News Brief

In order to encourage developers to learn IBM's Qiskit quantum programming platform, IBM is now offering a Quantum Developer Certification Program. Such a certification may be useful for people looking for a job in the quantum industry or convincing their employer that they have quantum skills. The test consists of 60 questions on the Pearson VUE platform that a user answers online related to programming a quantum computer using Qiskit. The normal costs for certification are $200, but IBM is offering free vouchers to the first 1,000 community members who are taking their initial test. This test is apparently the first [...]

The Quantum Research Centre (QRC), part of Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute (TII) will partner with Barcelona-based Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech to build a superconductor based quantum computer. The project will be led by QRC's Chief Researcher Professor José Ignacio Latorre, The chips will be made in Abu Dhabi with a goal of creating the first simple quantum chips by the end of the summer. For more information about this effort, you can view the news release from the Technology Innovation Institute here. March 26, 2021

Atos' Quantum Learning Machine (QLM) is a high performance standalone appliance that uses classical processors to simulate quantum programs of up to 41 qubits. As such, it is one of the highest performance simulators one can use without using a real quantum computer. One potential benefit of this product is that it can be installed on-premise so it alleviates the concerns anyone might have about using a remote cloud-based solution for their high performance quantum simulations. The Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities has recently opened an LRZ Quantum Integration Centre and will integrate the [...]

A number of management updates have occurred in quantum this week. Dr. Joseph Broz has been named IBM's Vice-President for Growth and Market Development. He previously was the Executive Director of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C). Celia Merzbacher has been appointed Executive Director of the QED-C succeeding Dr. Broz. She was previously the Deputy Director of QED-C. And Dan Caruso has been named Executive Chairman and Interim CEO of ColdQuanta succeeding Bo Ewald who has announced his retirement. Click on the links associated with each person's name to view the full press release related to their announcement. March 16, 2021

 QUBEC was co-designed by quantum chemists and material scientists and is integrated with Schrödinger's Maestro chemical modelling interface. It can run on the IBM, Rigetti, and IonQ quantum co-processors through the IBM Quantum Experience and the Amazon Braket platforms. In September 2019, Qu & Co set up a partnership with Schrödinger and users can set up their quantum simulations in Schrödinger's Maestro user interface and have it use QUBEC to run on a quantum processor. Although the present day quantum computers may not be powerful enough to outperform classical processes, it is expected that more powerful quantum processors will be available [...]

The Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology (WACQT), based at Chalmers University in Sweden is receiving an increase in funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation to 80 million Swedish Krona (SEK) per year from the previous level from 45 million SEK. Total funding for the center from all sources including industry and participating universities now totals 1.3 billion SEK ($152M USD) over the next twelve years. The additional funds will allow the center to add 40 more researchers, double the current number, and advance towards their goal of creating a 100 qubit quantum computer with really high performance qubits. Additional [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Sandia National Laboratory has deployed a new trapped ion quantum computer capability, called QSCOUT (Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed) for free use to qualified researchers. The current system has 3 qubits, but Sandia is planning to expand this to 32 qubits within the next three years. Researchers interested in using the Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed are invited to sign up for notifications by emailing qscout@sandia.gov. Sandia expects to select the next round of projects in the spring, subject to change. Additional details can be found in a news release on the Sandia website here and [...]

At the APS March Meeting, Qblox will be launching and demonstrating its new generation of quantum control stack providing all input and output signals from ultrastable DC to 18.5 GHz. This technology packaged in a 19-inch enclosure named Cluster and has the ability to control and read out up to 20 qubits in a single Cluster enclosure. In order to control setups with 100s of qubits, multiple Clusters can be connected and function in full synchronicity using Qblox' proprietary technology. To enable user-friendly and flexible scheduling of algorithms and experiments, Qblox provides scientists with an open-source software platform named Quantify, co-developed [...]

The UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund is holding a competition to fund research and development to help commercialize quantum technology. Projects proposed must be related to either quantum communications, quantum sensors or quantum computing. The selected projects must have eligible costs between £2 million and £20 million with a maximum grant award per project of £10 million. Proposals will be accepted through April 28, 2021 with project start dates beginning April 1, 2022 and lasting for a duration of 24 to 36 months. Project leads must be a UK registered business of any size with all project work [...]