Chennai, India, August 12, 2024 – The Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Q-CTRL, the global leader in quantum infrastructure software, today announced a partnership that kickstarts quantum education in India through a first-of-its-kind statewide rollout.

Q-CTRL’s Black Opal, an award-winning workforce development platform for learning quantum computing, will become a mandatory learning module for engineering students within the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation’s (TNSDC) Naan Mudhalvan Upskilling Platform.

The global quantum workforce is drastically understaffed, as evidenced in a McKinsey report predicting that less than half of projected quantum computing jobs will be filled by 2025. To close the quantum skills gap, talent will need to be tapped from around the globe, and India will be a key contributor to building the quantum economy. This strategic collaboration aims to provide high-quality, hands-on quantum computing education to hundreds of thousands of university engineering students, and recognizes Tamil Nadu as a leader in the burgeoning quantum technology industry.

Black Opal makes quantum computing accessible to all — from students to software engineers, and developers to executives — through an interactive and visual online platform in which browser extensions can provide immediate language translation. Black Opal is designed to equip all learners for the quantum era with everything they need to join the quantum industry, which is expected to become a trillion-dollar sector over the next decade, according to McKinsey.

"Naan Mudhalvan is a government flagship program with a vision to upskill the youth of Tamil Nadu as we march into a trillion-dollar economy. Our partnership with Q-CTRL to roll out state-of-the-art quantum computing education in Tamil Nadu fuels our synergy with the industry, aiding in creating the talent pool that will feed into the industry and ramp up investment in the state.” Said Tmt J. Innocent Divya, I.A.S., Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation.

“Q-CTRL is proud to be making history in India through our partnership with Tamil Nadu which has become the first state in the world to roll out quantum computing education to all technical degree programs. Through our award-winning education platform, hundreds of thousands of students within TN will be upskilled over the next few semesters. Together we are creating the next generation of developers across the world.” Said Aravind Ratnam, Chief Strategy Officer at Q-CTRL.