citizens of future communities, if we are to lead in the marketplace of future ideas and future technologies, then we must be prepared to embrace a deeper engagement with the emerging frontier. Our educators, our researchers, our industries, and our government, must cease upon the opportunities of frontier tech. while remaining wary of its challenges to human welfare. 

 

A New Horizon

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Wake Forest University has developed a significant resource in user facilities, advanced scientific investigations, and cross-disciplinary impact studies into the promises and dangers of this Frontier Tech. The Nano and Quantum Technologies Laboratory, NanoteQ, was born of the need to foster within our community, a deeper awareness and understanding of this world-wide re-alignment, its technologies and its impacts. The purpose of NanoteQ is to create an ecosystem of innovation and discovery around rapidly evolving frontier technologies, bringing our campus and our region together to lead in the key technology areas of: Quantum Machines, Synthetic intelligence, Green Worlds, Restorative Biotechnologies and the Human-Machine interface. ​

 

NanoteQ is a large physical laboratory adjacent to Wake Forest University's main campus. It is designed to promote collaboration, interdisciplinary study, creating an environment in which frontier innovation thrives. At NanoteQ scientists, engineers, business experts, legal analysts and medical professionals can come together in the development of exciting new technologies, to demonstrate safe and beneficial adoption strategies, and to throw open the doors to a commercial promise unparalleled in human history. 

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