Anaqor establishes scientific advisory board for quantum computing

Since June 2022, a scientific advisory board has been supporting Anaqor’s work. Renowned scientists for quantum computing were appointed to the board, whose expertise underpins Anaqor’s strategy and product decisions. Anaqor was founded in 2021 as part of the German lighthouse project PlanQK (Platform and Ecosystem for Quantum Applications) as a product unit of the consortium leader StoneOne AG to serve the future market of quantum computing with its own product portfolio and services and to assume a leading international role.

On June 13, 2022, the constituent meeting of Anaqor’s new scientific advisory board took place in Cologne. As of now, Dr. Sebastian Feld (Assistant Professor Quantum & Computer Engineering Department of Delft University of Technology), Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c., Frank Leymann (Director of the Institute for Architecture of Application Systems at the University of Stuttgart) and Prof. Dr. Frank Wilhelm-Mauch (Director Institute for Quantum Computer Analytics at Forschungszentrum Jülich) support the work of the Anaqor management team. In particular, Frank Leymann is also co-initiator and scientific director of the QC lighthouse project PlanQK, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK).

The advisory board’s main tasks are to accompany Anaqor’s technical and scientific achievements, to assist in an advisory capacity in the development of medium- and long-term goals, and to provide expert advice in the run-up to decisions.

Sebastian Feld refers to the spirit of optimism in the QC industry that Anaqor wants to support: “It is a very exciting time that we are currently witnessing. Immense progress has been made in the area of hardware development, so we can now conduct the first experiments on real quantum devices. Yes, these experiments are quite small due to the still young technology, but the learning curve is all the steeper. We can now further explore and optimize the interaction of the many components of a quantum computer, but also evaluate the clever mapping of real-world problems to quantum algorithms. I am happy to support Anaqor as a strong player in the German quantum ecosystem.”

Frank Leymann is looking forward to supporting Anaqor’s QC activities over the next two years, “In research projects, we very much enjoy cooperating with industry partners to arrive at solutions that are as close to real-world as possible. With StoneOne, we have had a reliable software development partner for several years, who works with us on new products and services. As a scientific advisor, I will also be very happy to support the new Anaqor brand in the future in further developing its activities in the field of quantum computing at an internationally competitive level.”

For Frank Wilhelm-Mauch, the combination of expertise around hardware and software on the advisory board is particularly important: “Quantum computers bring a real advantage when used properly. I’m happy to learn about application and integration and to contribute my knowledge of fundamentals and the hardware-related stack.”

More experts are to be appointed to the advisory board in the future in order to cover the broadest possible spectrum of expertise in QC hardware and software.

Michael Falkenthal, co-founder of Anaqor, emphasizes the importance of the close connection between science and new business models in the field of quantum computing: “In the past, the market development of quantum computing was particularly characterized by the work of scientific expertise – we believe that this will continue to be true for the coming years. With this in mind, we are pleased to have found in our scientific advisory board a group of experts who support us with their perspective on current scientific and business developments to further develop Anaqor’s strategy and products.”