The founders of BlackBerry, Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, are planning to go boldly where no one has gone before. Boldly, and with $100 million. Lazaridis, who who is leaving Blackberry's board on May 1st, is putting his effort and money into developing a new “Quantum Valley” in Waterloo, Ontario.

The company Quantum Valley Investments plans to give birth to a new industry that gives practical applications to quantum mechanics. They're hoping to build the world's first (undisputed) quantum computer. If fully realized, a quantum computer could perform more calculations in one second than there are atoms in the universe. As opposed to the processors in your smartphone or laptop, which speak in a narrow binary 'on' or 'off' language, a quantum byte (qbit) can be on and off at the same time. The mind boggles.

Mr. Lazaridis has said that the initial projects would be sensor technology, actuators, and new algorithms that anyone could use. Mentioning a $10 million prize being offered for the design and development of a Star Trek-style tricorder that would scan and diagnose patients, he claims “It’s not possible to do this without the sensitivity that a quantum sensor would have.”

Mike Lazaridis promises that "nothing you see in the classical technology world can prepare you for what you will see in the quantum technology revolution.” He has always been a man of science, as a child he read every science book in his library. Although he's lost his status as a billionaire as BlackBerry slowly bites the dust, it's clear that the former director is not yet ready to leave the world stage.

For those of you who didn't get enough quantum physics in this post, here's a video that explains in a little more detail what a quantum computer does (in theory).