Qoro, which is developing a unified software stack for distributed computing on heterogeneous infrastructure, has announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UK supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI) research institute STFC Hartree Centre to develop hybrid quantum-classical computing capabilities. The project integrates Qoro’s software with Hartree Centre’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure through the Quantum Resource Management Interface (QRMI), detailed in a recent publication on arXiv.
The integration between Qoro’s software and QRMI will take place both above and below the interface. Above it: Divi, Qoro’s open-source Python library, will generate and route Slurm jobs and circuits into the Hartree Centre scheduler through QRMI, which Qoro describes as a ‘tightly-coupled’ application-aware function to serve quantum acceleration for HPC codes. Below it: Maestro, Qoro’s simulation engine, is available as an execution backend through the QRMI interface, alongside several quantum computing vendors including IBM, Pasqal, and more.
Qoro and the Hartree Centre will then document the resulting workflows as a reference for UK quantum computing researchers. Depending on results, they may extend the work to physical quantum processing units (QPUs) and run industry pilots in sectors such as energy, finance, and pharmaceuticals.
According to the announcement, the collaboration addresses a scientific problem in electronic structure theory and quantum chemistry, and also marks a step towards a sovereign UK quantum-HPC software value chain, aligning with the wider ecosystem, including the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) and the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC).
“At the Hartree Centre we are focussed on getting the most from emerging computing technologies by applying them to UK industry and public sector challenges. We’re really keen to explore how we can make hybrid quantum-classical computing work harder for the UK economy through this new collaboration with Qoro.” said Kate Royse, Director of the STFC Hartree Centre.
“Quantum computing has to prove itself outside the lab, enabled by an enterprise-grade software ecosystem. Working with the Hartree Centre lets us demonstrate our combined software stack against practical challenges and explore applications in materials science, modelling in the physical sciences, quantum optimisation and associated workflows,” said Dan Holme, CEO and Co-founder of Qoro Quantum.
Read the arXiv paper here.
