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Supermarket aisles filled with fresh produce are probably not where you would expect to discover some of the first benefits of quantum computing.

But Canadian grocery chain Save-On-Foods has become an unlikely pioneer, using quantum technology to improve the management of in-store logistics. In collaboration with quantum computing company D-Wave, Save-On-Foods is using a new type of computing, which is based on the downright weird behaviour of matter at the quantum level. And it's already seeing promising results.

The company's engineers approached D-Wave with a logistics problem that classical computers were incapable of solving. Within two months, the concept had translated into a hybrid quantum algorithm that was running in one of the supermarket stores, reducing the computing time for some tasks from 25 hours per week down to mere seconds.

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Save-On-Foods is now looking at expanding the technology to other stores, and exploring new ways that quantum could help with other issues. "We now have the capability to run tests and simulations by adjusting variables and see the results, so we can optimize performance, which simply isn't feasible using traditional methods," a Save-On-Foods spokesperson tells ZDNet.

"While the results are outstanding, the two most important things from this are that we were able to use quantum computing to attack our most complex problems across the organization, and can do it on an ongoing basis."

The remarkable properties of quantum computing boil down to the behaviour of qubits -- the quantum equivalent of classical bits that encode information for today's computers in strings of 0s and 1s. But contrary to bits, which can be represented by either 0 or 1, qubits can take on a state that is quantum-specific, in which they exist as 0 and 1 in parallel, or superposition.

Qubits, therefore, enable quantum algorithms to run various calculations at the same time, and at exponential scale: the more qubits, the more variables can be explored, and all in parallel. Some of the largest problems, which would take classical computers tens of thousands of years to explore with single-state bits, could be harnessed by qubits in minutes.

The challenge lies in building quantum computers that contain enough qubits for useful calculations to be carried out. Qubits are temperamental: they are error-prone, hard to control, and always on the verge of falling out of their quantum state. Typically, scientists have to encase quantum computers in extremely cold, large-scale refrigerators, just to make sure that qubits remain stable. That's impractical, to say the least.

This is, in essence, why quantum computing is still in its infancy. Most quantum computers currently work with less than 100 qubits, and tech giants such as IBM and Google are racing to increase that number in order to build a meaningful quantum computer as early as possible. Recently, IBM ambitiously unveiled a roadmap to a million-qubit system, and said that it expects a fault-tolerant quantum computer to be an achievable goal during the next ten years.

IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna and director of research Dario Gil in front of a ten-foot-tall super-fridge for the company's next-generation quantum computers.

Although it's early days for quantum computing, there is still plenty of interest from businesses willing to experiment with what could prove to be a significant development. "Multiple companies are conducting learning experiments to help quantum computing move from the experimentation phase to commercial use at scale," Ivan Ostojic, partner at consultant McKinsey, tells ZDNet.

Certainly tech companies are racing to be seen as early leaders. IBM's Q Network started running in 2016 to provide developers and industry professionals with access to the company's quantum processors, the latest of which, a 65-qubit device called Hummingbird, was released on the platform last month. Recently, US multinational Honeywell took its first steps on the quantum stage, making the company's trapped-ion quantum computer available to customers over the cloud. Rigetti Computing, which has been operating since 2017, is also providing cloud-based access to a 31-qubit quantum computer.

Another approach, called quantum annealing, is especially suitable for optimisation tasks such as the logistics problems faced by Save-On-Foods. D-Wave has proven a popular choice in this field, and has offered a quantum annealer over the cloud since 2010, which it has now upgraded to a 5,000-qubit-strong processor.

A quantum annealing processor is much easier to control and operate than the devices that IBM, Honeywell and Rigetti are working on, which are called gate-model quantum computers. This is why D-Wave's team has already hit much higher numbers of qubits. However, quantum annealing is only suited to specific optimisation problems, and experts argue that the technology will be comparatively limited when gate-model quantum computers reach maturity.

The suppliers of quantum processing power are increasingly surrounded by third-party companies that act as intermediaries with customers. Zapata, QC Ware or 1QBit, for example, provide tools ranging from software stacks to training, to help business leaders get started with quantum experiments.

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In other words, the quantum ecosystem is buzzing with activity, and is growing fast. "Companies in the industries where quantum will have the greatest potential for complete disruption should get involved in quantum right now," says Ostojic.

