- IBM Q Network to explore practical applications
of quantum computing for business and science with JPMorgan Chase,
Daimler AG, Samsung, JSR Corporation, Barclays, Hitachi Metals,
Honda, Nagase, Keio University, Oak
Ridge National Lab, Oxford University
and University of
Melbourne
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS,
N.Y., Dec. 14, 2017
/PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the first clients
to tap into its IBM Q™ early-access commercial quantum computing
systems to explore practical applications important to business and
science. They include: JPMorgan Chase, Daimler AG, Samsung, JSR
Corporation, Barclays, Hitachi Metals, Honda, Nagase, Keio University, Oak Ridge National Lab,
Oxford University and University of Melbourne.
These 12 initial organizations join the newly
formed IBM Q Network, a collaboration of
leading Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions and national
research labs working directly with IBM to advance quantum
computing. The IBM Q Network will also foster a growing quantum
computing ecosystem based on IBM's open source quantum software and
developer tools.
The IBM Q Network provides organizations with quantum
expertise and resources, and cloud-based access to the most
advanced and scalable universal quantum computing systems
available, starting with a 20 qubit IBM Q system. IBM also recently
built and measured the first working 50 qubit
prototype processor. IBM anticipates that access to this
prototype will be offered to IBM Q Network participants in the next
generation IBM Q system.
"IBM sees the next few years as the dawn of the commercial
quantum era – a formative period when
quantum computing technology and its early use cases develop
rapidly. The IBM Q Network will serve as a vehicle to make quantum
computing more accessible to businesses and organizations through
access to the most advanced IBM Q systems and quantum ecosystem,"
said Dario Gil, vice president of AI
and IBM Q, IBM Research. "Working closely with our clients,
together we can begin to explore the ways big and small quantum
computing can address previously unsolvable problems applicable to
industries such as financial services, automotive or chemistry.
There will be a shared focus on discovering areas of quantum
advantage that may lead to commercial, intellectual and societal
benefit in the future."
IBM Q Network Explores Practical Quantum Applications
for Industry
Organizations will work directly
with IBM scientists, engineers and consultants to pioneer quantum
computing for specific industries and have direct cloud-based
access to IBM Q systems. Each of the IBM Q Network Partners below
will explore a broad set of potential applications of quantum
computing in their industry that could provide a quantum advantage
– demonstrations of real-world problems that may be solved faster
or more efficiently with a quantum computer than with a classical
computer.
- JPMorgan Chase will be the premier
global financial services partner with IBM, focusing on use cases
for quantum computing applicable to the financial industry
including trading strategies, portfolio optimization, asset pricing
and risk analysis.
- Daimler AG will work with IBM to
advance the potential use cases of quantum computing for the
automotive and transportation industry. Some areas of research
include finding and developing new materials for automotive
application through quantum chemistry, complex optimization
problems such as for manufacturing processes or vehicle routing for
fleet logistics or autonomous/self-driving cars, and the
intersection of quantum and machine learning to enhance the
capabilities of artificial intelligence.
- Samsung, working closely with
IBM, will explore a variety of use cases where quantum
computing may impact the future of the semiconductor and
electronics industry.
- JSR Corporation, a leading chemical
and materials company, will explore how quantum computing can
improve materials for electronics, environmental and energy
applications.
"As a leader in financial services technology, JPMorgan
Chase is excited to collaborate with IBM Research in exploring how
quantum computing may impact the industry," said Lori Beer, CIO, JPMorgan Chase. "Joining the IBM
Q Network allows us to bring our technologists alongside IBM's
researchers and leverage cutting-edge quantum systems to learn
about how we may be able to apply these technologies in the
future."
"The intelligently connected car of the future requires
computing capabilities not available today," says Ola Källenius,
member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for
Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. "We believe
that quantum computing could be a crucial element in creating
sustainable and highly efficient mobility."
"Samsung is excited to work with IBM to explore how
quantum computing may impact semiconductor, display and IT
industries," said Seongjun Park,
Ph.D, Vice President at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.
"By joining the IBM Q Network and having access to quantum systems
and world-class expertise, we hope to take part in unveiling the
unexplored potential of quantum computing and pave a road forward
for future commercial applications."
"JSR is excited to join the IBM Q Network to explore how
quantum computing may impact the materials industry and address
chemical challenges that are beyond the reach of today's classical
computing," said Nobu Koshiba,
President of JSR Corporation. "Working with IBM, JSR scientists
will focus on computational chemistry and pave a road forward for
potential commercial applications."
Also, IBM Q Network Members Barclays, Hitachi Metals,
Honda and Nagase will build their knowledge of general
approaches to quantum computing and begin to investigate potential
use cases for their industries of finance, materials, automotive
and chemistry respectively.
IBM Q Network Establishes Global Hubs for Quantum
Research, Education and Broader Industrial
Collaboration
IBM will establish regional hubs
across four continents to increase access to quantum systems and
advance research, which are critical for accelerated learning,
skills development and implementation of quantum computing. These
IBM Q Network Hubs will broadly enable their industry and research
collaborators to have online use of IBM Q systems and engage in
joint development work to explore quantum computing. The planned
locations for the hubs are at IBM Research, Keio University in Japan, Oak Ridge
National Lab in the United
States, Oxford University
in the United Kingdom and the
University of Melbourne in
Australia.
