The Government of Rwanda signed a partnership agreement with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Next Einstein Initiative (AIMS-NEI) in February 2016 to host the global AIMS headquarters in Kigali, the 2018 Next Einstein Forum, and a new quantum-focused research centre. Under the agreement, Quantum Leap Africa (QLA) was to be established as a centre for data analytics, smart systems design, and capacity building in quantum information science.
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda committed to partnering with AIMS on the quantum science research centre, according to reporting at the time. Rwanda’s Minister of Education wrote that the country had “chosen to invest on both fronts” of applied and basic research, citing the QLA Research Centre as one such initiative. QLA was planned to develop in partnership with international laboratories including the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute.
AIMS operates centres of excellence across Africa in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Rwanda. QLA was conceived as a non-profit organization governed by the AIMS International Governing Board, funded through public-private partnerships combining government, foundations, corporations, and partner institutions.