ETH Quantum Hackathon 2024

From May 3rd to May 5th, I had the opportunity to attend the ETH Quantum Hackathon 2024 in Zürich, organized by the Quantum Engineering Commission and hosted by the ETH Zürich.

In the Quantum Computing Challenge provided by Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, my teammates and I were able to explore the differences and technicalities of digital and analogue quantum computing. More precisely: An optimisation problem needed to be formulated as a Hamiltonian and then solved via the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (QAOA) as well as using Quantum Adiabatic Evolution (QAE). One particular interesting aspect here was that we were dealing with a full-stack challenge. The task therefore involved not only the programming aspect, but also the derivation of a quantum circuit (consisting of flux qubits) based on the theoretical requirements.

Attending the ETH Quantum Hackathon has been an extremely valuable experience, especially since this event bridged a gap between academia and industry by allowing me to apply my knowledge to practical challenges and problems in industrial quantum physics. A big thanks goes to Moody's, QuEra Computing Inc., NVIDIA, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, Pasqal and Quantinuum for providing interesting and closely industry-related challenges and for sponsoring for this event! Thanks also goes to the ETH Zürich for hosting this event and to the Quantum Center, ETH Zurich for providing additional funding for this Hackathon.

I also want to express my deep gratitude to the representatives of Qilimanjaro: Amir Azzam, Jan Nogué Gómez and Victor Sanchez Gimenez for their willingness to help and for their commitment to making this challenge as educational as possible.

The ETH Quantum Hackathon 2024 may have been my first hackathon, however, I am certain it will not be my last. I'm very much looking forward to exploring more applications of quantum technology and expanding my experience in quantum computing.