QUANTUM COMPUTING

QHack 2022

The one-of-a-kind celebration of quantum computing

Xanadu

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XanaduAI

6 min readMar 28, 2022

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Every year, QHack brings together people from all over the world to celebrate quantum computing. QHack 2022 was bigger, better, and groovier than ever; featuring world-class live stream talks, coding challenges, an open-hackathon, a design competition, a meme contest, and life-changing prizes.

Read on for:

QHack at-a-glance
Pre-QHack events
- Winners of the Design Competition
- Winners of the Meme Contest
The three pillars of QHack
- Streaming Sessions
- Coding Challenges
— Top 10 teams
- Open Hackathon
— Winning teams and their projects

3,280 participants from 100+ countries attended QHack from February 14–25. From quantum enthusiast to quantum expert, there was something for everyone at this one-of-a-kind celebration of quantum computing.

QHack at-a-glance

6 unique events
- Retweet Raffle (1870+ Tweets and Retweets using the #QHack2022 hashtag)
- Design Competition (200+ submissions)
- Meme Contest (130+ submissions)
- Streaming Sessions (24 hours streamed + ranked #1 in science and tech at peak)
— Spanish Streaming Sessions
- Coding Challenges (25 unique questions for all skill levels)
- Open Hackathon (13 unique challenges)
3,280+ sign ups
100+ countries represented
800+ teams registered for the Coding Challenges
24 Sponsors
22 speakers
120+ swag packs distributed worldwide

Pre-QHack events

QHack 2022 featured three prize-packed pre-events: a Retweet Raffle where participants spread the word about QHack and won swag, a Design Competition where science and art came together in the form of quantum-inspired t-shirt designs, and an old fan-favourite — the Meme Contest — where participants shared Memes they had been stashing away since the 2021 competition closed.

The Design Competition (ft. epic prizes courtesy of Atom Computing) had over 200 submissions. Our team was blown away by the artistry and clever puns. It was near-impossible to select a top three, but we finally did, here they are:

1st Place “Hybrid Quantum Model”. Designed By: Maria Laura Polselli & Leonardo Placidi. Buy the t-shirt in the Xanadu Shop

2nd Place: “Shakespearean Cat”. Designed by: Shreya Kumar

3rd Place: “Quantum Computer Art”. Designed by: Isabel Robinson

The Meme Contest had 130+ submissions and countless LOLs. The top 16 memes went head-to-head in a “March Madness”-style judging bracket (watch it here). Congratulations to our top Meme creators!

The three pillars of QHack

Streaming Sessions

Given our love for quantum computing, it was only natural to start the event on Valentine’s Day. The week kicked off with a series of exciting talks presented by a lineup of inspiring speakers in the quantum community. This year, a day was dedicated to the Spanish-speaking quantum community. Our topics ranged from, “Is quantum advantage the right goal for QML?“ to “QSVM, una introducción a las funciones Kernel”. In addition to getting updates on the latest research and trends in the field, we learned a lot about the people behind the science and how they got to where they are today. Participants were able to tune in live, engage with speakers, and score raffle prizes in the chat. If you didn’t catch the talks in real-time, you can relive them here.

Coding Challenges

Over 800 teams registered for the Coding Challenges. The challenge board was open for the entire duration of QHack to allow teams to tackle questions at their own pace. 25 unique challenge questions were created ranging in difficulty level and spanning 5 categories:

PennyLane 101
Quantum Algorithms
Quantum Machine Learning
Quantum Chemistry
Quantum Games

Right from the gate, teams came to play and the leaderboard was lit up in a race-against-the-clock style scoring system. A total of 845,600 challenge points were scored and 42 teams completed all 25 questions. Top teams unlocked access to power-ups (courtesy of AWS and IBM Quantum) to help take their QHack Open Hackathon projects to the next level. Exclusive tie-dye QHack swag was also up for grabs and achievement certificates were awarded.

Congratulations to all teams and shoutout to the final top 10!

Open Hackathon

Participants put their creativity, problem-solving capabilities, and technical chops to the test in the QHack Open Hackathon. Sponsored by leading organizations in the field, there were 13 unique challenges this year. Each challenge came with its own prizes featuring: life-changing internships and mentorships, on-site and virtual tours, exclusive access to quantum computing platforms, Macbook Pros, Oculus VR headsets, and a distinctive Young Scientist award. With more prizes and power-ups available than ever before, it’s no wonder participants brought their A-game.

Congratulations to the winning teams!