The Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) established the Quantum Innovation Laboratory (QIL) in 2022, creating the country’s first government-funded facility dedicated to quantum computing research. According to a DOST-ASTI project page, the initiative was formally titled the Quantum Computing Simulation (QCS) Project.
Funded through a PCIEERD grant, the QCS Project focused on optimizing available quantum circuit simulators for execution on DOST-ASTI’s COARE High-Performance Computing facility. Outputs of the project were intended to allow local researchers to execute few-qubit simulations of quantum algorithms for verification purposes.
Knowledge-sharing activities, including training sessions, hackathons, and public lectures, were built into the project to develop a pipeline of researchers with quantum computing skills. The QCS Project served as a flagship quantum computing initiative of DOST, establishing a foundation for subsequent quantum research proposals across the country.