Today, in the Pozna Center for Supercomputing and Networks, with the participation of Deputy Minister Janusz Szyszinski, the opening ceremony of the first quantum center in Central and Eastern Europe was held. The Poznań Center for Supercomputing and Networks (PSNC), of the Institute of Organic Biochemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, is joining the IBM Quantum Network and will develop quantum computing technologies and their applications. The projects will be implemented in collaboration with other nodes of the global IBM Quantum Network ecosystem.

“The launch of the IBM Quantum Hub in Poland is a major step towards expanding our quantum ecosystem. Collaboration with IBM will allow PSNC to make new discoveries in quantum computing applications, which may eventually help overcome challenges of creating new materials or drugs – says Marcin Gajdziński, General Manager of IBM in Poland and the Baltic States.

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IBM chose PSNC to collaborate because the center has been conducting research and development work in quantum computing and quantum communication for many years. Dr. M. said Cesari Mazurk, Representative, IPC PAS Director of PSNC Network. “This access will also benefit universities that intend to teach students in quantum computing,” the professor notes. Doctor Hub. M. Roman Słowiński, Vice President of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Dr. adds. M. Krzysztof Kurowski, Technical Director of PSNC.

The implementation of the project responds to the needs of the research teams with which PSNC collaborates as an operator of information technology infrastructure for science, in particular the HPC computing infrastructure.

What does a quantum computer mean to scientists, industry and Poland?

Quantum computers allow you to run the most complex, multifactorial, and multifactor simulations of complex and dynamic processes in materials engineering and the life sciences, including chemistry, biomedicine, and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. Emphasizing the potential of quantum computers may be the great interest in innovative organizations such as NASA, Lockheed Martin, Los Alamos National Laboratory or the Volkswagen Group, which have purchased two new generations of quantum computers for their simulation and computing needs.

Qubit computers have the potential to offer the massive computing performance available to solve scientific and practical problems on a scale previously unavailable to supercomputers. A completely new way to perform split-second quantum simulations and computations will allow to perform high-performance calculations at a level that exceeds the computing power of supercomputers available today in the world and will give the opportunity to solve the most complex tasks “- explains Dr. Cesari Mazurk. An important advantage of quantum computers is also a fact They provide computational results in constant time, regardless of the amount of analyzed data and the complexity of the problem, considering the entire solution space in parallel.

The most important tasks planned by Polish scientists, the implementation of which requires access to a quantum computer, include:

1. Development of quantum algorithms for computations using personalization on a quantum computer combined with computational experiments on a quantum computer:

– Quantum Chemistry – Uniwersytet im. Adam Mickiewicz – Faculty of Chemistry

Quantum Machine Learning – Uniwersytet im. Adam Mickiewicz – Faculty of Physics

– Quantitative improvement and decision support systems – Poznan University of Technology – Faculty of Computer Science and Communications

– Topology and engineering in mechanics and quantum computing – Center for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

2. Access to a virtual environment to carry out quantum computing experiments for the teams involved in building the National Laboratory for Photonics and Quantum Technologies in Poland.

3. Support of a team of experts and publication of the work as part of the events organized in the Department of Quantum Computing, Informatics Committee, Polish Academy of Sciences.

4. Providing resources for the study program run by Polish universities in cooperation with IBM Polska.

5. Preparing Polish business and science for the era of quantum computing and setting priorities for using the new possibilities of computer technologies and reducing the risks of competitive threats to the Polish economy.

6. Teaching and building quantitative technical skills and engaging technical/scientific teams in learning through the practical application of quantum algorithms.

Dr. M. Cesare Mazurk reveals PSNC’s upcoming plans regarding its future hub. First, active collaboration within a network of 20 innovation centers that provide Q Hub services and set trends for the development of quantum computing in the world, including:

• CERN Openlab (UE)

• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (USA)

• CSIC Spanish National Research Council (EU)

• University of Melbourne (Australia)

• Keio University (Japan)

Second, the quantum axis opens up the possibility to develop prototypes for applications and algorithms with world-class experts in the quantum computing industry. The strong competencies of Polish science and the early, albeit dynamic, development of quantum computing give opportunities to build many competitive advantages for the Polish industry and intellectual property, which may be a significant contribution to the development of the global economy and the challenges facing humanity.

Thirdly, the subsidy obtained according to the conditions is not intended for economic purposes. However, the contribution to building competencies and tools related to quantum computing technology at such an early stage of its development is an opportunity to achieve a position that will allow to strengthen the competitiveness of the Polish economy in international markets in many industries, including:

• Accelerate the calculation of quantitative simulations of financial trading such as valuation of derivatives, which allows the improvement of financial instruments.

• complex simulations of scenarios in various industries (insufficient number of simulations has an impact on the adopted assumptions and the accuracy of the estimates);

• Increasing the quality and efficiency of AI algorithms by using new properties of quantum computers to improve data representation, features that describe data sets, and reference patterns.

The turning point in the process of arriving at a quantum computer, which lasted for about a year, was the arrangements made in November 2021 at the IMPACT conference in Pozna, where the Minister of Digitalization, Janusz Szyszinski and the Prime Minister’s Chancellery were acquired for this initiative. The PSNC initiative will be funded by a Special Purpose Subsidy from the Prime Minister from funds at the Minister of Digitization’s disposal. Poland will use quantum computers for the purposes of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, as well as as support for innovative solutions in industry, space technologies, measurement or in crisis modeling. Co-funding does not cover research activities, but provides access to users of Polish computing centers, universities and research institutes.

“In addition, it should be noted that the technological process and available applications of quantum computers require disproportionately less electricity in the computation process, and most importantly, the energy level in practice does not increase with the increase in the number of available qubits and computing efficiency. This is a serious argument. Others to invest in research and development in quantum computing and expand electronic infrastructure based on quantum computers” – explains Dr. Mazurka.

IBM Quantum Network Centers is a high-level global community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions, and research laboratories that advance quantum computing and research its practical applications. Network members and IBM Quantum teams collaborate to research and analyze how quantum computing can help and transform modern information technology across multiple industries and disciplines, including in finance, energy, chemistry, materials science, optimization, and machine learning. IBM Quantum is the industry’s first initiative to build global quantum systems for business and science.