CCP-QC: Collaborative Computational Project - Quantum Computinge-

Lead Research Organisation: Durham University
Department Name: Physics

Abstract

CCP-QC is a network linking computational scientists with quantum computing scientists and engineers, to develop some of the first useful applications of quantum computers.

Quantum computing is promising fundamentally faster computation as part of broader quantum technology development that includes more secure communications, and more sensitive measurements and imaging.
Our conventional computers, including those in mobile phones, modern cars, and powering the internet, are based on silicon semicoductor technology.
After half a century of growth, silicon semiconductor computer chips have been at the limit of what they can do for the past decade.
Faster computing requires more computers, which use more electricity and this growth is thus limited.
Quantum computing uses a different logic, enabling much faster computing for some types of problems.
The engineering challenges are formidable, and we are still at the stage equivalent to the first semiconductor chips in the early 1960s.
Early quantum computers are already available: developing applications to suit the capabilities of this hardware is the next step, to enable us to take advantage of the opportunities they offer to speed up our computations.

An important set of computational tasks in materials, chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering is developed by communities supported by collaborative computational projects (CCPs).
CCP-QC will network across these CCPs and the quantum computing community, to enable the CCP communities to enhance their computations by using quantum computers.
It will do this by organising joint meetings, holding training days to teach computational scientists about quantum computing, supporting small projects to develop proof-of-principle code and demonstrations on early quantum computing hardware, and providing an online information resource on early quantum computing applications.

CCP-QC will interface with the new National Quantum Computing Centre, to be launched in April 2020 and based on the STFC Harwell campus in Oxfordshire.
CCP-QC will enable quantum computing hardware providers to have their hardware tested with real problems of importance to the computational science communities.
The outcomes of such tests can thus influence the development of quantum computing hardware, leading to faster development of useful applications that are adapted to extract the best advantage from the early quantum hardware.
The simulations carried out by the CCP communities cover a wide range of important applications, from smart materials (e.g., better solar cells and batteries) to drug design (bio-molecular simulation).
CCP-QC will thus contribute to the development of faster computational methods in many important applications with wide-ranging scientific, social and economic benefits.

Planned Impact

Accelerated deployment of quantum computing in the UK for useful applications will lead to a very wide range of impacts:

1. Improved simulations across a broad range of areas (materials, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering) leading to scientific, commercial, and social benefits in the UK.

2. Maintaining and enhancing UK competitiveness in quantum computing, leading to economic benefits from the associated commercial activities.

3. Training of people in quantum computing applications, early career and established academics, some will move to industry supporting UK economic growth in quantum technology.

4. The long term impact of a range of successful applications of quantum computing will affect the quality of everyday life by changing the way we live and manage our lives and environment, as it will offer faster and higher quality diagnostics. Examples include: how we communicate (holography); save energy (managing energy flows); improved weather, climate, ocean and geological (earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) predictions; personalised medicine and health diagnostics (e.g. fast analysis of DNA); and optimising transport networks (air, sea and roads).

5. UK security will be maintained and enhanced through staying competitive in the development of cutting-edge computing. There are many applications in defence and cyber security that rely on state-of-the-art computational capabilities. By accelerating the development of quantum computing capability in the UK, CCP-QC will contribute to this important broader requirement for UK security.
 
Description This grant has been transferred to Strathclyde, please see EP/T026715/2
Exploitation Route This grant has been transferred to Strathclyde, please see EP/T026715/2
Sectors Other

 
Description This grant has been transferred to Strathclyde, please see EP/T026715/2
 
Description International Network on Quantum Annealing (INQA)
Amount £321,864 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W027003/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2022 
End 02/2025
 
Description Particles At eXascale on High Performance Computers (PAX-HPC)
Amount £3,041,191 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W026775/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2021 
End 11/2024
 
Description Quantum Algorithms for Nonlinear Differential Equations - QuANDiE
Amount £265,019 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/Y004515/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2023 
End 03/2025
 
Description Quantum Algorithms for Nonlinear Differential Equations - QuANDiE
Amount £29,520 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/Y004663/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2023 
End 03/2025
 
Description Quantum Algorithms for Nonlinear Differential Equations - QuANDiE
Amount £233,683 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/Y004566/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2023 
End 03/2025
 
