AWS announces the Quantum Embark Program to help customers get ready for quantum computing

This post was contributed by Tyler Takeshita, Daniela Becker, Pavel Lougovski, and Stefan Natu

Quantum computing is an emergent field that harnesses the unique qualities of quantum mechanics. It has the potential to revolutionize industries by solving problems that are beyond the ability of even the most powerful classical computers.

But despite its promise, customers need trustworthy information about the relevance of the technology to their most important use cases, understand the current state-of-play, and make informed decisions about when is the right time to engage. Navigating this journey can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and costly, as customers have to cut through the hype in the industry and strike the right balance between near-term exploration and long-term investment, to make pragmatic investment decisions.

Today, we’re introducing Quantum Embark, a new advisory program for customers. Quantum Embark aims to help customers get ready for quantum computing by providing an expert-led approach, as they embark on their journey. With Embark, there are no long-term commitments, and customers can get started in as little as a few weeks.

The Quantum Embark Program

With Amazon Braket, the quantum computing service of AWS, experienced customers can already reduce their technology risk by getting one-stop-shop access to a range of diverse quantum hardware on a pay-as-you-go basis. Now, through the new Quantum Embark program, we are adding advisory services that provide more context, guidance, and expertise to help customers who are just starting their quantum journey. This program is designed to empower customers to work backwards from their most business-critical and compute intensive use cases, develop an understanding of the state of the art, pinpoint relevant quantum technologies to focus on, and ultimately make informed decisions about future resourcing and their long-term quantum roadmap.

The Quantum Embark program comprises of three standard modules delivered by the Amazon Advanced Solutions Lab: Use Case Discovery, Technical Enablement, and Deep Dive, which we’ll describe in more detail below. Customers can work through all three modules or choose which modules best suit their needs, depending on their prior work and level of experience.

Use Case Discovery

This module is intended to kick-off the customer journey with a focus on the most tangible opportunities. Our experts will conduct use case discovery workshops to help customers identify potentially relevant quantum applications based on existing business problems within the customer’s organization. Deliverables from this module include an executive-level summary in the form of a high-level whitepaper outlining the near and longer-term value of quantum technologies. This document equips internal champions and senior leadership to determine the value in taking the next step in their quantum journey.

Technical Enablement

Customers that are ready to go to the next stage begin with hands-on experience through a technical enablement workshop. This private, two-day workshop starts with an introduction to the basics of quantum computing. Workshop attendees will learn about how quantum computers perform calculations, work with the leading quantum programming frameworks, practice using a series of prebuilt examples to build, test and run sample applications specific to their vertical, and get access to real quantum hardware via the Amazon Braket service.

Deep Dive

Customers who have completed the Use Case Discovery and Technical Enablement modules, or have prior experience with quantum computing and are looking to deepen their understanding of specific target applications may select the Deep Dive module. Throughout the Deep Dive module there is an emphasis on building practical expertise in the context of one or more a targeted application. This includes mapping potential algorithms to quantum programs that can be executed on today’s hardware, benchmarking performance to assess result quality across different devices, scalability, and systems integration. Upon completion, customers will have a deeper understanding of the research and development process for building quantum applications and familiarity with recommended resources and tooling, sufficient to build a quantum computing roadmap.

Upon completion of the program, customers can choose to dive even deeper into specific use cases themselves or build a custom research program by collaborating with Amazon Advanced Solutions Lab.

Hear from our customers

“As Australia’s oldest bank and first company, Westpac has always been dedicated to anticipating future needs.” says Nick Munro, Head of Innovation & FinTech at Westpac. “We adopt a long-term perspective by exploring emerging, future-ready technologies early. Today, we are focused on understanding the potential of quantum computing and its potential for transformative effects on our business and those of our customers. Westpac Growth Labs, in collaboration with AWS on Quantum Embark, is taking the next step to identify practical use cases for quantum computing and quantum-inspired solutions in financial services, ensuring our approach is actionable and safe.”

“As one of the largest retail mutual fund managers worldwide, we have a responsibility to be at the forefront of financial technology innovation,” said Bimal Mehta, Head of AI Engineering at Vanguard Group. “It is well known that the advent of quantum computing may have lasting effects on solutions for portfolio optimization and risk prevention but strategically investing in R&D across these areas requires deep domain expertise. Working with expert guidance from AWS through the Quantum Embark program provided us with a structured approach to learn about relevant quantum computing concepts and the latest research findings. Armed with this knowledge, we have identified potential business problems for our quantum research effort and are excited to benchmark these algorithms against diverse hardware.”

Getting Started with Quantum Embark

To get started, go to the Amazon Braket console and select Quantum Embark on the homepage as shown in Figure 1. You can fill out a simple request form with basic contact details and provide a quick overview of your current level of quantum experience if any, and click Submit. Upon completion, a member of our quantum team will email you with next steps.

Figure 1 – Navigate to the Amazon Braket homepage and select Quantum Embark. Fill out a simple form and a member of our team with reach out with next steps.

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