First of its kind National Quantum Science and Technology Symposium

First of its kind National Quantum Science and Technology Symposium

Hyderabad: The National Quantum Science and Technology Symposium (NQSTS), organized by IIIT Hyderabad, Quantum Ecosystems Technology Council of India, IEEE Quantum Initiative, in association with PSA, Govt of India is being held online from 26 July – 3 August 2021.

Through talks delivered by some of India’s best quantum experts from government, academia and industry, the symposium will cover diverse aspects of the field and provide an overview of the scope and impact of quantum computing in India.

NQSTS launched the Quantum Ecosystems and Technology Council of India ( QETCI), headed by Reena Dayal which will work closely with various members of quantum ecosystems across government, academia, industry, startups and investors to accelerate the quantum ecosystem in India.

The symposium features several eminent keynote speakers – Prof Vijay Raghavan, PSA to Govt of India; Prof K Sivan, Chairman ISRO; Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary MEITY; Dr KR MuraliMohan, Mission Director NM-ICPS, DST; Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, IC&T Govt of Telangana and Prof P J Narayanan, Director IIIT Hyderabad. It also includes several keynote speakers from Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, QNU Labs, TCS and IQM.

Speaking at the inauguration, Prof P J Narayanan, Director, IIITH said, “Quantum computing is a truly futuristic area with huge potential that we must invest in today to reap benefits in the near future.

IIIT Hyderabad had recognized the importance of this area and started research in related areas about 10 years. Our group today has 6 faculty members with mix of expertise in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, etc. We have a productive group consisting of Masters, PhD, as well as B.Tech students conducting research on different aspects of quantum computing, producing papers in journals and conferences, etc. To give greater push to this area, we have formed a Centre for Quantum Science & Technology (CQST) and hope to develop it into a major national and international player in the area of Quantum Information Sciences, from creating quantum computers to developing quantum computing models to quantum algorithms and their applications to various areas like Healthcare, Sciences, Machine Learning, etc. It is only natural that IIIT Hyderabad stay ahead in these areas for years to come, just as we have done in other areas of computing and communications”.

Prof K Sivan, Chairman ISRO said, “India will be quantum-enabled in this decade. We will infuse the encryption of the satellite data with the power of quantum mechanics”.

Commending the symposium, Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary MEITY said, “Congratulations to the Quantum Ecosystems and Technology Council of India and IIIT Hyderabad for working towards bringing together the quantum ecosystem through this symposium. This is the right time for international corporates to establish their quantum presence in India, and for Indian companies to have dedicated teams on quantum technologies to take up the challenges that abound in this field.”

The symposium organising committee was led by Prof Indranil Chakravarty. More details on the symposium at https://nqsts.com