A small Harwell-based consultancy that uses quantum computing methods to help hospitals and others tackle hard planning problems.
Applied Quantum Computing, often shortened to AQC, is a small consultancy that helps organisations use quantum computing techniques on real business problems. Its main focus is healthcare operations: how hospitals schedule operating theatres, patients and staff. Some of these problems have so many possible combinations that even powerful ordinary computers cannot find the best answer, which is where the company thinks quantum and quantum-inspired methods can help. Its pages describe it as offering consulting and technical advisory services to organisations that want to apply quantum approaches to their problems.
The company is led by Tim Thomas. A Harwell Campus profile says it started with a pilot project to shorten surgical waiting lists in UK hospitals, noting that NHS operating theatres are used only about 70 to 75 per cent of the time. For a large hospital trust the team studied patient lists and booking processes and found that booking operations in batches rather than one after another made better use of theatre time and cut waits. Mr Thomas says the aim is to help trusts manage operations better, which could reduce waiting lists and pressure on staff. He said he was partly motivated by his daughter, a hospital doctor.
AQC is based at the Atlas Building on Harwell Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, and is one of the start-ups in the Quantum Business Incubation Centre (QuBIC), a programme run by the Science and Technology Facilities Council with the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC). It also worked with a consultancy called The PSC on a project funded by a grant from the STFC and the NQCC. That project looked at use cases in operational healthcare and chose two for proof-of-concept tests, one of which was theatre productivity. The work was done with Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and IBM provided access to quantum processors.
The Harwell profile says the team has advanced qualifications in science and investment and met through university, work and a friend's wedding. It says nothing else about size or working culture, so we cannot describe the atmosphere. It is a very small organisation, so people there are likely to work on a range of tasks.
The roles in a consultancy like this involve mathematicians and data scientists who build the models, software developers who turn them into working programs, people who understand how hospitals run and can talk with NHS managers, and project and business staff. Maths, computer science, operational research and health-service management can all be relevant. The company's website lists how to get in touch.
Website: appliedquantumcomputing.co.uk
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