The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the establishment of a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). This step gives selected researchers and scientists access to the cloud-based quantum computing service Braket from Amazon.
“The quantum computer sector is still at a very young stage in the country. The laboratory is a great opportunity for our researchers, be it in educational institutions, in research laboratories or in the startup environment, ”said Ajay Sawhney, Secretary of MeitY, during the announcement. “In quantum computing, there is still an enormous amount that we all have to learn together. Exactly what will it be useful for, how will it be applied to the scenario we have inside the country, these are the questions we have to ask, ”he added.
MeITY and AWS will be soliciting suggestions from scientists and researchers in February and early March as part of the announcement. A steering committee will then go through these proposals and approve those that align with the goals set on national priorities. The laboratory will identify quantum computer problems for experiments between central and state governments, research institutions and universities.
The selected proposals will have access to AWS credits for using Amazon’s quantum computer cloud platform. The laboratory then provides applicants with access to quantum computer hardware, simulators, and programming tools via Amazon Braket, which are available on demand and free of charge.
Researchers and scientists whose proposals are selected are expected to create experiments based on them. The final experiments will also be reviewed later by the committee. Successful proposals will be selected for further improvement and production. AWS also provides technical support for the selected proposals.
The Meity secretary also stressed that the Indian government has a very large quantum-related mission led by the Ministry of Science and Technology. “We are also looking into what kind of quantum computing skills we should build with Indian efforts in the country,” he added.
The selected proposals will have access to AWS credits for using Amazon’s quantum computer cloud platform. (Image source: AWS)
“The Quantum Computing Application Lab, in partnership with AWS, is the first lab for AWS that is geared towards a government mission. We are trying to leverage whatever resources it takes to truly build the capacity and capabilities in India to be able to disseminate this technology in a meaningful way, ”said Rahul Sharma, President of the Public Sector – AISPL, AWS India and South Asia the announcement .
He added that the company wants to democratize quantum computing and provide the right development environments that can make things easier for researchers and developers working on quantum algorithms. “We want to build this in a scalable way that is accessible to all,” he said.
Quantum Computing is an emerging area that aims to take computing beyond what existing classic computers can do. Quantum computers rely on the laws of quantum mechanics to calculate and solve problems. The idea is that one day these computers could solve problems that traditional computers can’t. In addition to Amazon, players such as IBM, Google and Microsoft are researching quantum computers.
