Immersive experience starts at Singapore’s Quantum Bootcamp 2023

Meet the Quantum Bootcamp 2023 participants and organisers. Credit: SoftServe

Quantum Bootcamp 2023 has kicked off! Some 22 students arrived on 22 May for the inaugural bootcamp organised by the National Quantum Computing Hub (NQCH) together with SoftServe and the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

During the two-month programme, students will take part in lectures, hands-on exercises, networking events, and a capstone project. “Be assured that there is a bright future ahead of you if you perform well,” said José Ignacio Latorre, lead Principal Investigator for the NQCH, as he opened the event.

NQCH was launched in 2022 to support the development and adoption of quantum computing in Singapore. The hub is a joint initiative of the Centre for Quantum Technologies, A*STAR’s Institute of High-Performance Computing and the National Supercomputing Centre Singapore.

Nurturing new talent is part of the hub’s mission, and the bootcamp aims to give young people an immersive learning experience that could set them up for jobs in the field.

Strong partnerships

The hub found a keen partner in SoftServe, a multinational software development and consulting company. John King, the company’s President APAC, spoke to the students assembled on the first day.

“Why would we get involved in this? We're a commercial entity where we're about selling things to people. But the first thing about SoftServe is we were born out of a university. Our founders and still our owners are a professor and his post-grad students. They now have 13,000 staff. This is something to think about, that science and computer science has great potential. Our methodology, our ethos is we are passionate geeks,” he said.

The company already employs some quantum experts and will offer internships to students who excel in the bootcamp.

“While there are plenty of quantum computing talent development bootcamps already, one of the reasons this one is so special is that we are working with students alongside industry players,” explained Jonas Tan, the company’s APAC Research & Development Lead, in a blog published by the company about the origins of the event. Jonas had done research in CQT during his own undergraduate years.

“This bootcamp is a brilliant opportunity for finance, manufacturing, healthcare, and other organisations to gain early R&D activity on potential solutions with quantum professionals and young talent,” added his colleague Damyr Hadiiev, SoftServe's Global Quantum Research Lead, who has travelled to Singapore to help run the event.

The bootcamp is supported by industry partners IBM Quantum, AWS, nvidia and Xanadu. The organising team also invites companies with potential use cases for quantum computing to be involved. They will have the bootcamp cohort work on solutions with expert mentors.

According to Koh Wee Sain, IMDA’s Acting Cluster Director for Engineering, “Singapore will continue to look ahead at the next bound of emerging technologies such as quantum computing. We are excited to see the vibrancy of our quantum community with businesses and academia coming together to future-proof Singapore’s digital future.”

Student opportunities

Jonas, Damyr and their colleagues at SoftServe have been working closely with NQCH staff Suen Whei Yeap, Han Rui and Dai Jibo to plan the eight weeks of activities for the students. Speaking on behalf of the NQCH team, Han Rui said “We are very excited about the launch of the bootcamp. The next eight weeks are going to be intensive for the students, filled with well-designed activities. We hope by the end of the bootcamp that participants are happy to have taken this learning journey and ready to find their own path in the field of quantum computing."

Participants in the bootcamp are undergraduate or postgraduate students or recent graduates of the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Technology and Design or the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The 22 students taking part were selected from 91 applicants and will receive a stipend during the programme. The bootcamp will run 22 May – 14 July.