IBM expands quantum computing program to African universities

IBM, The International Business Machines Corporation has announced the expansion of its quantum computing efforts to Africa in a new collaboration with the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
The University is the first African partner on the IBM Q Network and will be the opening for academics across the country as well as the other 15 universities who are part of the African Research Universities Alliance.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Postgraduate Affairs of Wits University, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, said This was the latest outcome of the joint partnership between the school and IBM Research as they had started earlier in 2016 when the company opened its second lab in Wits University.
Also in a bid to enlarge the IBM Q Network, the university is set to drive innovation in frontier-technologies and benefit African-based researchers, academics and students who now have access to years of quantum computing capabilities at the click of a button.
The company established the IBM Q Network, a community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and research labs working with IBM to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications for business and science.
As part of the partnership between IBM and Wits, scholars from sixteen ARUA universities includes: Addis Ababa University, University of Ghana, University of Nairobi, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University lle-Ife, University of Rwanda, University Cheikh Anta Diop, University of Cape Town, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Salaam Makerere University, University of Pretoria, Rhodes University, University of Stellenbosch, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Dar es.
The above institutions will have the opportunity to apply for access to IBM Q’s most-advanced quantum computing systems and software for teaching quantum information science and exploring early applications.