Collaboration is the Mantra of Academia
In this tech-ade, collaboration is a key mantra across all sectors. It’s no different for education, as collaborating and knowledge sharing is a crucial aspect of advancing education and bringing it closer to the industry, bridging the gap. Collaborating across various disciplines helps institutions increase creativity, innovation, and problem-solving abilities and better serve their students and communities. Tohoku University, Japan, is on top of this vital trend, as the university has made a series of collaborations in recent years.
One among them is with NEC Corporation. Tohoku University and NEC Corporation have announced a joint research program on computer systems using an 8-qubit quantum annealing machine developed by NEC and Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). This research uses a new 8-qubit quantum annealing machine that is made with superconducting technology and ParityQC Architecture. This makes the machine less noisy and more scalable to a fully connected quantum annealing architecture and also lets it keep a long quantum superposition state. This is Japan's first quantum annealing machine that is made locally and can be accessed online. It is also the first project that uses this machine.
Tohoku University and NEC will use both the quantum annealing machine and the simulated quantum annealing machine (NEC Vector Annealing) in this joint research. The simulated quantum annealing machine runs on the vector supercomputer "SX Aurora TSUBASA" that Tohoku University has. This way, they can use both the quantum annealing machine and the simulated quantum annealing machine.