Quside and ICFO will work together within the new Retos project which aims towards building hardware accelerators inspired by quantum physics for optimization and Machine Learning.

Every year more devices are being connected to the network, generating a tremendous amount of data. The speed of our communication increases rapidly as well which all together pose enormous challenges for optimization problems where the objective is to find the best solution from all feasible solutions. This concerns a wide range of use cases in science, engineering, and industrial processes such as e.g. traveling salesman problems in logistics or portfolio optimization in finance. Today’s available solutions for solving optimization problems such as the most advanced supercomputers are poorly designed to be prepared for future needs.

Quside, an ICFO spin-off, and ICFO, the Institute of Photonics in Barcelona, are launching a new “RETOS” project called “Quspin” which seeks to develop hardware accelerators inspired by quantum physics for solving some of the most widespread optimization problems. The project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) and the State Agency for Research (la Agencia Estatal de Investigación) is focusing on a hardware-accelerated computer system specialized in the efficient and precise solution of these processes.

The project, which is coordinated by Carlos Abellan, Quside’s CEO, will involve ICFO research groups led by ICREA Professors Valerio Pruneri, Antonio Acín, and Maciej Lewenstein. Quside will focus on the development and implementation of the required hardware, firmware, and software, while ICFO will study the optimal way to raise optimization problems for efficient resolution by the system.

The RETOS program is part of the Spanish Research, Development, and innovation program that is oriented to the challenges facing society.