Industry Leaders will set the agenda for education and research in the newly formed SRMIST Qkrishi Centre of Excellence in Quantum Information and Computing (SQ-QuIC)

Chennai: SRMIST Qkrishi Centre of Excellence in Quantum Information and Computing (SQ-QuIC), announced that the following industry leaders have joined its Board of Directors: Dr. Shankar Venugopal, Vice President, Mahindra and Mahindra, Mr. Jagdish Narayanan, Chief Information Officer, Jio Payments Bank, Dr. Jai Ganesh, Chief Product Officer, Harman International and Ms. Shalaka Verma, Director, Microsoft. The board members bring decades of experience in technology leadership and a long track record of leading innovative and diverse teams around the world. Also, Dr. C. Muthamizhchelvan, Vice Chancellor, SRMIST, and Dr. S. Ponnusamy, Registrar, SRMIST, have joined the board as the academic members who bring vast experience in education and research. The leadership from the board will enable SQ-QuIC to accelerate value creation in quantum computing in India.

The centre of excellence was launched on 9^th September 2022. Qkrishi Quantum Private Limited and SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) have partnered to set up the centre to provide an environment for SRM faculty and students to work jointly with industry on real industry problems to help India and the world to take advantage of quantum computing.

Quantum computing is rapidly advancing towards commercial viability. Quantum computing promises to help businesses solve tough industry problems, but industry and academia need to work together to quickly go beyond today’s early-stage use cases that are largely experimental and hypothetical.

Dr. Shankar Venugopal, Vice President, Mahindra and Mahindra, said, “Early demonstration of practical use cases for Quantum Computing is key to its success and that is best achieved through a focused Industry – Academia collaboration.”

A key focus for India is to take leadership in quantum computing. To do this India needs a skilled workforce and a thriving ecosystem that drives world-leading research and development in quantum computing.

Dr. C. Muthamizhchelvan, Vice Chancellor, SRMIST, said, “We want SQ-QuIC to have a transformational effect on the Indian ecosystem and propel India into the quantum era. We want to take the help of industry to identify the important problems, so that our faculty and students can drive research and development that has maximum impact.”

Under the guidance of the board, SQ-QuIC will work on scaling up quantum skilling and doing cutting edge research and development to address problems of national importance.

Ms. Shalaka Verma, Director, Microsoft, said, “Quantum Computing has a huge potential to change the status quo of what is possible in many industries. Its impact on healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, energy can be not only life changing but lifesaving. In a field of such a high potential, availability of skills is very low right now, and we do not have structured approach to develop skills at scale OR build ecosystem. I am looking forward to start making inroads on these lines as part of this board.”

About SRMIST Qkrishi Centre of Excellence in Quantum Information and Computing (SQ-QuIC): SQ-QuIC was set up jointly by SRMIST and Qkrishi in September 2022. As the first such centre in India, SQ-QuIC aims to advance education, research and development in quantum computing. SQ-QuIC enables SRM faculty and students, Qkrishi scientists and industry partners to work on cutting edge research and development to address problems of national importance in industry domains including finance, healthcare, energy, agriculture, automobiles, logistics, machine learning and cyber security.

About Qkrishi: Qkrishi, founded in 2021, focuses on quantum research, technology, and skilling. Qkrishi is working with industry and academic partners on use cases of relevance to various industries. Qkrishi has a team of experienced researchers with advanced degrees in quantum computing. The Qkrishi team is constantly innovating to create intellectual property of value to industry clients.

About SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST): SRMIST which started as an engineering college in 1985, is today, one of the top ranking universities in India with over 52,000 full-time students and more than 3200 faculty across all the campuses – Kattankulathur, Ramapuram, Vadapalani Campus – all in and around Chennai, and Modinagar, NCR, Delhi – offering a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs in six Faculties – Engineering & Technology, Management, Medicine & Health Sciences, Science & Humanities, Law and Agricultural Sciences. SRMIST faculty and students are actively involved in research, as the university encourages researchers associated with various disciplines to contribute in their field of expertise through publications, patents, and other valuable contributions to society. Thrust is given by SRMIST, for researchers to collaborate with industry to convert their ideas and findings into products that will be useful to society.