"Keio University is excited
and truly honored to be selected as the only IBM Q hub in
Japan," said Prof. Kohei Itoh, the Dean of Faculty of Science and
Technology, Keio University. "We are
looking forward to performing state-of-the-art quantum computing
research using IBM Q and guiding member companies of the hub to
develop mission-oriented quantum software that will help their
businesses."
"Providing access to real quantum computing hardware is
fundamental to accelerating the development of applications and
programs important to UT-Battelle, LLC., the
managing and operating contractor at the Department of Energy's Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)," said Jeff Nichols, Associate Laboratory Director, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory. "Establishing ORNL as a
hub of the IBM Q Network would again
demonstrate that UT-Battelle is at the forefront of
innovation, enabled by the world's most advanced computational
systems, and will continue to drive transformational advancements
in science and research."
"I am delighted with this new collaboration with IBM.
Working with one of the world's leading information technology
companies to develop new applications for a quantum computer will
enhance Oxford's and the UK's
capability in quantum technology, by providing a unique resource
for the Oxford-led Networked Quantum
Information Technologies Hub," said Prof. Ian Walmsley, Hooke Professor of Experimental
Physics, Director of the Networked Quantum Information Technologies
(NQIT) Hub and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation,
Oxford University. "NQIT's emulator
program will work with IBM to convene scientists, engineers and
industrial researchers and developers across a wider range of
fields, from simulating new molecules to enhancing artificial
intelligence to show how quantum computers can dramatically
transform their ideas and businesses."
"We are excited to work with IBM to explore how quantum
computing could benefit Australian industry and education and
address new computational challenges," said Professor Jim McCluskey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
at the University of Melbourne. "By
becoming an IBM Q Network hub and having access to advanced quantum
systems, it will allow our scientists to develop knowledge for
quantum solutions applicable to industry problems in Mining, Energy
and Finance."
IBM Fosters Growing Quantum
Ecosystem
Through the publically
available IBM Q Experience, over 60,000
users have run more than 1.7M quantum
experiments and generated over 35 third-party research publications
using the world's first series of quantum computers available
openly on the web. The IBM Q Experience enables
registered users to connect to IBM's quantum processors via
the IBM Cloud, to run algorithms and experiments, work with the
individual quantum bits, and explore tutorials and simulations
around what might be possible with quantum computing. Developers
also have access to IBM's open quantum software development
kit, QISKit, to create and run quantum
computing programs.
Enabling high quality academic research is one of the core
principles of the IBM Q Experience, and now registered academic
users can leverage the IBM Q Experience for a deeper research
collaboration. Professors and researchers will find customized
tools designed to accelerate and differentiate their work including
preferred queue access to IBM's quantum processors, the ability to
link and tag their research to the IBM Q Experience, and channels
to request new features and functionalities. Users have registered
from over 1500 universities, 300 high schools, and 300 private
institutions worldwide, many of whom are accessing the IBM Q
Experience as part of their formal education.
The IBM Q Experience will also play a significant role in
an initiative IBM is undertaking with the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. IBM will support MIT in producing a leading edge, comprehensive
curriculum for executives, engineers, scientists and researchers to
understand and leverage the upcoming quantum computing
revolution. The first courses are
anticipated to go online in the first half of 2018 via the edX
platform. The curriculum will include a set of MIT created massive open online
courses (MOOCs) that will be offered both for free and
for a fee to learners who desire an MIT
issued certificate of completion. The curriculum will also include
a comprehensive professional development
curriculum (MIT ProX courses). These latter courses
will include online labs on quantum computing, which will utilize
the public IBM Q Experiencequantum
computers.
In addition to supporting the quantum curriculum, IBM has
started working with MIT to explore the
intersection of quantum computing and machine learning as part of
the recently launched MIT-IBM Watson AI
Lab. Together, IBM and MIT
scientists are investigating the "Physics of AI", which involves
new research into AI hardware materials, devices and architectures.
Focus areas include using AI to help characterize and improve
quantum devices, and researching the use of quantum computing to
optimize and speed up machine-learning algorithms and other AI
applications.
IBM Research is announcing a series of prizes for
professors, lecturers and students who use the IBM Q
Experience and QISKit in the
classroom or for their research. Awards will be made available for
developing open source course materials for a lecture series;
building Jupyter Notebook tutorials with QISKit; contributing
specific code modules to the open source QISKit SDK and to students
who publish a scientific paper that makes use of QISKit. For
details visit
https://qe-awards.mybluemix.net.
IBM Introduces IBM Q Consulting
IBM is also introducing IBM Q Consulting, which brings together
consultants, scientists and industry experts to help clients
envision new business value through the application of quantum
computing technology, and provide clients with customized roadmaps
to help them become quantum ready. With access to cutting-edge
mathematics and engineering, IBM's quantum consultants
and developers are applying their expertise to complex
business problems. IBM Q Consulting is focusing initially in
logistics and modeling use cases in industries such as mining,
banking, life sciences and electronics. Clients can engage IBM
Q Consulting immediately.
About IBM Q
IBM Q is an
industry-first initiative to build commercial universal quantum
computing systems for business and science applications. For more
information about IBM's quantum computing efforts, please
visit www.ibm.com/ibmq.
Media Contact
Christine Vu
IBM Media Relations
– Research
vuch@us.ibm.com
914-945-2755
IBM Q Network™, IBM Q™, IBM Q Experience™,
QISKit™ and IBM Q Consulting™ are trademarks of International
Business Machines Corporation.
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