Qolab Announces John Martinis Prize as Momentum Builds for Scalable Quantum Hardware

Qolab announced the launch of the John Martinis Prize for Experimental Superconducting Qubit Physics. The prize is designed to support the next generation of researchers advancing superconducting quantum hardware. It is supported The prize is named in honor of Qolab co-founder and CTO John M. Martinis, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work on macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit. It will provide research and education grants to scientists and educators working to advance experimental superconducting quantum systems. The program will support both academic research and classroom instruction. Awardees will receive funding and access to Qolab quantum processors running on the Quantum Machines orchestration stack. Research awardees will be granted time on Qolab latest superconducting processors hosted at the IQCC for advanced pulse-level control experiments and device characterization. They will also receive a research stipend and a free pass to the Adaptive Quantum Circuits conference. Applications for the prize will open on March 16. Researchers and educators can apply via the online submission form, and prize winners will be formally announced and recognized at the Adaptive Quantum Circuits conference in Chicago in 2026. John M. Martinis said scaling quantum computers from research prototypes to useful systems requires a new generation of experimentalists who understand both the physics and the engineering of superconducting devices. Through the John Martinis Prize, the company hopes to support researchers and educators pushing the boundaries of qubit control, device design and experimental techniques. Nir Alfasi, general manager of the IQCC, said the IQCC is the only cloud access center providing experimentalists with full pulse-level control of superconducting qubits via Quantum Machines OPX+. The IQCC is excited to host Qolab processors to advance technology with the next generation of superconducting experimentalists.