We came, we saw, we QHACKed

The Xanadu team hosted its first quantum machine learning hackathon, QHACK, from Nov 25–26, bringing together experts and enthusiasts in quantum computing and quantum machine learning.

The 2-day interactive event was held at Xanadu’s HQ in downtown Toronto and drew attendees from around the world including Canada, the US, UK, Netherlands, South Africa, Korea, and Australia.

A big thank you to all the participants, speakers, judges, mentors, and volunteers that made QHACK 2019 such an incredible experience. And a special shout out to our industry partners Rigetti, IBM, and Microsoft.

Didn’t get a chance to attend? Not to worry! Here’s a summary of what went down over the 2 days of QHACKing.

We kicked things off with a social! Participants met each other and amped themselves up for two days of hacking with quantum machine learning.

Day 1:

To get the day started and the creativity flowing, the QHACKers heard from some incredible speakers on topics ranging from quantum game theory to quantum origami.

• Nathan Killoran (Xanadu) — Welcome to QHACK
• Seth Lloyd (MIT) — Quantum Machine Learning
• Maria Schuld (Xanadu) — Using Quantum Circuits as Machine Learning Models
• Gavin Crooks (X, The Moonshot Factory) — Quantum Gates and Gradients
• Will Zeng (Unitary Fund) — Quantum Game Theory
• Leonardo Banchi (University of Florence) — Quantum Optimization in NISQ Devices and Beyond

Seth Lloyd (MIT). Source: https://twitter.com/AmiraMorphism.

Will Zeng (Unitary Fund). Source: https://twitter.com/AmiraMorphism.

Our industry partners also introduced their platforms for quantum programming and quantum machine learning:

• Thomas Alexander (IBM) — IBM Quantum Experience and Qiskit: A Platform for your NISQ Needs
• Chris Granade (Microsoft) — Empowering QML Research with Q#
• Max Henderson (Rigetti) — Everything and the (Quantum) Kitchen Sink: Quantum Machine Learning at Rigetti
• Josh Izaac (Xanadu) — Quantum Machine Learning with PennyLane

The teams then split up to kick-off the hackathon. Bring on the friendly competition!

Of course, there were some fun breaks in between!

“I legitimately don’t think I’ve ever attended a better tech event/hackathon, thanks for the amazing experience!”

Day 2:

Everyone hacked away for the final stretch.

The teams shared their amazing work.

And then the big moment….the winners were announced. Congratulations to the teams!

Meet the judges: Will Zeng (Unitary Fund), Amy Brown (Rigetti), Christopher Granade (Microsoft), Tomas Babej (ProteinQure), Bryce Fuller (IBM), Mark Fingerhuth (ProteinQure), Francesco Petruccione (University of Kwazulu-Natal)

Awards summary:

• Most Q-reative: Awarded to the team with the most creative hackathon project
• Most Likely to Achieve Quantum Advantage: Awarded to the team whose hackathon project demonstrates the highest level of technical achievement
• Most Coherent: Awarded to the team with the best pitch/presentation of their hackathon project/idea
• Highest Fidelity: Awarded to the team whose hackathon project best matches the hackathon theme of Quantum Machine Learning

QHACK - @xanadu.ai

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Interested in learning more about QML? Check out pennylane.ai/qml.