IBM partners with IITs, others to advance training, research in quantum computing

Tech giant IBM announced on Monday that it will provide top-tier institutions of India over-the-cloud access to its quantum systems.  

The selected institutions' faculty and students will be able to access IBM quantum systems, quantum learning resources and, quantum tools over IBM Cloud for education and research purposes. This will allow these institutions to work on actual quantum computers and program these using the Qiskit open-source framework.

The selected institutions are  - Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) - Pune, IISER - Thiruvananthapuram, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Jodhpur, IIT- Kanpur, IIT - Kharagpur, IIT - Madras, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Kolkata, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai and the University of Calcutta.

The collaboration with India's top institutions is a part IBM Quantum Educators program that helps faculty in the quantum field connect with others. It also provides them with resources in order to enable quality educational experiences. "The program offers multiple benefits like additional access to systems beyond IBM's open systems, pulse access on the additional systems, priority considerations when in queue and private collaboration channels with other educators in the program," read an IBM press release.

IISER- Thiruvananthapuram, ISI-Kolkata, and IIT-Madras are expected to conduct Quantum Computing Lab courses for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students. These courses will include lab sessions using IBM quantum systems.

While the University of Calcutta has been awarded an IBM Quantum Researchers Program Access Award for a project led by researcher Mrityunjay Ghosh under the guidance and supervision of Dr Amlan Chakrabarti, Professor and Director of A.K. Choudhury School of IT, University of Calcutta. This the first time that an IBM Quantum Researchers Program Access Award has been given to any student or faculty at an Indian university.

IBM states that an estimated 100-150 students annually are expected to benefit from this collaboration that enables them to do advanced projects, work on algorithms, and use cases.

Commenting on the collaboration with India's top institutes, Gargi Dasgupta, Director, IBM Research India and CTO, IBM India/South Asia, said, "Quantum Computing is a paradigm-shifting technology that can power countless innovations in the future. By providing access to our systems over cloud, IBM is enabling India's brightest minds to learn the skills to prepare for this disruptive future."

"IBM is committed to growing a quantum-ready workforce and building an ecosystem to nurture the quantum community in India. With this engagement, we can take it a step further to scale up this ecosystem in India, for India and the world," they added.

Demand for quantum skills is expected to grow rapidly in the few years, according to IBM. A survey from BurningGlass Technologies notes that the demand for quantum skills is expected to grow 135% in the next five years.

(Edited by Mohammad Haaris Beg)

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