And the exponential compute power of quantum technologies, according to the analyst, will be a game-changer in many fields. Qubits, with their unprecedented ability to solve optimisation problems, will benefit any organisation with a supply chain and distribution route, while shaking up the finance industry by maximising gains from portfolios. Quantum-infused artificial intelligence also holds huge promise, with models expected to benefit from better training on bigger datasets.

One example: by simulating molecular interactions that are too complex for classical computers to handle, qubits will let biotech companies fast-track the discovery of new drugs and materials. Microsoft, for example, has already demonstrated how quantum computers can help manufacture fertilizers with better yields. This could have huge implications for the agricultural sector, as it faces the colossal task of sustainably feeding the growing global population in years to come.

Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking and cybersecurity are often cited as sectors that quantum technology could significantly transform. "In principle, quantum will be relevant for all CIOs as it will accelerate solutions to a large range of problems," says Ostojic. "Those companies need to become owners of quantum capability."

Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking or cybersecurity are among the industries that are often pointed to as examples of the fields that quantum technology could transform.

There is a caveat. No CIO should expect to achieve too much short-term value from quantum computing in its current form. However fast-growing the quantum industry is, the field remains defined by the stubborn instability of qubits, which still significantly limits the capability of quantum computers.

"Right now, there is no problem that a quantum computer can solve faster than a classical computer, which is of value to a CIO," insists Heike Riel, head of science and technology at IBM Research Quantum Europe. "But you have to be very careful, because the technology is evolving fast. Suddenly, there might be enough qubits to solve a problem that is of high value to a business with a quantum computer."

And when that day comes, there will be a divide between the companies that prepared for quantum compute power, and those that did not. This is what's at stake for business leaders who are already playing around with quantum, explains Riel. Although no CIO expects quantum to deliver value for the next five to ten years, the most forward-thinking businesses are already anticipating the wave of innovation that the technology will bring about eventually -- so that when it does, they will be the first to benefit from it.

This means planning staffing, skills and projects, and building an understanding of how quantum computing can help solve actual business problems. "This is where a lot of work is going on in different industries, to figure out what the true problems are, which can be solved with a quantum computer and not a classical computer, and which would make a big difference in terms of value," says Riel.

Riel points to the example of quantum simulation for battery development, which companies like car manufacturer Daimler are investigating in partnership with IBM. To increase the capacity and speed-of-charging of batteries for electric vehicles, Daimler's researchers are working on next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries, which require the alignment of various compounds in the most stable configuration possible. To find the best placement of molecules, all the possible interactions between the particles that make up the compound's molecules must be simulated.

This task can be carried out by current supercomputers for simple molecules, but a large-scale quantum solution could one day break new ground in developing the more complex compounds that are required for better batteries.

"Of course, right now the molecules we are simulating with quantum are small in size because of the limited size of the quantum computer," says Riel. "But when we scale the next generation of quantum computers, then we can solve the problem despite the complexity of the molecules."

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Similar thinking led oil and gas giant ExxonMobilto join the network of companies that are currently using IBM's cloud-based quantum processors. ExxonMobil started collaborating with IBM in 2019, with the objective of one day using quantum to design new chemicals for low energy processing and carbon capture.

The company's director of corporate strategic research Amy Herhold explains that for the past year, ExxonMobil's scientists have been tapping IBM's quantum capabilities to simulate macroscopic material properties such as heat capacity. The team has focused so far on the smallest of molecules, hydrogen gas, and is now working on ways to scale the method up to larger molecules as the hardware evolves.

A number of milestones still need to be achieved before quantum computing translates into an observable business impact, according to Herhold. Companies will need to have access to much larger quantum computers with low error rates, as well as to appropriate quantum algorithms that address key problems.

"While today's quantum computers cannot solve business-relevant problems -- they are too small and the qubits are too noisy -- the field is rapidly advancing," Herhold tells ZDNet. "We know that research and development is critical on both the hardware and the algorithm front, and given how different this is from classical computing, we knew it would take time to build up our internal capabilities. This is why we decided to get going."

Herhold anticipates that quantum hardware will grow at a fast pace in the next five years. The message is clear: when it does, ExxonMobil's research team will be ready.

