QUantum-Integrated CHEmistry (QUICHE)

A UK and German team is building a prototype that turns chemical problems into instructions for a quantum computer. The project, called QUICHE, links two British quantum computing firms—Quantum Motion and Riverlane—with the German software company FACCTs. Their goal is to plug quantum computing into an existing chemistry software package called ORCA, creating a pipeline that starts with a real chemical system and ends with a quantum circuit ready to run. Why this matters. Classical computers struggle to simulate molecules accurately as they grow larger. Quantum computers, which process information using qubits, could handle these calculations far more efficiently. But no one has yet built a reliable, practical bridge between a chemist’s problem and a quantum machine. QUICHE aims to build that bridge, developing the decomposition, simulation, and resource-estimation techniques needed to make it work. Potential impact. If the pipeline succeeds, it could speed up quantum chemistry calculations dramatically. That would matter for designing better solar cells, developing new pharmaceuticals, and optimising industrial catalysts—areas where molecular simulation currently bottlenecks progress. The project also helps de-risk quantum computing as a commercial technology, strengthening cross-border collaboration between UK and EU quantum sectors.