Airbus announces the names of the jury members for its Quantum Computing Challenge

A jury of world-leading quantum computing experts is teaming up with Airbus to evaluate submitted proposals to the Airbus Quantum Computing Challenge. Challenge winners will be announced at the beginning of 2020.

Four decades ago, quantum computing was a little-known, obscure theory relating to “classical’” representations of computational memory. Today, it is a red-hot topic in the tech world, as major digital players such as Intel, Google, IBM and Microsoft invest massive sums to push the technology forward. At the same time, academic centres of excellence have been popping up worldwide, demonstrating how ideas, talent and investment have been flowing from multiple directions.

At Airbus, quantum computing has been identified as a potential game-changing future technology for aerospace. Launched in 2019, the Airbus Quantum Computing Challenge aims to challenge experts and enthusiasts in the field to tackle complex aerospace computational problems.

To help evaluate the submitted proposals, Airbus is bringing together top-notch international quantum computing experts to serve as jury members. The experts reflect a diverse array of academics and industry professionals, from computer scientists to founders of start-ups. Each expert has significant and deep experience in quantum computing, and a level of expertise that is recognised on an international scale. The jury is tasked with assessing the submitted proposals to identify the winners of the first edition of the challenge.

The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2019.

Meet the jury of quantum computing experts 

Harry Buhrman
QuSoft / University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Harry Buhrman is a computer scientist, and professor of algorithms, complexity theory and quantum computing at the University of Amsterdam. He is group leader of the Quantum Computing Group at the Centre for Mathematics and Informatics (CWI), as well as co-founder and executive director of QuSoft, a research centre dedicated to quantum software.

Wim van Dam
QC Ware & University of California (Palo Alto, USA)
Wim van Dam is a quantum computer scientist with expertise in developing and analysing quantum algorithms that significantly outperform classical algorithms. He is also a computer science and physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. At QC Ware, he oversees the design and development of quantum algorithms for customer applications in optimisation and finance.

Joe Fitzsimons
Horizons Quantum Computing (Singapore)
Joe Fitzsimons is the founder and CEO of Horizon Quantum Computing, a venture-backed start-up focused on automatic synthesis of quantum algorithms. Prior to this role, he was a principal investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore. 

Elham Kashefi
Sorbonne University & University of Edinburgh (Paris, France / Edinburgh, Scotland)
Elham Kashefi is a research director at Sorbonne University’s CNRS LIP6, and a quantum computing professor at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics. She is also the associate director of the EPSRC Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub and co-founder of the quantum tech start-up VeriQLoud. 

Iordanis Kerenidis
QC Ware / CNRS / Paris Centre for Quantum Computing (Palo Alto, USA / Paris, France)
Iordanis Kerenidis is a research director at CNRS and the Director of the Paris Centre for Quantum Computing. He focuses on designing quantum algorithms for machine learning and optimisation with provable speed-ups. At QC Ware, he works on overseeing prototype development and algorithmic design for customers.

Michele Mosca
University of Waterloo (Canada)
Michele Mosca is the co-founder of the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing and a founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He co-founded evolutionQ Inc., a start-up that supports organisations as they evolve their quantum-vulnerable systems to quantum-safe ones.

Troy Lee
University of Technology Sydney (Australia)
Troy Lee is an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s Centre for Quantum Software and Information. His research focuses on quantum algorithms, the limitations of quantum computers and complexity theory.

Jingbo Wang
University of Western Australia
Jingbo Wang leads an active research group at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in the area of quantum simulation, quantum walks and quantum algorithm development. At UWA, she is also the Head of the Physics Department and chair of a cross-disciplinary research cluster named “Quantum information, simulation and algorithms.”