A team of researchers —led by Hans-Arno Jacobsen, Professor and Jeffrey Skoll Chair in Computer Networks and Innovation in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering— were funded to establish the Quantum Software Consortium (QSC). They were awarded an NSERC Alliance Consortia Quantum grant for five years at the amount of $5,000,000. The multi-institutional team at QSC will pioneer distributed quantum computing software methodologies by adapting known quantum algorithms, developing new distributed quantum algorithms, and establishing communication primitives programming abstractions to seamlessly connect disparate quantum processors.

QSC’s team includes Professors from the University of Toronto affiliated with the CQIQC: Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Dvira Segal, Artur Izmaylov, and Nathan Wiebe. Professor Ulrich Fekl from the U of T Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Professor Hausi Müller from the University of Victoria and Professor Matt Amy from Simon Fraser University are also part of the team. The QSC Consortium will develop software for a variety of socially and economically relevant distributed applications, including practical chemistry, quantum materials, and quantum machine learning. This initiative will also enhance the CQIQC and more broadly U of T’s basic and applied research and training in the field of quantum computing. In doing so, the Consortium will advance the goals of Canada’s National Quantum Strategy and enhance the country’s position in the international race for quantum leadership. The QSC is proud to collaborate with partners such as Agnostiq, AWS, CMC, IBM, Multiverse, OTI, Photonic, and Xanadu.

QSC is seeking to recruit interested graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Further announcements regarding these opportunities will follow soon.