MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab, which was announced in 2021 as a collaboration between the Government of India and Amazon Web Services (AWS), is a pioneer virtual lab to accelerate quantum computing-led research and development, and to enable new scientific discoveries. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) basically aims at granting scientific, academic, and developer communities access to a quantum computing development environment on the cloud through this initiative.
The scientific, academic, start-ups and developer communities can access the cloud quantum computing development environment in the Meity QCAL. In short this move is expected to bolster scientific research in India as researchers receive access to a fully managed quantum computing service on the cloud. “The Lab puts quantum computing in the hands of every developer and scientist to build algorithms, conduct advanced simulations, and run experiments,” says the Indian Government on the Initiative.
The MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab also accepts and invites quantum computing problem statements for experimentation from central and state government ministries, government agencies, research institutions, and academia. All the proposals that come to MeitY QCAL go through an Evaluation Committee. The feedback from Evaluation Committee members is presented to the Steering Committee for final onboarding of the projects. Researchers need to note that the Meity QCAL provides credits to research proposals invited through call for proposals.
MeitY QCAL has projects from leading researchers belonging to institutes such as, CDACS, CSIR, ITs and IllTs, NITS, lISERs and NISERs, Universities and start-ups. The call for proposals for MeitY QCAL in Cohort 1 was exclusively open to the research community, while Cohort 2 expanded to include both the research and startup communities. Through MeitY QCAL, Quantum Computing research is being done in more than 10 domains, and 24 publications on Quantum Computing research papers have already been accepted and published.
How the MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab Supports Participants
Upon receiving proposals from interested participants, the Joint Governance Council evaluates proposals based on their alignment with national priorities. Once evaluated, it approves AWS credits and defines goals. The Lab then provides selected applicants with the following support:
- Access to quantum computing hardware, simulators, and programming tools, on-demand and at no cost through Amazon Braket.
- 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.
Developers and scientists build experiments and prototypes on Amazon Braket, utilizing the platform’s resources and tools. Throughout the process, AWS provides technical support to assist users in navigating and maximizing the capabilities of Amazon Braket. The results of proposals are shared with the Joint Governance Council for evaluation. Successful proposals are then selected for further enhancements and encouraged for production, ensuring a seamless progression from evaluation to implementation
