09/27/2023
planqc and d-fine have been commissioned by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to improve climate models using innovative quantum machine learning techniques as part of the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative (DLR QCI). The contract is worth around one million euros and aims to enable more accurate climate predictions and formulate robust strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. For planqc, this represents its second contract from DLR, following the €29 million order to build Europe's first digital quantum computer based on neutral atoms.
As pioneers in their respective fields, planqc and d-fine are pooling their expertise to make groundbreaking advances in climate modeling in collaboration with researchers at DLR's Institute of Atmospheric Physics (DLR-IPA). Based in Munich's Quantum Valley, planqc 2022 was founded by renowned scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU). In parallel, d-fine has established itself as a leading European consultancy for analytical topics, preparing companies and financial institutions for the upcoming quantum revolution. Together, planqc and d-fine will improve climate models using quantum machine learning techniques as part of the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative (DLR QCI) in the DLR QCI Climate QML project based at the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics. This work is intended to reduce uncertainties in climate predictions to enable robust estimates and recommended actions for diverse application areas in aeronautics, space, transport and energy, and to combat the global climate crisis more efficiently.
"We are very proud that DLR relies on planqc as a technology leader in the field of neutral atoms for the development of quantum algorithms for climate simulation. This underlines our claim to be a full-stack provider that develops algorithms in co-design with its hardware to achieve a quantum advantage for our customers as early as possible," says Martin Kiffner, Head of Algorithms at planqc.
Martin Kiffner is considered one of the world's leading quantum technology experts and recently joined planqc from the University of Oxford, where he leads the quantum algorithms team. Together with scientific advisors Prof. Dr. Dieter Jaksch (Oxford University and University of Hamburg) and Prof. Dr. J. Ignacio Cirac (Director at MPQ), planqc has a world-renowned quantum algorithms team that supports customers in the implementation of quantum algorithms.
The combination of machine learning and quantum computing to improve climate models is a highly innovative project with relevance for society as a whole. The fact that d-fine was selected together with planqc to support DLR in this ambitious project confirms the activities in these disciplines and their success. Among other things, d-fine is a founding member of the PlanQK consortium, which was established in 2020 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. Here, the d-fine team develops and implements Quantum Machine Learning applications for diverse use cases and pioneers the German economy.
Improved climate models are crucial to make more accurate predictions about climate development and help to better understand the potential impact of different aspects of the climate crisis. This will enable informed risk assessments regarding extreme weather events, sea level rise, and other climate-related changes. Improved models are critical to developing more effective adaptation and mitigation strategies for a better and more sustainable future.
Specifically, this ambitious project will improve atmospheric modeling by eliminating systematic errors in climate models through machine learning. This will be supported by using a high-resolution version of the Icosahedral Non-Hydrostatic Model (ICON), in which complex processes such as cloud formation and convection are explicitly represented. In addition, we hope to significantly accelerate the development process of climate simulations.
Quantum computers are considered a disruptive technology that will offer the possibility in the future to perform calculations and simulations in certain areas much faster than classical supercomputers. Quantum computers can be used, for example, to design new materials or medicines, as well as to solve complex problems in the transportation and energy sectors or in finance. Quantum computers exploit the quantum mechanical effects of entanglement and superposition: their quantum bits (qubits) can assume the states 0 and 1 simultaneously - and not just sequentially, like classical computers. This makes quantum computers extremely powerful.
Application areas identified by DLR include, for example, quantum machine learning, optimization problems and the simulation of quantum materials. Through its own research activities, DLR has identified a clear need for the future use of quantum computers in all of its core areas, such as aerospace, energy, transport, security and digitization.
The start-up planqc was founded in April 2022 in Garching near Munich, Germany. The founding team builds on decades of groundbreaking research and technology development at Munich's Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ). Using optical gratings, a technology developed in Munich, thousands of atoms can now be trapped in a light crystal generated by a single laser beam. Quantum information is stored in the electronic states of alkaline earth atoms, the same states used to build the world's best atomic clocks because of their exceptionally long coherence times. This unique combination of quantum technologies has the potential to scale most rapidly to thousands of qubits with outstanding gate quality, a prerequisite for an industrially relevant quantum advantage.
The success of d-fine is based on the expertise of its 1,500 employees: all have a university degree with an in-depth research background, 90% of them in physics, mathematics and computer science.50% of our employees hold PhDs, which is also reflected in the excellent ranking in the CASE Employer Ranking for employee qualifications. d-fine supports its customers from strategy development to technical conception and the development of preliminary studies and prototypes, to IT-side implementation and going live, placing the highest value on close, trusting and fair cooperation.
For more information, please visit www.planqc.eu
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