India media is reporting that the nation’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is collaborating with AWS to establish a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the country.
The goal is to accelerate quantum computing-led research and development and enable new scientific discoveries.
The lab will provide quantum computing as a service to government ministries and departments, researchers, scientists, academia and developers, to enable advances in areas such as manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, and aerospace engineering.
According to the agreement, AWS will provide hosting with technical and programmatic support for the Lab. This MeitY initiative will provide scientific, academic, and developer communities access to a quantum computing development environment aligned with the government’s science and technology priorities.
“India has a rich legacy in science, technology, and innovation. We believe that India’s path forward will be driven by achieving world-class scientific solutions. Enabling our scientific community with advanced technologies plays a key role towards scientific advancements and learning,” said Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY. “Today, we are delighted to take another significant step in India’s science and technology journey with the establishment of the MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab with the support of AWS.”
This is a critical first step in the plan to develop quantum computing applications in the country, said Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY.
“An early and successful foundation in quantum computing is important to achieve leadership in this emerging field. The MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab, established with the support of AWS, is the first of its kind initiative in the world, and aims to enable India’s talented researchers to explore the unchartered applications of quantum computing, and pave the way for new discoveries and disruptions,” Kumar said.
“A core mission of MeitY is to identify and deploy technologies to promote innovation and discovery tohelp India advance, and achieve a more sustainable future. Quantum computing has the extraordinary potential to help countries leapfrog technology generations, achieve scientific leadership, and deliver answers to complex economic and social challenges. This initiative willaugment India’s ongoing efforts in developing Quantum Computing Applications.” said Abhishek Singh, President & CEO, National e-Governance Division (NeGD), MeitY.
The MeitYQuantum Computing Applications Lab will identify quantum computing problem statements for experimentationfrom among Central and State Governments,Research Institutions, and Academia. It will work with subject matter experts from the government sector to define the problem statements, and make them public, inviting applications from researchers, academia, and organizations to address them. The Lab will then provide select applicants with access to quantum computing hardware, simulators, and programming tools, on-demand and at no cost, via Amazon Braket, that enables scientists and developers to build algorithms, conduct advanced simulations, and run experiments. Amazon Braket provides a development environment to enable users to explore and design quantum algorithms, test and troubleshoot them on simulated quantum computers, and run them on different quantum hardware technologies.
Max Peterson, Vice President, International Sales, Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services, Inc. said, “We congratulate MeitY for its visionary leadership as it empowers the scientific community in India,” said M“By supporting the MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab, we aim to make quantum computing available to more scientists, researchers, developers and organisations, enabling them to access and experiment with the technology, and explore the practical applications of quantum algorithms.”
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