The quantum hackathon will be a competition in which teams of the CDL Quantum program participants intensively develop a quantum software project or application over the course of 48 hours. Participants will utilize one of the quantum platforms provided by CDL’s Technical Partners to produce a set of code that implements a quantum algorithm for a chosen application.
The problem a team decides to tackle will be up to the team. To facilitate problem identification, technical partners will present relevant problems (challenges) which we hope will provide inspiration and insight when the teams are deciding what to work on.
The hackathon has four objectives:
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Synthesis and consolidation of knowledge. Participants will have a chance to put what they have learned into practice and contextualize them within a coding environment.
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Team dynamics testing. The hackathon will be a first opportunity for co-founders to work directly with their peers and verify whether or not they work well within a given team.
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Test business ideas. We hope that many co-founders will take the hackathon as a chance to test out their business ideas and get some early validation.
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Opportunities for corporate partners and early pilots. The hackathon represents an excellent engagement opportunity for our corporate partners interested in getting in on the ground floor of quantum computing.
Prior to the start of the hackathon, participants will have formed teams of 2-4 people, and will have been provided with a list of example projects which they may choose from if they wish.
The hackathon will begin with a presentation introducing the event, and setting rules and expectations. At 10am on Monday, July 25th the teams will begin working on their code and be free to do so until 10am on Wednesday, July 27th. At this time we will implement a code freeze, meaning that teams will need to upload their code to a repository under MIT License, and we will not accept projects after the deadline.
After lunch and a break, the teams will give short presentations on their projects, which will be judged by a panel (composition to be decided).
The teams should strive to create the most complete and streamlined version of their project as is possible within the time allocated. Their performance will be judged on the following primary criteria:
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Technical difficulty
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Creativity and originality
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Usefulness and business potential
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Presentation quality
The event will take place online. You will be responsible for coordinating meetings and video conferences for your team during the coding component. We recommend that you stay in regular contact throughout the hackathon to support group dynamics in a virtual setting. Presentations will be made using a cohort-wide zoom call.
Participants may use any of the quantum platforms provided by the following technical partners:
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IBM Q
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Xanadu
Prizes will be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, as well as for the choice team from each of the technical partner prizes. All values in CAD:
1st - $5000
2nd - $2000
3rd - $1000
Partner choices - $2000 each
The following problems were provided by our technical partners. Teams can choose to work on one of the problems or an appropriate generalization thereof.
Take a quantum algorithm and implement it on IBM quantum hardware to address a business problem. Extra credit if you leverage QISKIT runtime and/or implement an application to a business problem in finance.
See slack for office hour and hardware access details.
Choose a paper, result or algorithm, and implement a version of it on a simulator using PennyLane. This doesn't have to be the whole paper; prototypes or smaller versions of the main results are encouraged.
Submissions will be judged based on:
- The scientific and/or technical ability demonstrated
- The quality of the presentation, including code and documentation
- Depth of use of quantum software stack
- Extra credit for using a recent result published in the last 12 months
- Extra extra credit for also implementing it on quantum hardware