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INQA

An International Network on Quantum Annealing

INQA L

INQA Conference 2024 - Save the date!

October 16th-18th 2024 in Toyko, Japan

The International Network on Quantum Annealing (INQA) will for the first time establish a mechanism by which four global collaborations come together to share technical and intellectual know-how and critically analyse developments in theoretical and experimental research in quantum annealing.

Upcoming Seminars

03 April 2024 | 00:01 UTC | Maxime Dupont | Rigetti Computing

Quantum, relax, and round

We introduce [arXiv:2307.05821] a relax-and-round approach embedding the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) with p≥1 layers. For many problems, including Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glasses, we show that at p=1, it is as accurate as its classical counterpart and maintains the infinite-depth optimal performance guarantee of the QAOA. Employing a different rounding scheme, we prove the method shares the performance of the Goemans-Williamson algorithm for the maximum cut problem on certain graphs. Such a relax-and-round strategy can be leveraged heuristically with other quantum solvers like quantum annealers. We pave the way for an overarching quantum relax-and-round framework with performance on par with some of the best classical algorithms.

09 April 2024 | 08:00 UTC | Filippo Orazi | University of Bologna

Hybrid Quantum Technologies for Quantum Support Vector Machines: Integrating Annealing and Gate-Based Quantum Computing

This presentation will begin with an overview of the current state-of-the-art in Quantum Support Vector Machines, covering both Quantum Annealing and Gate-based systems. Subsequently, we will delve into the inherent limitations of both techniques. To address these identified weaknesses, we propose a novel hybrid methodology that integrates aspects of both techniques. This integration serves to mitigate several individual drawbacks while retaining their respective advantages. We will provide a detailed exposition of the two components of our hybrid models, accompanied by the presentation of experimental results that validate the efficacy of the proposed architecture. These findings pave the way for a more integrated paradigm in quantum machine learning and quantum computing as a whole, surpassing traditional compartmentalization.

Visit past seminars to view a list of all of our past seminars and their abstracts.

If you miss any of our live seminars you can watch our previous sessions on our YouTube Channel.

About INQA

The INQA network unifies the research activities of major global collaborations in quantum annealing in North America, Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

By hosting weekly on-line seminars and annual international conferences and by funding exchange visits, the INQA network will address the key topics which will enable quantum annealing to move towards a true quantum scaling advantage over classical approaches to NP-hard computational problems. 

The topics INQA will focus on include:

  • Exploiting quantum coherence
  • Extending the order and degree of qubit interactions
  • Strategies for error correction 
  • Exploiting diabaticity and non-stoquasticity in a systematic way

The network will be led by Professor Paul Warburton of UCL, who is a co-investigator in the UK’s Quantum Computation and Simulation (QCS) Hub and in the recently-announced QEVEC project. He was also previously a co-investigator in the US-led QEO and QAFS collaborations.

Members of the management board include: 

  • Prof Paul Warburton (UCL, UK)
  • Dr Pol Forn-Díaz (IFAE, Spain)
  • Dr Shiro Kawabata (AIST, Japan)
  • Prof Viv Kendon (University of Strathclyde, UK)
  • Dr Jamie Kerman (MIT Lincoln Lab, USA)

INQA is supported by a International Network Grant from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. 

Join INQA

Keep up-to-date with meetings, news and events by joining INQA.

Register your interest to join the network.