The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to set up a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the Country. The lab will be the World’s 1st Quantum Computing Applications Lab to support a National Government’s Mission.
- During the Union Budget 2020-21 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) with a budget of INR 8000 Crore for a period of 5 years to be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
i.The Main Objective of the Lab will be
- To accelerate quantum computing-led research and development
- Enable new discoveries in Quantum Computing
ii.The Hosting, Technical & Programmatic support for the Lab will be provided by AWS.
- Select Researchers, Scientists will be provided access to Quantum Computing services via Amazon’s Braket cloud-based Quantum Computing Service.
- The Lab will serve as a testbed environment for Government bodies & scientific communities to test real-world challenges through experiments & prototypes in a low-risk space.
- The outcomes from these experiments will be used by researchers for development of new applications, models, and frameworks in Quantum Computing.
- The problems for experimentation will be identified from among Central & State Governments, Research Institutions & Academia.
iii.The experiments will be essential towards technological advancements in the fields of Manufacturing, Healthcare, Agriculture & Aerospace Engineering.
iv.The lab will also provide an opportunity for the Scientific, Academic & Developer Communities to access Quantum Computing Environment.
Quantum Computing:
- Quantum Computing aims to use the laws of Quantum Mechanics to build powerful tools for processing information.
- They are capable of discoveries which can transform the fields of Chemical Engineering, material science, drug discovery, financial portfolio optimization, machine learning and others.
Amazon partners with Startup India to boost e-commerce exports from India:
Amazon has partnered with Startup India, Sequoia Capital India & Fireside Ventures to launch an Accelerator programme namely ‘Amazon Global Selling Propel (AGSP)’ to help early-stage startups to take their products to Global Audiences.
- As part of the program, a mentorship board which consists of Amazon Leaders from India & across the world, Venture Capitalists & senior leaders from Startup India has been set up by Amazon.
- 10 Startups would be chosen under the project, they will get a mentorship module with the mentorship board who will share knowledge on building and scaling up exports business through e-commerce.
- 3 of the 10 startups will get a chance to win a total equity free grant of USD 50, 000 from Amazon.
i.The programme will be a step towards fulfilling Amazon’s commitment to enable USD 10 Billion in e-commerce exports from India by 2025.
ii.Amazon Global Selling was launched in 2015, at present it sells more than 70, 000 Indian exporters to sell ‘Made in India’ products through 15 international websites.
- It reaches customers in the countries of the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Australia and Singapore.
- It is boosting exports from India, in 2019 more than 800 Indian MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) under the programme surpassed USD 131, 375 (INR 1 Crore) in e-commerce exports sales.
Recent Related News:
i.On 9th December, 2020, DRDO successfully demonstrated communication between 2 labs of DRDO using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Technology to share encryption keys.
About Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY):
Union Minister – Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister of State – Sanjay Dhotre
About Amazon:
Chief Executive Officer – Jeff Bezos
Headquarters – Seattle, Washington, USA
