Year in Review 2025: Accelerating Quantum‑Powered Spectroscopy at HQS
2025 got off to a spectacular start for HQS Quantum Simulations: the year began with our EIC Transition success, setting the tone for twelve months focused on scaling impact, expanding ready‑to‑use workflows, and strengthening collaborations that bring quantum methods for spectroscopy closer to real‑world use.
EIC Transition: Scaling Next‑Generation NMR
A major highlight of the year was the EIC Transition support for our project “Next‑Gen NMR Prediction and Analysis: A Cutting‑Edge Tool for High‑Precision Structure Identification (HQS‑NextNMR)”, with ~€2.5 million in funding. This enables us to accelerate the development of robust, high‑precision NMR prediction and analysis workflows—designed to make structure identification faster, more reliable, and ultimately scalable toward real‑world applications.
MatQML: Bridging Materials Problems and Quantum Machine Learning
With MatQML, we continued advancing the connection between materials‑relevant problem settings and quantum machine learning (QML) approaches. The focus is on creating structured, testable pipelines that can be evaluated against meaningful scientific targets—and that can evolve from exploratory prototypes into reusable building blocks.
QCOptSense: QML Pipelines for Optical Sensing
In QCOptSense, we progressed on translating optical sensing tasks into QML‑ready workflows. A key direction is automation: reducing manual effort in assembling end‑to‑end pipelines so sensing use cases can be benchmarked more systematically and compared across different algorithmic choices.
Industry Collaboration (QuaSiLaMa): TRUMPF & Fraunhofer ILT
In 2025, we also contributed to an industry‑driven collaboration as a subcontractor within the research project QuaSiLaMa, in the broader project context together with TRUMPF and Fraunhofer ILT. This work reflects our continued commitment to transferring methods and software into applied settings—where requirements are shaped by real constraints and practical success criteria.
Use Case Releases: Hands‑On Quantum Workflows on HQStage
To help users explore quantum‑enhanced spectroscopy in practice, we expanded our Use Case Releases via HQStage with new, ready‑to‑run workflows that lower the barrier from “algorithm idea” to “working evaluation.” These releases are built to support faster onboarding, clearer benchmarking, and smoother experimentation—whether directly in the browser or in a local environment.
Discover the use cases on GitHub and find various videos on our YouTube channel.
HQSpectrum: Trial Version Now Available
To make our spectroscopy tooling more accessible, we released a free trial version of HQSpectrum. The trial provides an entry point to explore workflows, gather feedback, and validate product direction, helping users and partners move from experimental ideas to repeatable analysis routines.
Publication: NMR Benchmarking and a Clear Path to Quantum Advantage
In 2025, we published the paper “What is a good use case for quantum computers?” on arXiv:2506.15426, introducing the ITBQ framework (Identify–Transform–Benchmark–Show Quantum Advantage) for evaluating quantum-computing applications. The work emphasizes that credible progress requires rigorous benchmarking against classical approaches and transparent criteria for what makes a use case meaningful. Applying ITBQ to several domains, including NMR, we highlight both the opportunities and the practical barriers that must be addressed on the path toward real quantum advantage.
Looking Ahead
analytica 2026: Live HQSpectrum Demos and Practical Spectroscopy Workflows
Next, we’re preparing to bring these developments to the community at analytica, with a particular focus on HQSpectrum and practical spectroscopy workflows. We look forward to meeting users, partners, and innovators, and to continuing the path from quantum research to usable tools in chemistry and materials science.