CDL Quantum Application

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The Creative Destruction Lab is now accepting founder applications for its 2021/22 Quantum Stream at CDL-Toronto (Toronto, Canada).

Interviews will be conducted in three waves. We strongly encourage candidates from outside of North America to apply for the first two deadlines in order to have enough time to obtain the visa and immigration approval if in-person sessions resume.

APPLICATION DEADLINES

Early bird application deadline: January 31, 2021

Wave 1 application deadline: March 14, 2021
Wave 2 (Final) application deadline: May 23, 2021

Details: Please review the Quantum Stream Page for frequently asked questions. The Quantum Stream includes the objectives-based business mentorship that is provided by all CDL streams as well as technical training via a 4-week Quantum Bootcamp led by world-leading experts in quantum technologies. Bootcamp participants also gain access to quantum systems provided by our technology partners, including D-Wave, IBM Q, Rigetti, Xanadu and Zapata Computing.

Eligibility: Both individuals and early-stage companies are encouraged to apply.

1. Individual Applicants: Ideal Quantum Stream candidates are creative, intelligent, and ambitious individuals with technical competency in machine learning, computational science, physics, math, statistics, or engineering; or relevant industry experience or domain expertise. The accepted individual applicants will have a chance to find their co-founding team during the CDL Quantum Bootcamp and begin their startup journey.

2. Quantum Software Ventures/Teams: Startups at all levels of maturity will be considered. We are excited to accept projects (pre-incorporation), early-stage companies (pre-seed) or little more mature companies (seed).

3. Quantum Hardware Ventures/Teams: Ideal candidates are at a stage when they already have a basic prototype.

Admissions Process: After filling out the application form, you will receive a confirmation email with all of the responses you submitted. If you do not receive a confirmation within 60 minutes of submitting the form, then please contact quantum@creativedestructionlab.com.

Participants will be selected on a rolling basis. The program start date is July 5th, 2021. This program requires that you have access to stable internet connection so you can participate in the Quantum Bootcamp virtually from July 5th until July 30th, 2021.

Questions?

If you would like to set up a call to ask any questions regarding participation in the Quantum stream, please email quantum@creativedestructionlab.com.

PRIMARY CONTACT PERSON'S INFORMATION

Salutation

First Name

Last Name

Date of Birth

Gender

Phone

Street

City

Country

State

Provinces

Postal Code

Country of Citizenship

Link to LinkedIn Profile

Link to Google Scholar Profile

Link to GitHub Page

Link to Twitter ID

Why are you motivated to join this program?

What role do you see yourself taking as part of a startup's founding team? Why?

Do you have unique insights into any industry or market vertical? Please outline them here.

Are you applying as part of an existing team or company?

APPLYING AS AN INDIVIDUAL

What problem are you passionate about solving through a technology startup? Why does solving this problem matter?

Explain in detail the intended benefit of solving this problem via quantum machine learning or related technologies?

What skills will you look for in your co-founding team to be successful in solving this problem?

Provide links to published papers, original research or open-source code you have created.

Summarize your background in quantum technologies or in quantum information processing.

Technical Assignment

If you consider yourself a technical founder (meaning that the expertise you bring to the program is primarily technical or scientific), or you are a pre-existing company, you are required to complete ONLY ONE of the tasks below.

Please submit your solution in the form of Google Drive or Dropbox link, that links to a Latex PDF document (TASK 1) or a Jupyter Notebook (TASK 2).

TASK 1: Choose one technology from the following list and describe how a quantum speedup will bring value to a certain industry vertical, real or hypothetical. Be as technical as possible, and state clearly whether a fault-tolerant quantum computer is required to achieve the speedup, or whether NISQ devices may be sufficient. For each case, choose a preferred quantum hardware (photonics, ions/atoms, superconducting circuits, solid state qubits, other) that is most suitable in your opinion, and justify your choice. Conclude with your best estimate for when the
technology will achieve quantum advantage over its classical competitors. Your answers should include equations, figures, and technical reasoning, and be fully referenced with a scientific bibliography.

