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IBM recently collaborated with partners to present three groundbreaking results that demonstrate a clear quantum advantage for the first time. This marks a milestone that the industry has been working toward for years. But this success brings a new question to the forefront: Where will quantum computers first demonstrate practical utility?<\/p>\n
One particularly promising area of application is optimization. Although it was not the focus of the most recent demonstrations of quantum advantage, many researchers see potential here for the next breakthroughs. This is precisely where the Quantum Optimization Benchmarking Library (QOBLIB) comes in. The latest developments surrounding QOBLIB show how the discussion is shifting: away from the question of whether quantum advantage is possible, toward the question of where it can be demonstrated and utilized economically. This requires more than individual research successes. It requires transparent benchmarks, common standards, and an active community. The growing community around QOBLIB is fostering greater comparability and collaboration in research. This development is now gaining further momentum with a major publication in the journal *Nature Computational Science*, a new website, and new results from partners across the entire quantum ecosystem. <\/p>\n
QOBLIB is an open-source library that provides ten particularly challenging classes of optimization problems, along with the corresponding evaluation methods, benchmarks, and tools. The goal is to test quantum and classical methods under comparable conditions and to objectively evaluate their performance. QOBLIB brings the community together around common benchmarks, transparent reference values, and clear evaluation criteria. The Quantum Advantage Tracker\u2014which helps researchers transparently evaluate potential use cases for quantum advantage\u2014has already demonstrated the added value that open, collaboratively driven initiatives can create.<\/p>\n
QOBLIB was developed by the Quantum Optimization Working Group in collaboration with partners from academia and industry, including the Zuse Institute Berlin, the Technical University of Berlin, Purdue University, the National University of Singapore, E.ON Digital Technology GmbH, Kipu Quantum, Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich, and IBM Quantum. Since its initial release as an open-source project in 2025, QOBLIB has pursued a clear goal: to make progress toward quantum advantage in optimization visible and traceable. <\/p>\n
In optimization, theoretical promises are not enough. Most methods, whether classical or quantum-based, operate heuristically. They often yield good results but do not guarantee the optimal solution in every case. Therefore, a potential quantum advantage must be demonstrated in practice.<\/p>\n
This is precisely where the challenge lies: Convincing proof can only be achieved by comparing results with the best available classical methods. And these have been continuously refined over decades. No single research team can undertake this comparison on its own. QOBLIB lays the groundwork for this: it provides common problem classes, transparent reference values, and uniform evaluation standards. This enables fair comparisons and makes progress measurable. <\/p>\n
With this release, we have also launched a new QOBLIB website. This makes it easier than ever to participate, explore benchmarks, track developments in the research field, and contribute your own results. <\/p>\n
The new website\u2026 <\/b><\/p>\n QOBLIB is not just a benchmark collection, but an open, transparent, and collaborative library that highlights and actively promotes progress in optimization and quantum research. <\/p>\n What began as a collaborative research project is increasingly evolving into a central resource for the optimization community. More than 2,000 results have now been submitted. New contributions come from E.ON, Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich, and STFC Hartree, among others. New results have also been presented by Aqarios, Global Data Quantum, JIJ, Kipu Quantum, ParityQC, Q-CTRL, Qoro, and Qunova, all of which are members of the IBM Quantum Startup Program. Taken together, these contributions show where the field stands today. They give us a sense of how widely quantum approaches are gaining traction and how far they still lag behind the best classical solutions. And since this gap itself is a moving target\u2014as both quantum and classical methods are constantly improving\u2014determining the current state of the art allows us to measure progress.<\/p>\n QOBLIB was developed to track both quantum and classical paradigms side by side, allowing it to capture how classical methods have evolved since the library\u2019s introduction. This is crucial to QOBLIB\u2019s success: A claim about quantum advantage is only as valid as the classical foundation behind it\u2014and that foundation is constantly improving. <\/p>\n The search for a practical quantum advantage in optimization is not a task for individual companies or research institutions alone. It thrives on an active community that shares results, compares methods, and defines new challenges. That is exactly why QOBLIB was created. Regardless of whether someone is working on classical or quantum methods: Every submitted solution, every benchmark, and every new dataset helps improve our understanding of where quantum computing can deliver the greatest benefits in the future. Furthermore, suggestions for new problem classes are expressly welcome.<\/p>\n – – – – –<\/p>\n\n
A Growing Community<\/h3>\n
Reaching the Next Milestone Together <\/h3>\n
Related Links<\/h4>\n