[ad_1]
The research will specifically explore the potential of quantum quantities in dissolved catalysts, otherwise known as homogeneous catalysis.
BASF is joining the SEEQC-led QuPharma project, launched in 2021, to explore how quantum computing can accelerate the drug discovery process, in partnership with Merck KGaA.
The partnership expands the project’s commercial focus to include simulations relevant to the chemical industry.
“SEEQC addresses scaling bottlenecks by integrating critical system functionality into a unique system-on-a-chip quantum computing platform,” said Horst Weiss, Vice President, Next Generation Computing at BASF. “By partnering with SEEQC, we can explore how to match our specific use case to its unique technology, achieving an early head start in the NISQ era and exploring how fault-tolerant quantum computing can scale.”
Matthew Hutchings, chief product officer and co-founder of SEEQC, said: “Partnering with BASF allows SEEQC to further expand the commercialization of our application-specific quantum computing platform. Working with a chemical industry leader like BASF further validates our scalable quantum computing roadmap and strengthens our application-oriented platform development.”
“We are thrilled that BASF is joining the project,” said Philipp Harbach, global head of the digital innovation group at Merck KGaA. “This complements our work with SEEQC and QuPharma partners and will ultimately push the chemical and pharmaceutical industry towards earlier realization of quantum advantage.”
SEEQC will use its proprietary digital chip-based quantum computer to scale support for commercial simulations in industrial catalysts. The industrial catalysts targeted in this project are particularly difficult to simulate with today’s computers, but they form the basis of one of the largest homogeneously catalyzed reactions in industry, producing nearly 10 million metric tons of oxo chemicals each year.
By partnering with SEEQC in the QuPharma project, BASF will apply its considerable expertise in critical pharmaceutical research. Combined with SEEQC’s scalable chip-based quantum computing platform, this expertise can effectively address the challenges and offer accuracy in simulations of chemical structures.
The QuPharma project launched in November 2021 to build and deliver a full-stack quantum computer that can be used alongside classical supercomputers to accelerate the drug development process.
SEEQC has been awarded a $9 million contract to lead the project, along with a consortium of partners spanning the quantum computing supply chain, including Riverlane, Oxford Instruments, the University of Oxford, the Medicines Discovery Catapult and members of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, including the National UK Center for Quantum Computing and the Hartree Centre.
Through the QuPharma project, SEEQC provides its end customers with a clear roadmap for when quantum computing will deliver commercial value to their business. In an effort to increase reliability and investment, SEEQC will deliver key features of a scalable platform, including low-latency digital readout, robust digital multiplexing and more on this roadmap through the QuPharma project.
[ad_2]