TECHNOLOGY LIST:
- Monte Carlo
- Database Search
- Simulation of large molecules
- Optimization problems
- Secure communications
- Measurement and sensing

An example answer has been provided for the technology of “public key factoring” here

TASK 2: Implement the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) using Qiskit https://qiskit.org/documentation/ (or PyQuil https://github.com/rigetti/pyquil,https://grove-docs.readthedocs.io/) to solve a simple max-cut problem on a random graph of 12 nodes.
Please present your solution with clear explanations in a Jupyter Notebook and use equations where appropriate. Before submitting please test the notebook on Google Colab: colab.research.google.com.

Please submit your technical assignment link (Google-Drive or Dropbox) here:

Please list your five strongest attributes.

Please list five skills you would like to improve.

What size of team do you prefer to work with?

Do you have any other professional commitments at the moment?

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Number of Degrees (including in progress)

Degree 1

Please begin with the highest degree.

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 2

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 3

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Relevant Experience

Key Awards and Achievements

If you have any experience as an entrepreneur (e.g., building a company, leading a project, or heading some type of initiative that required rallying others to execute on your vision), then please describe that here.

Please tell us about an interesting project, preferably outside of class or work, that you created. Include URLs if possible.

Programming Language Proficiency

Java

Python

JavaScript

C++

.NET

PHP

SAS

Ruby

Lisp

How many years of software development experience do you have?

If there are any other languages beside above you are proficient in please let us know.

APPLYING AS A PART OF A SOFTWARE COMPANY OR TEAM

Name of your startup

Website

Is your startup incorporated?

YesNo

If yes, provide date of incorporation

Describe your venture

Describe the problem your startup is trying to solve.

Have you raised any money? If so, how much and who are your investors?

How do you plan to protect your idea from competitors?

What is the single most important dimension on which your technology outperforms your competition?

Do you have a working prototype? Explain what the prototype or product demonstrates

Have you received any grant funding? If so, how much?

How much time and money have you spent on developing this business?

What is the long-term vision of your company? How is your product going to change the world?

Provide links to published papers, original research or open-source code you have created.

Summarize your background in quantum technologies or in quantum information processing.

Do you have any affiliation with other programs/institutions? If so, please list:

Technical Assignment

If you consider yourself a technical founder (meaning that the expertise you bring to the program is primarily technical or scientific), or you are a pre-existing company, you are required to complete ONLY ONE of the tasks below.

Please submit your solution in the form of Google Drive or Dropbox link, that links to a Latex PDF document (TASK 1) or a Jupyter Notebook (TASK 2).

TASK 1: Choose one technology from the following list and describe how a quantum speedup will bring value to a certain industry vertical, real or hypothetical. Be as technical as possible, and state clearly whether a fault-tolerant quantum computer is required to achieve the speedup, or whether NISQ devices may be sufficient. For each case, choose a preferred quantum hardware (photonics, ions/atoms, superconducting circuits, solid state qubits, other) that is most suitable in your opinion, and justify your choice. Conclude with your best estimate for when the
technology will achieve quantum advantage over its classical competitors. Your answers should include equations, figures, and technical reasoning, and be fully referenced with a scientific bibliography.

TECHNOLOGY LIST:
- Monte Carlo
- Database Search
- Simulation of large molecules
- Optimization problems
- Secure communications
- Measurement and sensing

An example answer has been provided for the technology of “public key factoring” here

TASK 2: Implement the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) using Qiskit https://qiskit.org/documentation/ (or PyQuil https://github.com/rigetti/pyquil,https://grove-docs.readthedocs.io/) to solve a simple max-cut problem on a random graph of 12 nodes.
Please present your solution with clear explanations in a Jupyter Notebook and use equations where appropriate. Before submitting please test the notebook on Google Colab: colab.research.google.com.

Please submit your technical assignment link (Google-Drive or Dropbox) here:

Number of Key Co-Founders (in addition to Primary Contact Person)

APPLYING AS A PART OF A HARDWARE COMPANY OR TEAM

Name of your startup.