One industry that has shown an eager interest in quantum technology is the financial sector. From JP Morgan Chase's partnerships with IBM and Honeywell, to BBVA's use of Zapata's services, banks are actively exploring the potential of qubits, and with good reason. Quantum computers, by accounting for exponentially high numbers of factors and variables, could generate much better predictions of financial risk and uncertainty, and boost the efficiency of key operations such as investment portfolio optimisation or options pricing.

Similar to other fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for the financial industry. In fact, when solving smaller problems, scientists still run quantum algorithms alongside classical computers to validate the results.

"The classical simulator has an exact answer, so you can check if you're getting this exact answer with the quantum computer," explains Tony Uttley, president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions, as he describes the process of quantum options pricing in finance.

"And you better be, because as soon as we cross that boundary, where we won't be able to classically simulate anymore, you better be convinced that your quantum computer is giving you the right answer. Because that's what you'll be taking into your business processes."

Companies that are currently working on quantum solutions are focusing on what Uttley calls the "path to value creation". In other words, they are using quantum capabilities as they stand to run small-scale problems, building trust in the technology as they do so, while they wait for capabilities to grow and enable bigger problems to be solved.

In many fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for quantum computing in industry.

Tempting as it might be for CIOs to hope for short-term value from quantum services, it's much more realistic to look at longer timescales, maintains Uttley. "Imagine you have a hammer, and somebody tells you they want to build a university campus with it," he says. "Well, looking at your hammer, you should ask yourself how long it's going to take to build that."

Quantum computing holds the promise that the hammer might, in the next few years, evolve into a drill and then a tower crane. The challenge, for CIOs, is to plan now for the time that the tools at their disposal get the dramatic boost that's expected by scientists and industry players alike.

It is hard to tell exactly when that boost will come. IBM's roadmap announces that the company will reach 1,000 qubits in 2023, which could mark the start of early value creation in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, thanks to the simulation of small molecules. But although the exact timeline is uncertain, Uttley is adamant that it's never too early to get involved.

"Companies that are forward-leaning already have teams focused on this and preparing their organisations to take advantage of it once we cross the threshold to value creation," he says. "So what I tend to say is: engage now. The capacity is scarce, and if you're not already at the front of the line, it may be quite a while before you get in."

Creating business value is a priority for every CIO. At the same time, the barrier to entry for quantum computing is lowering every time a new startup emerges to simplify the software infrastructure and assist non-experts in kickstarting their use of the technology. So there's no time to lose in embracing the technology. Securing a first-class spot in the quantum revolution, when it comes, is likely to be worth it.

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Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything - ZDNet

Quantum physics promises huge advances not just in quantum computing but also in a quantum internet a next-generation framework for transferring data from one place to another. Scientists have now invented technology suitable for a quantum modem that could act as a network gateway.

What makes a quantum internet superior to the regular, existing internet that you're reading this through is security: interfering with the data being transmitted with quantum techniques would essentially break the connection. It's as close to unhackable as you can possibly get.

As with trying to produce practical, commercial quantum computers though, turning the quantum internet from potential to reality is taking time not surprising, considering the incredibly complex physics involved. A quantum modem could be a very important step forward for the technology.

"In the future, a quantum internet could be used to connect quantum computers located in different places, which would considerably increase their computing power!" says physicist Andreas Reiserer, from the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

Quantum computing is built around the idea of qubits, which unlike classical computer bits can store several states simultaneously. The new research focuses on connecting stationary qubits in a quantum computer with moving qubits travelling between these machines.

That's a tough challenge when you're dealing with information that's stored as delicately as it is with quantum physics. In this setup, light photons are used to store quantum data in transit, photons that are precisely tuned to the infrared wavelength of laser light used in today's communication systems.

That gives the new system a key advantage in that it'll work with existing fibre optic networks, which would make a quantum upgrade much more straightforward when the technology is ready to roll out.

In figuring out how to get stored qubits at rest reacting just right with moving infrared photons, the researchers determined that the element erbium and its electrons were best suited for the job but erbium atoms aren't naturally inclined to make the necessary quantum leap between two states. To make that possible, the static erbium atoms and the moving infrared photons are essentially locked up together until they get along.

