The ELKH Wigner Research Centre for Physics (Wigner RCP) is taking part in the implementation of the OpenSuperQPlus project, which was launched on March 1, 2023, and brings together 28 European research partners from 10 countries with the goal of developing a 1,000-qubit quantum computer. The project, which is part of the European Quantum Technology Flagship program, continues and enhances the OpenSuperQ (Open Superconducting Quantum Computers) project that started in 2018. It brings together most of its team with new partners – including the key partners of the national initiatives of the Netherlands, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, and Sweden, full-stack quantum computing startups and many other key actors in the field. The Budapest University of Technology and Economics is another Hungarian participant in the large-scale follow-up project coordinated by the Forschungszentrum Jülich. The project at Wigner RCP is led by the Quantum Computing and Quantum Information Research Group under the guidance of project manager Zoltán Zimborás. Additionally, Orsolya Kálmán, a member of the Quantum Information and Foundations of Quantum Mechanics Group, is also involved in the work.
The OpenSuperQPlus team has formed a framework partnership and put forward an ambitious seven-year agenda leading to a 1,000-qubit quantum computing system. The consortium is now launching its first stage OpenSuperQPlus 100 that on the one hand aims at developing several systems for evaluating hard- and software as well as a user-oriented 100-qubit system for the first quantum applications within the next 3.5 years. With regard to the second stage it will also look at the critical components and technological decisions needed for the 1,000-qubit quantum computing system.
OpenSuperQPlus is funded by the European Union with 20 million euros from a specific quantum grant within the Horizon Europe framework program. This budget goes a long way through synergies with local and national initiatives. “We are bringing together European specialists for all the components of such a quantum computing system under a unified framework – be they in the public or private sector. The technological challenge of beating errors in quantum computers and scaling them up needs all hands on deck from the outstanding quantum ecosystem in Europe,” says coordinator Frank Wilhelm-Mauch of Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Like its predecessor project OpenSuperQ, the project's continuation within the framework of OpenSuperQPlus aims at a versatile quantum computer made in Europe. The consortium anticipates special use cases in quantum simulation for the chemical industry, materials science or in solving optimization problems and in machine learning.
Further information:
https://opensuperqplus.eu
https://twitter.com/opensuperqplus
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/93100945
About the Quantum Flagship initiative
The Quantum Flagship was launched in 2018 as one of the largest and most ambitious research initiatives of the European Union. With a budget of 1 billion euros and a duration of 10 years, the flagship brings together research institutions, academia, industry, enterprises, and policy makers, in a joint and collaborative initiative on an unprecedented scale. The main objective of the Flagship is to consolidate and expand European scientific leadership and excellence in this research area as well as to transfer quantum physics research from the lab to the market by means of commercial applications and disruptive technologies. With over 5,000 researchers from academia and industry involved in this initiative throughout its lifetime, it aims to create the next generation of disruptive technologies that will impact Europe’s society, placing the region as a worldwide knowledge-based industry and technological leader in this field.