Quantinuum, Rolls-Royce, Riverlane and University of Edinburgh to Explore Quantum Computing for Industrial Simulation

Quantinuum, Rolls-Royce, Riverlane, and EPCC at the University of Edinburgh (UK National Supercomputing Centre) have announced a collaboration agreement to investigate quantum computing's role in future industrial workflows, particularly in areas like gas turbine design.

The project will focus on how fault-tolerant quantum computers can augment supercomputers in accelerating complex fluid dynamics simulations. These simulations are critical for gas turbine design but demand substantial computational resources. Quantinuum will provide access to its quantum systems and software environment, while Rolls-Royce will contribute industrial use cases and domain expertise. Riverlane will focus on quantum error correction and algorithmic capabilities, and EPCC will offer supercomputing expertise and hybrid environment integration.

Expected to span several years, the collaboration aims to test computational building blocks for industrially relevant quantum algorithms on Quantinuum's Helios quantum computer. The partners will assess their scalability on future systems, such as Sol and Apollo. This initiative is intended to support the UK's quantum strategy by developing necessary quantum technologies and hybrid computing capacities.

The project builds upon prior work between Rolls-Royce, Riverlane, and EPCC, which established a foundation for understanding the algorithmic, error correction, and data requirements for tackling fluid dynamics simulations with commercial quantum computers. EPCC's role will also involve exploring software interfaces to connect quantum and classical systems, enabling the execution of different algorithm components across both quantum and classical resources.