Good Morning,
Wellcome Leap has announced a new call for proposals, Quantum for Bio, to accelerate applications of quantum computing in health and demonstrate quantum-enabled solutions to address pressing human health challenges. Up to $40M in research funding will be awarded and up to $10M in challenge prizes will be available at the end of the program for successful proof-of-concept demonstrations on quantum devices with a clear path to scaling to large quantum computers. A synopsis and link to the program website can be found below:
Wellcome Leap: Quantum for Bio
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline for Abstracts: April 24, 2023
Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts: April 27, 2023
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): June 5, 2023
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals (if invited): June 12, 2023
Award Amount: Up to $1.5M in Phase 1 (12 months); up to $500K in funding for HPC expenses and up to $250K for other related technical and programmatic execution expenses for Phase 2 (6 months); up to $2M for Phase 3 (12 months)
The Wellcome Leap Quantum for Bio program aims to accelerate applications of quantum computing in health and demonstrate quantum-enabled solutions to address pressing human health challenges. The program has three phases focused on identifying, developing, and demonstrating biology and healthcare applications that will benefit from the quantum computers expected to emerge in the next 3-5 years.
- Phase 1: A maximum of 12 cross-disciplinary proposals will be selected for funding and will participate in Phase 1. Each team should include expertise in human health and quantum algorithm development – quantum hardware expertise is encouraged but not required for this phase of the program. Teams that are deemed to have demonstrated a significant advance for human health within the defined target resources will proceed to Phase 2.
- Phase 2: The focus of Phase 2 is large-scale simulations of the developed algorithms in Phase 1 using classical high-performance computing (HPC). At the end of Phase 2, all teams will be required to have identified and secured quantum hardware expertise participation on their team in order to be considered for progression to Phase 3. To successfully complete Phase 2, teams will perform a classical HPC simulation of their quantum algorithm for 30 to 40 qubits and compare the results to the ones obtained by the standard classical approach for the respective application.
- Phase 3: The focus of this phase is implementing the developed algorithmic solutions on quantum computing devices.
A $2M prize will be awarded for each team that successfully demonstrates an experimental realization of their application on a quantum computer with more than 50 qubits and a program depth of O(103-104) and a clear path to scaling to larger quantum computers. A $5M grand prize will be awarded to one team that successfully executes their algorithm on a quantum computer using quantum resources that fit into the target resources presented in the solicitation. In case there is more than one team that achieves this goal, the team of experts that perform the final evaluation will award the grand prize to the team whose application is deemed to be most significant for advancing human health.
Application guidelines, information on finding teaming partners, and frequently asked questions can be found at the link above.
Questions from FAS or SEAS faculty about this announcement may be directed to Erin Hale (erin_hale@fas.harvard.edu) or Jennifer Corby (jcorby@fas.harvard.edu). |