The development of quantum technologies and their uses represent a major challenge on a national, European and international scale.
In this context, GENCI is contributing to the adoption of quantum technologies in order to help France achieve the objective set by the President of the Republic on January 21, 2021 when announcing the French National Quantum Plan: "to establish France durably in the first circle of countries that master quantum technologies".
Mandated alongside the CEA, Inria, CNRS and CPU as part of the "national strategy on quantum technologies" to host and make available in France the first European infrastructure coupling supercomputers and various quantum acceleration devices, GENCI is also committed as part of the Quantum Pack with the Île de France Region and Lab Quantique to foster synergies between manufacturers, start-ups and academic consortia in order to familiarize themselves with this major technological and strategic transformation.
Pursuing its action today in this dynamic, GENCI is pleased to announce its support as sponsor and co-organizer of the BIG Quantum Hackathon organized by QuantX. This commitment was made possible in particular by a shared conviction: the success of quantum technologies will depend on scientific excellence as much as entrepreneurial spirit.
This support strengthens the partnership between GENCI and Le Lab Quantique, as well as other stakeholders, with a view to future collaborations and projects, fostering the development of the quantum ecosystem in France, and potentially leading to the development of industrial programs on use cases.
The BIG Quantum Hackathon
The BIG Quantum Hackathon by QuantX is a unique competition. It aims to bring together the entire quantum computing value chain to demonstrate its ability to meet real-life challenges. The event will bring together industrial and financial companies, venture capitalists and expert consultants, along with quantum computing specialists from academia and quantum hardware and software suppliers, to tackle a range of problems from fields as diverse as chemistry, machine learning, optimization, finance and computer simulation. Fundamentally designed and geared towards collaborative problem-solving, the BIG Quantum Hackathon will help participants measure the real impact of their work, test the performance of currently available Quantum Computing solutions, probe existing commercial interest in such solutions, as well as better identify priorities and efforts for the years ahead.
The BIG Quantum Hackathon is organized under the patronage of Cédric O - Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Electronic Communications, and Neil Abroug - National Coordinator for Quantum Strategy. The event is supported by BPI France - the French Public Investment Bank, Inria - the Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology, GENCI, Quantonation - the first venture capital fund dedicated to quantum technology and innovative physics, and Le Lab Quantique - an association with the aim of promoting quantum technologies and setting up collaborative projects between academic, industrial or financial players.
The Big Quantum Hackathon will run from October 2 to 5, in two phases. The technical phase will take place on October 2 and 3 at Inria. The application phase dedicated to companies will be held on October 4 and 5 at Quantonation.
About GENCI
Created by the public authorities in 2007, GENCI is a major research infrastructure, a public operator aiming to democratize the use of digital simulation through high-performance computing combined with the use of artificial intelligence, to support French scientific and industrial competitiveness.
GENCI pursues three missions:
- Implement the national strategy of equipping French open scientific research with high-performance computing, storage and massive data processing resources associated with AI technologies, in conjunction with the three national computing centers;
- Support the realization of an integrated high-performance computing ecosystem on a national and European scale;
- Promote digital simulation and high-performance computing to academic research and industry.
GENCI is a non-trading company owned 49% by the French State represented by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, 20% by CEA, 20% by CNRS, 10% by the Universities represented by the Conference of University Presidents and 1% by Inria.
About QuantX
QuantX is an alumni association of the École Polytechnique (X) with over 150 quantum computing specialists worldwide: representatives of industrial groups, academics, start-ups, investors, consulting firms, media and government bodies. QuantX's vision is based on the conviction that the success of quantum technologies depends on scientific excellence and entrepreneurship. By bringing together the national quantum community, QuantX aims to accelerate the growth of the French quantum ecosystem by improving knowledge transfer to help discover new applications, train future quantum engineers and experts, and motivate future generations to build the quantum computing of tomorrow. After a series of events aimed at densifying the links between the various players in the ecosystem, QuantX is looking forward to its next landmark event: the BIG Quantum Hackathon, the biggest business-tech competition ever organized in France in the field of quantum technologies.