Quantum computing researchers are sitting down with classical computer engineers to figure out how to make quantum machines that don't crash. The problem is that today's quantum computers are small, fragile, and error-prone. Classical computers took over 60 years to become reliable—engineers solved problems at dozens of layers in the computing stack, from hardware to software. Quantum computing has not yet gone through that process. The field has prototype devices that can beat classical machines on specially designed problems, but no one has built a large-scale quantum computer that can reliably outperform a classical supercomputer on a real-world task. This project does not build hardware. Instead, it creates a network of researchers from quantum computing and classical ICT—especially computer systems and architecture experts—to co-design a research agenda. The goal is to transfer the tools, methods, and mindsets that made classical computing robust into the quantum domain. If the dialogue succeeds, it could accelerate the path to fault-tolerant quantum computers. Those machines might one day transform drug discovery, materials design, cryptography, and logistics—but that remains a long-term prospect. For now, this is fundamental groundwork: building the intellectual infrastructure for a reliable quantum future.
View original technical description
Over 60 years of work in computer science and engineering has defined and refined a tower of abstractions that constitute the solid foundations of today's classical computer systems. Key challenges to reliability and correctness have been faced-and overcome-at dozens of levels in the stack, and there is a wealth of insight and expertise in the diverse community of ICT researchers who work across it. In the last decade, progress on quantum computing has accelerated, and it is becoming an international industry in its own right. Nevertheless, quantum computing is still at the beginning of its journey. Small-scale prototype devices have demonstrated the potential for this technology, and milestone experiments have demonstrated a quantum computer's capability to out perform classical hardware on specially designed problems, but the construction of a reliable and robust large-scale quantum device capable of challenging the world's classical supercomputers for useful real world problems remains a huge challenge. We do not think that classical ICT has ready-made solutions to this challenge, but we believe that significant advances in the field will arise through a broad spectrum of genuinely cross-disciplinary exchange, allowing for close contact of quantum computing researchers with the scientific tools, methods and (especially) mindsets of the ICT research community - across a broad spread of the key classical computing stacks. This project will open up a dialogue between quantum computing and ICT research communities, particularly ICT researchers engaged in computer systems and architecture research, by creating a network of researchers who will co-design a research project to develop and advance solutions for reliable and robust quantum computation, addressing key layers across the principal computing stacks.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know