Working out how to do this required a careful calculation of the space and conditions needed. Inside their modem, the researchers installed a miniature mirrored cabinet around a crystal made of ayttrium silicate compound. This set up was then was cooled to minus 271 degrees Celsius (minus 455.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

The modem mirror cabinet. (Max Planck Institute)

The cooled crystal kept the erbium atoms stable enough to force an interaction, while the mirrors bounced the infrared photons around tens of thousands of times essentially creating tens of thousands of chances for the necessary quantum leap to happen. The mirrors make the system 60 times faster and much more efficient than it would be otherwise, the researchers say.

Once that jump between the two states has been made, the information can be passed somewhere else. That data transfer raises a whole new set of problems to be overcome, but scientists are busy working on solutions.

As with many advances in quantum technology, it's going to take a while to get this from the lab into actual real-world systems, but it's another significant step forward and the same study could also help in quantum processors and quantum repeaters that pass data over longer distances.

"Our system thus enables efficient interactions between light and solid-state qubits while preserving the fragile quantum properties of the latter to an unprecedented degree," write the researchers in their published paper.

The research has been published in Physical Review X.

Read more:
A Modem With a Tiny Mirror Cabinet Could Help Connect The Quantum Internet - ScienceAlert

Until recently an abstract concept, quantum computing is gaining notice in several industries, including financial services, manufacturing and logistics.

In June, for example, JPMorgan Chase published data on its experiments using Honeywells quantum technology, describing its efforts to produce a quantum oracle, or to use math to better predict the future. The financial services giant is accessing the technology directly via API, according to Honeywell Quantum Solutions President Tony Uttley, who says the company is interested in tasks such as optimization around trading strategies and fraud detection.

The JPMorgan Chase study, while academic in nature, is being received in computer science and business circles as an exciting development.

Now you can actually start to use real quantum algorithms on real quantum computers, understand how they work, which classes are working better than others, and start to pinpoint those use cases you think are going to be the most profound, Uttley says.

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Instead of the binary 1s and 0s traditional computers use, quantum computing involves quantum bits, or qubits, which can be read as 1s, 0s or both.

That seemingly subtle difference will allow quantum computers to process massive amounts of information, solving drastically more complex problems than a regular computer would be able to in less time in the near future, according to Paul Smith-Goodson, quantum computing analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy.

While quantum usage is still in its early stages, several providers are offering cloud access to the technology, Smith-Goodson says. Its come a long way much faster than what was originally anticipated. A lot of companies are doing experimenting using quantum computing.

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IBM has offered cloud access to quantum computers since 2016 via its website-based IBM Quantum Experience; nearly 250,000 people have registered to do so, says Robert Sutor, vice president of IBM quantum ecosystem development.

We have democratized access to quantum computers since the very beginning because we felt it was such a new technology, and we have to get people ready, Sutor says.

Quantum computing still has some distance to go to reach its full potential. For now, error rates are too high, producing what researchers call noise in the data the machines produce.

The more qubits you have, the more noise you generate, he says. To do a really serious type of quantum computing, to model or create a new drug or simulate a very complex chemical, youre going to need millions to billions of qubits. Right now, were just not at the stage where we can scale up to that point because we have limitations with noise.

But the technologys potential is irresistible, and big companies are exploring it. Aerospace company Boeing, for example, is using it to model the movement of air and water over surfaces, and its helping Daimler Mercedes-Benz, in its work to create new lithium car batteries.

In this very short period of time, we have gotten people involved with business use cases: applications like chemistry and looking at how to do some aspect of artificial intelligence better, Sutor says. Financial companies are asking, How do we get the most accurate view of the price of a financial portfolio? People are on track to take better advantage as we create more powerful machines.

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Quantum Computing Is Moving from Theory to Reality - BizTech Magazine

Walk into a quantum lab where scientists trap ions, and you'll find benchtops full of mirrors and lenses, all focusing lasers to hit an ion trapped in place above a chip. By using lasers to control ions, scientists have learned to harness ions as quantum bits, or qubits, the basic unit of data in a quantum computer. But this laser setup is holding research back making it difficult to experiment with more than a few ions and to take these systems out of the lab for real use.

Now, MIT Lincoln Laboratory researchers have developed a compact way to deliver laser light to trapped ions. In a recent paper published in Nature, the researchers describe a fiber-optic block that plugs into the ion-trap chip, coupling light to optical waveguides fabricated in the chip itself. Through these waveguides, multiple wavelengths of light can be routed through the chip and released to hit the ions above it.