Website

Is your startup incorporated?

YesNo

If yes, provide date of incorporation

Describe your venture.

Do you have a working prototype? Can you show it? If not, how long will it take you to produce one? Explain what the prototype or product demonstrates.

Summarize your background in quantum technologies or in quantum information processing.

Product Overview (Briefly describe how your product works).

Describe the problem your startup is trying to solve.

Link to paper or URL that shows a schematic diagram of the prototype.

Have you raised any money? If so, how much and who are your investors?

How do you plan to protect your idea from competitors?

What is the single most important dimension on which your technology outperforms your competition?

Technical Assignment

Please complete the task below and submit your solution in the form of Google Drive or Dropbox link, that links to a Latex PDF document.

Choose one technology from the following list and describe how a quantum speedup will bring value to a certain industry vertical, real or hypothetical. Be as technical as possible, and state clearly whether a fault-tolerant quantum computer is required to achieve the speedup, or whether NISQ devices may be sufficient. For each case, choose a preferred quantum hardware (photonics, ions/atoms, superconducting circuits, solid state qubits, other) that is most suitable in your opinion, and justify your choice. Conclude with your best estimate for when the technology will achieve quantum advantage over its classical competitors. Your answers should include equations, figures, and technical reasoning, and be fully referenced with a scientific bibliography.

TECHNOLOGY LIST:
- Monte Carlo
- Database Search
- Simulation of large molecules
- Optimization problems
- Secure communications
- Measurement and sensing

An example answer has been provided for the technology of “public key factoring” here

Please submit your technical assignment link (Google-Drive or Dropbox) here:

What is the long-term vision of your company? How is your product going to change the world?

How much time and money have you spent on developing this business?

Have you received any grant funding? If so, how much?

Do you have any affiliation with other programs/institutions? If so, please list:

Number of Key Co-founders (in addition to Primary Contact Person)

TEAM INFORMATION

Primary Contact Person's Information

First Name

Last Name

Number of hours spent on the venture during the last 30 days?

Over the next 10 months, average number of hours per month planned to work on the venture?

Do you have any other professional commitments at the moment

Education

Number of Degrees (including in progress)

Degree 1

Please begin with the highest degree.

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 2

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 3

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Relevant Experience

Key Awards and Achievements

Why is this co-founder important for the venture?

Programming Language Proficiency

Java

Python

JavaScript

C++

.NET

PHP

SAS

Ruby

Lisp

How many years of software development experience do you have?

If there are any other languages beside the above you are proficient in please let us know.

2nd Co-Founder's Information

First Name

Last Name

Gender

Number of hours spent on the venture during the last 30 days?

Over the next 10 months, average number of hours per month planned to work on the venture?

Does this founder have any other professional commitments at the moment

Education

Number of Degrees (including in progress)

Degree 1

Please begin with the highest degree.

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 2

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 3

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Relevant Experience

Key Awards and Achievements

Why is this co-founder important for the venture?

Programming Language Proficiency

Java

Python

JavaScript

C++

.NET

PHP

SAS

Ruby

Lisp

How many years of software development experience does this co-founder have?

If there are any other languages besides the ones above in which this co-founder is proficient, please let us know.

3rd Co-Founder's Information

First Name

Last Name

Gender

Number of hours spent on the venture during the last 30 days?

Over the next 10 months, average number of hours per month planned to work on the venture?

Does this founder have any other professional commitments at the moment

Education

Number of Degrees (including in progress)

Degree 1

Please begin with the highest degree.

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 2

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 3

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Relevant Experience

Key Awards and Achievements

Why is this co-founder important for the venture?

Programming Language Proficiency

Java

Python

JavaScript

C++

.NET

PHP

SAS

Ruby

Lisp

How many years of software development experience does this co-founder have?

If there are any other languages besides the ones above in which this co-founder is proficient, please let us know.

4th Co-Founder's Information

First Name

Last Name

Gender

Number of hours spent on the venture during the last 30 days?

