Nuclear quantum phenomena beyond the Born–Oppenheimer approximation are known to play an important role in a growing number of chemical and biological processes. While there exists no unique consensus on a rigorous and efficient implementation of coupled electron–nuclear quantum dynamics, it is recognized that these problems scale exponentially with system size on classical processors and, therefore, may benefit from quantum computing implementations. Here, we introduce a methodology for the efficient quantum treatment of the electron–nuclear problem on near-term quantum computers, based upon the Nuclear–Electronic Orbital (NEO) approach. We generalize the electronic two-qubit tapering scheme to include nuclei by exploiting symmetries inherent in the NEO framework, thereby reducing the Hamiltonian dimension, number of qubits, gates, and measurements needed for calculations. We also develop parameter transfer and initialization techniques, which improve convergence behavior relative to conventional initialization. These techniques are applied to H2 and malonaldehyde for which results agree with NEO full configuration interaction and NEO complete active space configuration interaction benchmarks for ground state energy to within 10−6 hartree and entanglement entropy to within 10−4. These implementations therefore significantly reduce resource requirements for full quantum simulations of molecules on near-term quantum devices while maintaining high accuracy.

Machine Learning for ligand based virtual screening (LB-VS) is an important in-silico tool for discovering new drugs in a faster and cost-effective manner, especially for emerging diseases such as COVID-19. In this paper, we propose a general-purpose framework combining a classical Support Vector Classifier algorithm with quantum kernel estimation for LB-VS on real-world databases, and we argue in favor of its prospective quantum advantage. Indeed, we heuristically prove that our quantum integrated workflow can, at least in some relevant instances, provide a tangible advantage compared to state-of-art classical algorithms operating on the same datasets, showing strong dependence on target and features selection method. Finally, we test our algorithm on IBM Quantum processors using ADRB2 and COVID-19 datasets, showing that hardware simulations provide results in line with the predicted performances and can surpass classical equivalents.

Delivering training and education on hybrid technologies (including AI, ML, GPU, Data and Visual Analytics including VR and Quantum Computing) integrated with HPC resources is key to enable individuals and businesses to take full advantage of digital technologies, hence enhancing processes within organisations and providing the enabling skills to thrive in a digital economy. Supercomputing centres focused on solving industry-led problems face the challenge of having a pool of users with little experience in executing simulations on large-scale facilities, as well as limited knowledge of advanced computational techniques and integrated technologies. We aim not only at educating them in using the facilities available, but to raise awareness of methods which have the potential to increase their productivity. In this paper, we provide our perspective on how to efficiently train industry users, and how to engage with them about wider digital technologies and how these, used efficiently together, can benefit their business.