It's clear to many people in the field that the conventional approach, using free-space optics such as mirrors and lenses, will only go so far, says Jeremy Sage, an author on the paper and senior staff in Lincoln Laboratory's Quantum Information and Integrated Nanosystems Group. If the light instead is brought onto the chip, it can be directed around to the many locations where it needs to be. The integrated delivery of many wavelengths may lead to a very scalable and portable platform. We're showing for the first time that it can be done.

Multiple colors

Computing with trapped ions requires precisely controlling each ion independently. Free-space optics have worked well when controlling a few ions in a short one-dimensional chain. But hitting a single ion among a larger or two-dimensional cluster, without hitting its neighbors, is extremely difficult. When imagining a practical quantum computer requiring thousands of ions, this task of laser control seems impractical.

That looming problem led researchers to find another way. In 2016, Lincoln Laboratory and MIT researchers demonstrated a new chip with built-in optics. They focused a red laser onto the chip, where waveguides on the chip routed the light to a grating coupler, a kind of rumble strip to stop the light and direct it up to the ion.

Red light is crucial for doing a fundamental operation called a quantum gate, which the team performed in that first demonstration. But up to six different-colored lasers are needed to do everything required for quantum computation: prepare the ion, cool it down, read out its energy state, and perform quantum gates. With this latest chip, the team has extended their proof of principle to the rest of these required wavelengths, from violet to the near-infrared.

With these wavelengths, we were able to perform the fundamental set of operations that you need to be able to control trapped ions, says John Chiaverini, also an author on the paper. The one operation they didn't perform, a two-qubit gate, was demonstrated by a team at ETH Zrich by using a chip similar to the 2016 work, and is described in a paper in the same Nature issue. This work, paired together with ours, shows that you have all the things you need to start building larger trapped-ion arrays, Chiaverini adds.

Fiber optics

To make the leap from one to multiple wavelengths, the team engineered a method to bond a fiber-optic block directly to the side of the chip. The block consists of four optical fibers, each one specific to a certain range of wavelengths. These fibers line up with a corresponding waveguide patterned directly onto the chip.

Getting the fiber block array aligned to the waveguides on the chip and applying the epoxy felt like performing surgery. It was a very delicate process. We had about half a micronof tolerance and it needed to survive cooldown to4 kelvins, says Robert Niffenegger, who led the experiments and is first author on the paper.

On top of the waveguides sits a layer of glass. On top of the glass are metal electrodes, which produce electric fields that hold the ion in place; holes are cut out of the metal over the grating couplers where the light is released. The entire device was fabricated in the Microelectronics Laboratory at Lincoln Laboratory.

Designing waveguides that could deliver the light to the ions with low loss, avoiding absorption or scattering, was a challenge, as loss tends to increase with bluer wavelengths. It was a process of developing materials, patterning the waveguides, testing them, measuring performance, and trying again. We also had to make sure the materials of the waveguides worked not only with the necessary wavelengths of light, but also that they didn't interfere with the metal electrodes that trap the ion, Sage says.

Scalable and portable

The team is now looking forward to what they can do with this fully light-integrated chip. For one, make more, Niffenegger says. Tiling these chips into an array could bring together many more ions, each able to be controlled precisely, opening the door to more powerful quantum computers.

Daniel Slichter, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who was not involved in this research, says, This readily scalable technology will enable complex systems with many laser beams for parallel operations, all automatically aligned and robust to vibrations and environmental conditions, and will in my view be crucial for realizing trapped ion quantum processors with thousands of qubits.

An advantage of this laser-integrated chip is that it's inherently resistant to vibrations. With external lasers, any vibration to the laser would cause it to miss the ion, as would any vibrations to the chip. Now that the laser beams and chip are coupled together, the effects of vibrations are effectively nullified.

This stability is important for the ions to sustain coherence, or to operate as qubits long enough to compute with them. It's also important if trapped-ion sensors are to become portable. Atomic clocks, for example, that are based on trapped ions could keep time much more precisely than today's standard, and could be used to improve the accuracy of GPS, which relies on the synchronization of atomic clocks carried on satellites.