Over the next 10 months, average number of hours per month planned to work on the venture?

Does this founder have any other professional commitments at the moment

Education

Number of Degrees (including in progress)

Degree 1

Please begin with the highest degree.

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 2

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 3

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Relevant Experience

Key Awards and Achievements

Why is this co-founder important for the venture?

Programming Language Proficiency

Java

Python

JavaScript

C++

.NET

PHP

SAS

Ruby

Lisp

How many years of software development experience does this co-founder have?

If there are any other languages besides the ones above in which this co-founder is proficient, please let us know.

5th Co-Founder's Information

First Name

Last Name

Gender

Number of hours spent on the venture during the last 30 days?

Over the next 10 months, average number of hours per month planned to work on the venture?

Does this founder have any other professional commitments at the moment

Education

Number of Degrees (including in progress)

Degree 1

Please begin with the highest degree.

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 2

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 3

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Relevant Experience

Key Awards and Achievements

Why is this co-founder important for the venture?

Programming Language Proficiency

Java

Python

JavaScript

C++

.NET

PHP

SAS

Ruby

Lisp

How many years of software development experience does this co-founder have?

If there are any other languages besides the ones above in which this co-founder is proficient, please let us know.

6th Co-Founder's Information

First Name

Last Name

Gender

Number of hours spent on the venture during the last 30 days?

Over the next 10 months, average number of hours per month planned to work on the venture?

Does this founder have any other professional commitments at the moment

Education

Number of Degrees (including in progress)

Degree 1

Please begin with the highest degree.

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 2

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA (On a 4.0 scale)

Institute

Degree 3

Specialization

Graduation Year

GPA

Institute

Relevant Experience

Key Awards and Achievements

Why is this co-founder important for the venture?

Programming Language Proficiency

Java

Python

JavaScript

C++

.NET

PHP

Ruby

SAS

Lisp

How many years of software development experience does this co-founder have?

If there are any other languages besides the ones above in which this co-founder is proficient, please let us know.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we anticipate that the 2021 CDL Quantum Bootcamp will be delivered virtually. However, if we are able to return to an in-person format, participating in this program requires you relocate to the Greater Toronto Area from July 5th to July 30th, 2021 to participate in the CDL Quantum Bootcamp. There will be relocation stipends and housing available on an as-needed basis to support in-person attendance. Please confirm if you can commit to this if accepted.

How did you first hear about CDL?

Who emailed you?

Search Engine

Which search engine?

Who referred you?

Social Media

Which platform?

Media

Which blog?

Which publication?

Which podcast?

What type of media?

Who told you about it?

What event?

Who was your primary recruiter?

Name of CDL Team Member

Name of CDL Mentor

Name of CDL Scientist

Other

Would you build a company if you are not accepted to this program?

Is there anything else you think we should know about you?

Immigration Disclaimer

I understand that I am solely responsible for my legal status in Canada, including any permits required to legally work in Canada. The Creative Destruction Lab may, at its own discretion, provide access to immigration support services, and provide supporting documentation as requested by the IRCC and other Canadian agencies. The Creative Destruction Lab takes no responsibility for an applicant being granted visa and/or work permit status in Canada.

Privacy Notice: Personal information collected in connection with your application to Creative Destruction Lab, including data collected from founders and its employees such as contact information, education history, work experience, and financial information about the venture, will be used for the purposes of processing and responding to your application, including assessing the suitability of your venture for acceptance into the program. We also use this information (in addition to information about your participation in the program, if accepted) for internal research and analysis in order to identify, evaluate and better understand factors that contribute to a successful venture. We may also share de-identified data with third-party academic researchers for social science research purposes. CDL as an organization has a policy against sharing any sensitive technical information or intellectual property relating to the Venture with any researchers. If you provide us with personal information about any other individual (such as your co-founder(s) or partner(s)), you confirm that you have obtained the consent of such individual(s) prior to providing any personal information to us.

I confirm that the information given in this form is true, complete and accurate.

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