According to an announcement this week, the University of Innsbruck and one of its spin-off companies, AQT, have integrated a quantum computer into a high-performance computing (HPC) environment for the first time in Austria.
The researchers and the developers at Innsbruck University and AQT were working on the integration of a quantum computer into an HPC environment under the context of the FFG-funded project HPQC.
The Innsbruck team combined the university’s UIBK-operated computing cluster, “LEO5”, with AQT’s “IBEX Q1” quantum computer. This work has set the stage for future research and development on quantum-enabled solutions.
This successful hybrid infrastructure of a supercomputer and a quantum computer can now solve complex problems in chemistry, materials science, or optimization, with greater ease.
The Managing Director of the FFG, the Austrian funding agency for business-related research, development, and innovation, Henrietta Egerth, says, “The successful integration of a quantum computer into a high-performance computing environment marks a significant milestone for Austrian and European research and technology development.”
She further added that she was proud to support this pioneering development that “opens up completely new possibilities for mastering complex scientific and industrial challenges and shaping the future of computing.”
The infrastructure is currently focusing on the demonstration of hybrid quantum solutions. Research partners such as Math. Tec GmbH in Vienna and the research group around Prof. Ivona Brandić at the TU Vienna currently have direct access to execute computations in this hybrid HPC-QC framework.
These partners work to facilitate possibilities for notably more users benefiting from the infrastructure in Innsbruck and find its applications in new lectures to train an upcoming generation of quantum-aware researchers and engineers.
This integration allows researchers and developers access to outstanding computational capabilities and acceleration for specific problem classes.
