Commemorating a Research Milestone
An exciting moment for IBM Quantum, and the quantum computing research ecosystem.
A short post for you today. This topic directly relates to my day job at IBM Quantum, but I thought it would be of interest to you.
In particular, just over 4 years ago I initiated an effort to catalog the research output of the IBM Quantum Network, which is a worldwide collectively shaping the future of quantum computing. The Network consists of 210+ Fortune 500 companies, universities, laboratories, and startups.
When I first joined IBM Quantum in late 2018, the Network was just getting started. Since one of the primary outputs of Network members was papers on quantum computing, I thought building a database to capture that output could be a useful resource for us, and the Network itself. (Something about transparency and legibility enabling good decision-making and data-driven insights, and all that.) The core idea was to take advantage of the fact most papers are posted to the arXiv, an open-access pre-print server run by Cornell University. This meant the papers could be freely viewed and read.
Little did I know what I was getting myself into – what started out as a small hobby of mine blossomed into something much more. In particular, the existence of this catalog turned into a pretty tremendous sales and outreach tool. When someone in the field was asked a question to the effect of “So, what’s new in quantum computing these days?”, they had a resource to turn to and could use to share references.
What’s more, because we at IBM Quantum ask people to cite the particular quantum system they used in a paper, that metadata could be captured in the catalog, which enables insights about how many systems a typical paper uses, what kind(s) of systems (free vs. premium vs. classical simulator) are used, etc.
Further, by connecting each record in the catalog to a peer-reviewed journal (once the paper was published there), the catalog also acted as a way to assess the “technical eminence” of the activities of the Network.
In short, this effort turned into something pretty cool. The catalog helps us to track the impact of the work done by the Network, identify opportunities for collaboration, and demonstrates the value of access to our quantum computing platform.
This week as I was making updates, I realized a milestone had been crossed; namely, there were over 1000 papers in it. That’s a pretty big number (especially because each entry is manually added by me!). It points to the prolific nature of our Network’s members, and is a powerful testament to the power of collaboration and the importance of open access to research.
Topics covered by the papers in the catalog include:
Fundamentals of quantum computing (error correction, mitigation, hardware, calibration, etc.)
Use cases & applications of quantum computational science to problems of business relevance and interest
New innovations in software and quantum programming
Much more!
The catalog is publicly available and free to use. You can find it by clicking the button below. Check it out, and let me know what you think!