A variety of companies, organizations, and associations offer learning materials, resources, and courses on quantum computing. These resources cater to a wide range of audiences, from beginners and students to professionals and researchers. In this post we collected a wide range of them, from free, introductory training, through complex, longer courses, to university-level educational resources.
Mathematical foundations
Quantum computing requires more than just a basic mathematical background. You need to be familiar with vectors, matrices, operations on them, linear algebra, vector spaces and transformations on them, complex numbers, and some even more advanced concepts. Essential Mathematics for Quantum Computing by Leonard S. Woody III goes through the required math in just around 200 pages. This should be more than enough to recap university studies, but it also contains references to resources with more details for those who are not familiar with certain topics at all.
It is strongly suggested to understand the mathematical foundations first, to get the most out of quantum computing courses.
Technology Companies
Major technology companies are at the forefront of quantum computing development and provide extensive educational resources to foster a developer ecosystem.
- IBM offers the IBM Quantum Learning platform, which includes courses, tutorials, and a user-friendly drag-and-drop circuit composer. They also provide access to their real quantum computers through the cloud. They have courses specifically designed for people new to quantum computing on Coursera, although this particular course is not free, it costs 49$.
- Microsoft’s Azure Quantum platform provides learning resources, including the “Quantum Katas” (self-paced tutorials and programming exercises) and a comprehensive learning path on Microsoft Learn. They require a significant amount of math background, university studies have to be revisited to understand the katas.
- Google’se Quantum AI division offers educational materials and a Coursera course on quantum error correction. They offer free, open source tools to program quantum computers. However, their website is useful mostly to people who already know some quantum computing, they don’t have courses designed to help people new to quantum computing.
- D-Wave, a leader in annealing quantum computing, provides training and developer tools through their “Leap” quantum cloud service, including tutorials and a program to help businesses explore quantum applications. The reader needs a solid mathematical background to understand their courses.
- IonQ offers training to understand the basics of quantum computing, and they have courses that teach more complicated concepts, and programming quantum computers. They don’t only explain how their technology works, but offer an overview of what other quantum computing companies offer.
- Quantinuum has a technical blog with a high number of publications, and they also offer different developer tools to program quantum computers, however they don’t have a course specifically designed to train people who are new to quantum computing.
Educational Institutions and Research Organizations
Many universities and research centers are key players in quantum computing education, often providing both formal degree programs and public-facing resources.
- TU Delft (QuTech Academy): TU Delft’s online learning platform offers a variety of courses on quantum technology, from fundamentals to more specific topics like quantum cryptography and machine learning. They offer online courses, which typically cost a few hundred dollars.
- University of Waterloo (Institute for Quantum Computing – IQC): The IQC offers outreach programs, lecture materials, and resources for high school students, teachers, and university-level learners.
- Stanford University & other universities: Many other universities, such as Stanford and the University of Toronto, have developed courses available on platforms like Coursera.
- QTEdu (European Quantum Flagship): This project aims to build a comprehensive quantum education ecosystem in Europe, offering various programs, courses, and training opportunities for lifelong learning and professional development. They have huge collection of courses offered by many different companies and institutions.
Non-Profit Associations and Communities
These groups focus on building a community and making quantum computing knowledge more accessible to a wider audience.
- QWorld: This non-profit organization works to popularize quantum technologies and train the next generation of quantum scientists through educational events and workshop series like “QBronze” and “QSilver.” They are organizing events and from time to time offering quantum computing courses, too.
- Open Quantum Institute: This organization curates and supports educational activities, including hackathons, to advance understanding and participation in quantum computing applications. They collected a list of educational programs they support.
Other Companies and Platforms
- qBraid: A cloud-based platform that gives users access to quantum hardware from various providers and partners with universities to offer research mentorships and educational programs. They even offer a tool to build your own quantum computing training.
- Q-CTRL (Black Opal) offers an interactive online learning platform designed to make quantum computing accessible to everyone, regardless of their background. They have a limited free version of their platform, the full experience costs 199$.
