Quantum Application Lab opens to explore the advantages and business opportunities for quantum computing
On 23 March, Quantum Application Lab (QAL) launched.
The Quantum Application Lab is partly funded by Quantum Delta NL as one of our so-called ‘fieldlabs’; bottom-up initiatives that come from the ecosystem and that we support through our programme’s Action Line 2: Building a Business Ecosystem.
Our director for Ecosystem Development Freeke Heijman, who is also the coordinator of Actionline 2: “I’m excited about the start of the Quantum Application Lab and congratulate its team and founding partners. I’m really curious about the new partners that will become part of the QAL, as well as activities that will take place in the next few years.”
Read more in the press release from the Quantum Application Lab, published below. Best of luck to the team!
Amsterdam/The Hague/Delft – 24 March 2022
Quantum Application Lab now open to explore the advantages and business opportunities for quantum computing
Organizations that want to investigate how quantum computing can benefit their business are invited to connect to the knowledge and technical infrastructure offered by the Quantum Application Lab (QAL) now. QAL is a newly formed public-private R&D partnership that offers a unique team of scientists, researchers, engineers, application developers, software and hardware specialists in a leading platform to explore and bring to market the benefits of quantum computing. QAL will support companies to navigate this complex and changeable environment, in order to make the best possible choices for their development roadmap and their envisioned applications.
A promising future
Quantum computing technology has attracted lots of attention in the last couple of years, because of its promise to deliver faster and better solutions to certain types of problems, compared to conventional binary (super) computers. This is because quantum bits are used, whose state can be a superposition of 1 and 0. This, along with other quantum mechanical effects such as interference and entanglement, will result in a fundamentally novel way of information processing.
The enormous potential in computation power that quantum computers will offer is going to solve problems that are currently extremely difficult or unsolvable for conventional computers. Examples of these are optimization problems (e.g. in risk management for banks and insurers), simulation of quantum mechanical systems (e.g. predicting the behaviour of new molecules and materials) and potentially the acceleration of machine learning tasks.
The Dutch government is making significant investments in quantum computing in order to increase the scale of innovation and development, as are other governments in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Developing useful applications of quantum computing
Right now, technology development of quantum hardware is accelerating strongly, spreading from the academic realm to the high-tech industry supply chains that will produce the first prototypes, for the benefit of pioneering end-users. Companies and other organizations are starting to look at useful applications for quantum computing, but the availability of deep technical expertise and suitable hardware platforms can be a bottleneck. QAL will offer access to these services, and will collaborate closely with future end-users of quantum computers to develop solutions that will benefit people and societies.
QAL will focus on optimization, simulation, and machine learning applications initially. As such it’s fully aligned with the roadmap of the Quantum Delta NL foundation (QDNL). QAL will evaluate and support its partners on their journeys towards ‘quantum value’ and ‘quantum advantage’ and help them to develop R&D strategies and make investment decisions.
About the consortium
The founding consortium partners of the Quantum Application Lab are the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI, the national research institute for mathematics and computer science), who are collaborating already through the QuSoft institute since 2015; the Netherlands Organization for applied scientific research (TNO); the Dutch collaborative ICT Organization for Dutch higher education and research (SURF); Technical University TU Delft (on behalf Quantum Inspire) and the Netherlands eScience Center. IBM Quantum will serve as a technology provider.
Postdoctoral Researcher in Quantum Algorithms and Optimization
We offer a two-year postdoctoral position as part of a joint research project between QuSoft and TOYOTA, that is exploring the possibilities of quantum computing in research and development use cases, in particular quantum optimization as part of machine learning workflows.
You will be employed at the Institute for Informatics (IvI) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), and you will be a member of QuSoft, the Dutch research institute for quantum software.
What are you going to do
The project is a scientific exploration of the possibilities of speeding up the solving of optimization problems, especially those related to primitives in machine learning. This will be done in collaboration with domain experts from TOYOTA, who will contribute real-world use cases and data. Your research will encompass several aspects of this question, and will encompass:
The project will be supervised by:
What do we require from you
Our offer to you
A temporary employment contract for 38 hours per week for a period of 24 months. Starting as soon as possible.
The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 2,846 to € 4,490 (scale 10). This is supplemented by 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% end-of-year allowance. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.
Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits, check for the benefits here.
Do you have any questions about this vacancy?
Or do you want to know more about our organization? Please contact: Dr. Florian Speelman
Applications should include the following information (all files besides your CV should be submitted in one single pdf file):
Interested? Apply here.
House of Quantum and TNO sign collaboration agreement for shared quantum test facility
During the annual event for the entire Quantum Delta NL community, which took place in Rotterdam this month, House of Quantum (HoQ) and TNO signed a collaboration agreement for the development of a shared Quantum Technology (QT) test facility. This facility will be realized at the House of Quantum ‘Elektronicaweg’, in Delft.
Winnaars eerste Quantum Delta NL MKB-call bekendgemaakt