We view this work as an example of bridging science and engineering, that delivers a true advantage to both academia and industry, Sage says. Bridging this gap is the goal of the MIT Center for Quantum Engineering, where Sage is a principal investigator.We need quantum technology to be robust, deliverable, and user-friendly, for people to use who aren't PhDs in quantum physics, Sage says.

Simultaneously, the team hopes that this device can help push academic research. We want other research institutes to use this platform so that they can focus on other challenges like programming and running algorithms with trapped ions on this platform, for example. We see it opening the door to further exploration of quantum physics, Chiaverini says.

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Lighting up the ion trap - MIT News

The University of Toronto and Japans Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. have agreed to renew, for three years, a partnership that seeks to advance innovative computing research projects with wide-scale applications.

The partnership extension was marked this week by a transglobal videoconference that included Fujitsu CEO Hirotaka Hara and U of T President Meric Gertler, as well as other senior leaders and researchers.

The group discussed the progress of the partnership which launched in 2018 and involved the establishment of the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory at U of Ts Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship and what can be achieved in the future.

Fujitsu is one of the worlds most admired companies and Fujitsu Laboratories is a major engine of research and development in leading innovation clusters around the world including Beijing, Silicon Valley, London and now, of course, Toronto, President Gertler said during the videoconference.

The University of Toronto and our department of electrical and computer engineering both enjoy very high rankings globally, and we are the academic anchor of an impressive innovation ecosystem here in the Toronto region.

Since its launch, the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory has been credited with such major advancements as the advent of the Digital Annealer, a computing architecture that is inspired by quantum principles and can carry out operations beyond the scope of conventional computers, opening up potential applications in health care, drug discovery, finance, logistics, transportation and more.

Fujitsu also launched an R&D centre in Toronto in 2017 as part of its partnership with the university.

President Gertler said the collaboration between U of T and Fujitsu is testament to the richness of Torontos technology and innovation ecosystem.

Toronto is increasingly recognized as a global investment destination, he said. The University of Toronto is a major factor in shaping that status and making Toronto so attractive, and the presence of Fujitsu Laboratories has helped raise this attractiveness even further

Hara, who was appointed the CEO of Fujitsu Laboratories in 2019, said the company is excited about its ongoing association with U of T and the potential research outcomes of the partnership.

As a global brand, Fujitsu is always looking for innovative solutions to real-world problems, he said. Through this partnership, we have the opportunity to work with world-class researchers to contribute to social impact.

He added that the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory was responsible for important developments.

The Digital Annealer is a great example of the exciting technology we have been developing together. Therefore, we would like to engage in future research of the Digital Annealer with U of T with greater outcomes.

The partnership between U of T and Fujitsu Labs can be traced back more than two decades to 1998, when Professor Ali Sheikholeslami, then a PhD student in electrical engineering at U of T, did a six-week internship at Fujitsu Labs.

Following the internship, Sheikholeslami continued to work with Fujitsu Lab researchers, and a formal collaboration was established after Sheikholeslami was hired as a faculty member at the Edward S. Rogers. Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

Today, Sheikholeslami is the head of the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory, which has engaged more than 10 faculty members and 25 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from fields ranging from electrical, computer, mechanical and industrial engineering to medicine, finance and statistics.

In collaboration with Fujitsu, Sheikholeslami said the researchers aim to improve the speed, accuracy and flexibility of the Digital Annealer technology. He added quantum computing is another promising avenue.

We would like to collaborate with Fujitsu and expand our collaboration into the area of quantum computing, Sheikholeslami said. As you know, a quantum computer is a natural extension of the Digital Annealer.

What we would like to do is build quantum computing systems in the near future. We have a lot of expertise at U of T all the expertise that it takes to build this quantum processing unit. We have expertise in physics, hardware, algorithm and in software. We will be discussing the possible collaboration.

Sheikholeslami said U of T and Fujitsu have applied for or are in the process of applying for patents on a range of inventions.More inventions are in the making, and theres a possibility now of U of T and Fujitsu co-creating startups for the first time, he said.

In his closing remarks, President Gertler lauded the progress achieved by the partnership and highlighted that the best is yet to come.

As the platform expands now to include even more disciplines, no doubt it will enable even greater accomplishments in the years to come, he said. I, for one, will be truly delighted to follow its progress.

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U of T and Fujitsu extend agreement to collaborate on cutting-edge computing research - News@UofT