HPCWire.com
January 29, 2019
A new research collaboration between the Enabling Practical-Scale Quantum Computing (EPiQC) project led by the University of Chicago and IBM will help bring the promising future of quantum computing closer to the present by sharing resources and training the next generation of quantum computer scientists.
EPiQC is a multi-institutional effort led by researchers at the UChicago Department of Computer Science and funded by the National Science Foundation with the goal of shortening the timeline to practical quantum computing. By targeting software to specific technologies, EPiQC will significantly reduce the size and reliability needed for quantum machines to run useful programs.
Through this collaboration, EPiQC will collaborate with the IBM quantum computing initiative, IBM Q, on new software that optimizes IBM’s superconducting quantum technology. EPiQC researchers will receive priority research access to IBM Q technologies and data to develop and test new quantum software systems.
“Quantum hardware is advancing rapidly, but quantum software will be critical to efficiently using that technology and realizing the potential of quantum approaches in chemistry, physics, and other fields,” said Fred Chong, Seymour Goodman Professor of Computer Science at UChicago and lead PI for EPiQC. “Our collaboration with IBM Q is exactly the type of academic-industry collaboration that will be necessary to reach the quantum era of computing as quickly as possible.”