IIIT-Hyderabad hosts first National Symposium on QuEST

Hyderabad: International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH) hosted the first national symposium under the Quantum Enabled Science and Technology (QuEST) program initiated by DST from April 11-13 2022. The Symposium was organised by national coordinator of QuEST Prof Arun K Pati from HRI, Prayagraj, and Prof Apoorva Patel from IISc, Bangalore, co-ordinator of QuEST.

The symposium was hosted by IIITH’s Centre for Quantum Science and Technology (CQST) with a focus on the latest research and developments in the areas of Quantum Computing, Quantum Information Science and Quantum Technology. QuEST’s hybrid model brought together academic and industry researchers from across the country and included review/tutorials, and invited as well as contributed talks.

Prof Pati said, “Over the past 3 decades, the field of Quantum Computing and Quantum Information has evolved from theoretical possibilities to real practical applications. Keeping that in view, Department of Science and Technology (DST) initiated the Quantum Enabled Science and Technology (QuEST) program. QUEST is poised toward making India Quantum ready and moving forward for the larger National Quantum Mission.”

In his inaugural speech DST Secretary Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar emphasized the need for Institutes to focus on research translations and real world solutions, going beyond publishing research papers and patents. Commending IIITH on its pioneering research, he was especially appreciative of its lab to land efforts and for setting up CQST, one of India’s dedicated and largest academic quantum science and technology centre. Confident that India would be a leader in quantum computing by 2030, Dr Chandrasekhar reiterated that, “The Govt of India is committed to investing in new technologies so that the true potential of the nation is realized”.

Prof PJ Narayanan said, “Quantum computing, communication, etc., are truly technologies with high future potential in which we must invest time and money today. IIIT Hyderabad has built a strong group in its CQST and aspires to play a major role in the country combining expertise in Quantum Science & Technology with the Institute’s expertise in broad computing areas.”

Dr Indranil Chakrabarty from CQST said, “Organizing this kind of initiative and meetings in future will be of great importance from the CQST perspective in building up the ecosystem as CQST is very much dedicated and focused in achieving excellence in the area of Quantum Science and Technology “

The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact. Some of its research domains include Visual Information Technologies, Human Language Technologies, Data Engineering, VLSI and Embedded Systems, Computer Architecture, Wireless Communications, Algorithms and Information Security, Robotics, Building Science, Earthquake Engineering, Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, Education Technologies, Power Systems, IT in Agriculture and e-Governance.