Grant: Alliance Grants

jaQuantum computing will impact industries across Canada's economy. The computational speedup promised by quantum computers will revolutionize the design of new materials for manufacturing, new drugs for healthcare, and new fertilizers for our agriculture. The Quantum Software Consortium will accelerate this transformation by building a Canadian competitive advantage in quantum software development. The consortium will focus on a novel, high-impact approach to quantum computing by developing methodologies and software for the emerging model of distributed quantum computing. This distributed architecture links many quantum processors together to pool their processing capacity. This paradigmatic shift promises to bring the power of quantum computing into the mainstream years early. The team will pioneer distributed quantum computing software methodologies by adapting known quantum algorithms, developing new distributed quantum algorithms, and establishing communication primitives programming abstractions to connect disparate quantum processors. The team will also develop software for several socially and economically relevant distributed applications, including practical chemistry, quantum materials, and quantum machine learning. The benefits to Canada are manifold. The research and follow-on economic activity will help Canada establish a new quantum software sector, create job opportunities and boost economic growth for years. As such, the Consortium will advance the goals of Canada's National Quantum Strategy and the country's position in the international race for quantum leadership.