BIG Quantum Hackathon: GENCI is committed to accelerating quantum development in France

GENCI (Grand Équipement National de Calcul Intensif): a major player in the development of quantum computing in France.

The development of quantum technologies and their uses is a major challenge at national, European and international level.

In this context, GENCI contributes to the adoption of quantum technologies to help France achieve the objective set by the President of the Republic on January 21, 2021 when the French National Quantum Plan was announced: «to establish France in the first circle of countries that master quantum technologies».

Mandated alongside the CEA, Inria, the CNRS and the CPU as part of the «national strategy on quantum technologies» to host and make available in France the first European infrastructure combining supercomputers and various quantum acceleration devices, GENCI is also involved in the Quantum Pack with the Île de France Region and the Quantum Lab to promote synergies between manufacturers, start-ups and academic consortia to become familiar with this major technological and strategic transformation.

Continuing today its action in this dynamic, GENCI is pleased to announce its support as sponsor and co-organizer of the BIG Quantum Hackathon organized by QuantX. This commitment was made possible by a shared conviction: the success of quantum technologies will depend on scientific excellence as well as entrepreneurship.

This support strengthens the partnership between GENCI and Le Lab Quantique, as well as other stakeholders, for future collaborations and projects, promoting the development of the quantum ecosystem in France, and can lead to the development of industrial programs on use cases.

Le BIG Quantum Hackathon

The BIG Quantum Hackathon by QuantX is a unique competition. It aims to bring together the entire value chain of quantum computing to demonstrate its ability to meet the challenges of real life. This event will bring together industrial and financial companies, venture capitalists and expert consultants who will partner with specialists in quantum computing from the academic world, to quantum hardware and software providers to tackle a range of problems from such different fields as: chemistry, machine learning, optimization, finance or digital simulation. Fundamentally designed and oriented towards collaborative problem solving, the BIG Quantum Hackathon will help participants measure the real impact of their work, test the performance of currently available Quantum Computing solutions, to explore the commercial interest in such solutions and to better identify the priorities and efforts to be made in the coming years.

The BIG Quantum Hackathon is organized under the high patronage of Cédric O – Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Electronic Communications, and Neil Abroug – National Coordinator for Quantum Strategy. The event is supported by BPI France – the French Public Investment Bank, Inria – the Institut de Recherche en Sciences et Technologies du Numérique, GENCI, Quantonation – the first venture capital fund dedicated to quantum technology and innovative physics, and Le Lab Quantique – an association that promotes quantum technologies and sets up collaborative projects between academic, industrial and financial stakeholders.

The Big Quantum Hackathon will take place from October 2 to 5, in two phases. The technical phase will take place on 2 and 3 October at Inria. The application phase dedicated to businesses will be held on October 4 and 5 at Quantonation.

About Genci

Created by the public authorities in 2007, GENCI is a large research infrastructure, public operator aiming to democratize the use of digital simulation through high performance computing associated with the use of artificial intelligence, to support French scientific and industrial competitiveness.

GENCI has three missions:

• Implement the national strategy for high-performance computing equipment, storage and massive data processing associated with AI technologies for the benefit of French open scientific research in connection with the three national computing centers;
• Support the development of an integrated HPC ecosystem at national and European level;
• Promote numerical simulation and supercomputing to academic research and industry.

GENCI is a civil society 49% owned by the State represented by the Ministry in charge of Higher Education and Research, 20% by the CEA, 20% by the CNRS, 10% by the Universities represented by the Conference of University Presidents and 1% by Inria.

About QuantX

QuantX is an association of alumni of École Polytechnique (X) with more than 150 specialists in quantum computing worldwide: representatives of industrial groups, academics, start-ups, investors, consulting companies, media or government agencies. QuantX’s vision is based on a conviction: the success of quantum technologies depends on scientific excellence and entrepreneurship. By seeking to bring together the national quantum community, QuantX aims to accelerate the growth of the French quantum ecosystem by improving knowledge transfer to help discover new applications, to train future engineers and experts in quantum computing and to motivate future generations to build the quantum computing of tomorrow. After a series of events aimed at deepening the links between the different actors of the ecosystem, QuantX is looking forward to its next milestone event: the BIG Quantum Hackathon, the largest business-related competitionThis is the first time in the history of quantum technologies has been organised in France.