Description Quantum Enhanced and Verified Exascale Computing - QEVEC
Amount £1,007,642 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W00772X/2 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2021 
End 08/2024
 
Description Open Standards for Emerging Quantum Processors 
Organisation National Physical Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Connections through CCP-QC management team led to a team assembled for a successful bid for a tender from UKRI for the NQCC, led by NPL.
Collaborator Contribution See above, most of the team are part of the CCP-QC Network.
Impact Report on standards and benchmarking for quantum computing for NQCC will be delivered soon.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Open Standards for Emerging Quantum Processors 
Organisation National Physical Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Connections through CCP-QC management team led to a team assembled for a successful bid for a tender from UKRI for the NQCC, led by NPL.
Collaborator Contribution See above, most of the team are part of the CCP-QC Network.
Impact Report on standards and benchmarking for quantum computing for NQCC will be delivered soon.
Start Year 2021
 
Description dstl 
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution support and expertise for developing quantum computing applications
Collaborator Contribution serving on the management team to develop and co-ordinate events and training
Impact none so far - collaboration ended due to the death of the main collaborator
Start Year 2019
 
Description A Datta CCP5 talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Online talk given by Dr Animesh Datta to CCP5 event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnJxMC_m91k
 
Description CCP-WSI 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact gave a talk on quantum computing and participated as a discussion panel member on future computing developments
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ccp-wsi.ac.uk/events/training/code_developers_workshop_2
 
Description CCP5 AGM talk introduction to quantum computing 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Gave an invited tutorial talk to the CCP5 AGM (online due to covid) to introduce quantum computing to the CCP5 community.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://agm40.ccp5.ac.uk/
 
Description CSA briefing 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact half our online presentation explaining quantum computing to incoming Chief Scientific Advisors and their teams
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description M Ghibaudi Riverlane talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Marco Ghibaudi, Riverlane, March 9, 2021, Daresbury Laboratory, (online), talk on Quantum control stacks - why do need more control?
Inform audience (mainly Research Software Engineers) about technical details of quantum computing, to ensure they are prepared for future deployment of quantum computers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBNAVdo5OJ0
 
Description NPL CM event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact talk on quantum computing and applications to condensed matter simulations as an invited speaker at a workshop in person at NPL and live streamed to an international virtual audience
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://ccp-qc.ac.uk/qc_cm/
 
Description PASC plenary 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact gave invited plenary talk to the ACM sponsored PASC conference (Platform for Advanced Scientific Computing; online, organised by the University of Geneva) on quantum computing and applications
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://pasc21.pasc-conference.org/
 
Description Poster presentation at QCTIP (online) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Poster presented online at conference about quantum algorithms and applications, to introduce CCP-QC to the quantum computing community. Several people who viewed the poster joined the CCP-QC mailing list (to be notified of future activities).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://riverlane.com/qctip-conference/
 
Description Poster presented at BQIT2020 online conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presented a poster online to introduce CCP-QC to the quantum technology community. Several people joined the CCP-QC mailing list after viewing the poster.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL http://www.bristol.ac.uk/physics/research/quantum/conferences/bqit-workshop/
 
Description Poster presented at TQC2020 online conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Poster presented online at conference about quantum algorithms and applications, to introduce CCP-QC to the quantum computing community. Several people who viewed the poster joined the CCP-QC mailing list (to be notified of future activities).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL http://tqc2020.lu.lv/
 
Description Recorded talk online for Quantum 2020 IoP Publishing+China conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Pre-recorded 15 minute talk and participated in online Q&A session, to intorduce CCP-QC to the quantum computing community.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.iopconferences.org/iop/frontend/reg/thome.csp?pageID=978476&eventID=1552
 
Description Tutorial seminar at CCPbiosim online training week 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Online tutorial seminar for the participants in the CCPbiosim online training week, to introduce them to quantum computing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.ccpbiosim.ac.uk/events/workshop-course-material/eventdetail/127/-/training-week-2020
 
Description poster presented at QIP2021 (online) conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact presented a poster at the online conference QIP 2021 to introduce CCP-QC to the quantum computing community.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.mcqst.de/qip2021/