IIT-Madras becomes first Indian institution to join IBM Quantum Network

As a member of the network, IIT-Madras will get cloud-based access to IBM’s advanced quantum computing systems and quantum expertise to explore practical applications and advance quantum computing skills development and research in India.

“We believe the joint work will contribute towards India’s National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications to grow and prepare India for the future, further advancing India as one of the global powerhouses in computing,” said Sandip Patel, managing director, IBM India.

IIT-Madras’ Centre for Quantum Information, Communication and Computing will focus on advancing core algorithms in research areas like quantum machine learning, quantum optimisation, and applications research in finance. They will use IBM Quantum services alongside the open-source Qiskit framework to explore areas such as quantum algorithms, quantum machine learning, quantum error correction and error mitigation, quantum tomography, and quantum chemistry, and to also advance and grow the quantum computing ecosystem in the country.

Researchers from IIT-Madras will work on research in the application of quantum computing with support from IBM Research India across domains.

“This collaboration builds on our successful collaboration on quantum computing education, last year, and promises to open up new avenues and directions for research and innovation,” said Anil Prabhakar, professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT-Madras.

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Last year, IIT-Madras joined IBM’s Quantum Education Program to provide its students and faculty access to IBM quantum learning resources, quantum tools, and quantum systems for education and research purpose. In August last year, IBM Quantum and IIT-Madras also jointly offered a course on quantum computing on the NPTEL Platform to over 10,000 participants.

The IBM Quantum Network is a global community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and research labs working with IBM Quantum technology to advance ‎quantum computing and explore practical applications.