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Quick answers
Did Haig Farris co-found D-Wave?
BetaKit, 2020-03-10, reports that in 1999 "Geordie Rose and Haig Farris launched D-Wave Systems in Burnaby, BC, promising to build the world's first commercially available quantum computer." The Creative Destruction Lab mentor profile, checked 2026-09-20, describes Farris as "the Founding Chairman and a Board Member of D-Wave Systems."
How did D-Wave actually get started?
Penn Carey Law's alumni news feature, 2015-01-12, reports that Farris, who taught a business course UBC physics student Geordie Rose had taken, wrote Rose a roughly $4,000 cheque on the spot in 1999 so Rose could buy a laptop and printer to write the business proposal that became D-Wave.
Is he currently on D-Wave's board?
No. D-Wave's own leadership and board page at dwavequantum.com, checked 2026-09-20, lists neither Haig Farris nor Geordie Rose among current executives or directors, so his connection to the company is the founder title rather than a present-day seat.
What else has he founded, and what recognition has he received?
The Business Laureates of British Columbia laureate profile, checked 2026-09-20, states he co-founded Ventures West in 1972 and left in 1990 to start Fractal Capital, where he is president. The Governor General of Canada's honours record for John Haig de Beque Farris of Bowen Island, BC, checked 2026-09-20, lists him as an Officer of the Order of Canada, appointed 2016-11-18 and invested 2017-08-25.