IBM to provide access to its quantum computing system via the cloud to Indian educational institutions

U.S. multinational technology company IBM said on Tuesday it was providing cloud-based access to its quantum computing system to educational institutions across the country.

Two institutes in Bengal – the University of Calcutta and IIT Kharagpur – will have cloud access to IBM’s quantum computing system.

The University of Calcutta received an IBM Quantum Researchers Program Access Award for a project led by researcher Mrityunjay Ghosh under the direction and supervision of Amlan Chakrabarti, professor and director of the AK Choudhury School of IT, University of Calcutta. This is the first time that such a facility has been offered to a student or faculty of an Indian university.

“Quantum computing is getting more and more exciting. Today, there is strong interest not only from the research community, but from most of the world’s technology majors, including IBM and Google, among others. Through this partnership, students and researchers at our university will be able to connect to physical IBM quantum computing machines through a cloud interface, ”said Chakrabarti.

He added that since quantum computing is a multidisciplinary exercise, students and researchers from fields such as information technology, computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, physics and applied physics at the university will benefit from this access.

Explaining the growing interest in the field, Chakrabarti said that thanks to quantum computing, a larger scale of solving complex problems can be achieved, which existing classical computing cannot achieve.

Financial modeling, weather forecasting, solving complex artificial intelligence and machine learning problems are some of the areas where quantum computing is applicable.

“Quantum computing is a paradigm-shifting technology that can fuel countless innovations in the future. By providing access to our system through the cloud, IBM is empowering India’s brightest minds to acquire the skills to prepare for this disruptive future, ”said Gargi Dasgupta, Director, IBM Research India and CTO, IBM India / South Asia.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna in remarks on quarterly results (for the first quarter of 2021) said quantum computing has the potential to unlock “hundreds of billions of dollars” for customers here. the end of the decade.

The company also announced a roadmap to build a quantum computer with more than 1,000 qubits by 2023.