IBM says six of nine NEDO Quantum Challenge prize winners used only its hardware

[Teal Shannon]

IBM has highlighted its role in a major Japanese quantum competition. Quantum Zeitgeist, based on an IBM blog post, reports that six of the nine prize winners in the NEDO Quantum Challenge 2026 used only IBM quantum computers

The challenge was run by Japan's NEDO research agency. Judges reviewed 87 applications and awarded nine prizes across three tracks, called Society 5.0, Quality of Life and Cool Japan. First place in each track received 40 million yen, about $270,000, with 20 million yen for second and 10 million yen for third

According to IBM, teams used more than 5,900 minutes of compute time across five IBM systems, about five percent more than they had been allocated. IBM also ran training sessions and Quantum Clinic consultations to help teams

Several projects were named. KDDI Research's Q-Chainners took third place by combining a quantum hash function with classical processing for transaction security. Mitsubishi Chemical, Keio University, Arizona State University and IBM built a hybrid optimisation for lower carbon chemical processes using the IBM Quantum System One at the University of Tokyo. Two teams have already launched companies off the back of their work

Competitions like this are a good way to get companies and students experimenting with real hardware. IBM's figures are naturally promotional, so they should be read in that light. Spinning out two companies from one challenge is a nice outcome though

Do competitions like this help quantum computing find real uses? And how much does access to hardware matter for new teams?

IBM Supports Award-winning Projects In NEDO Challengequantumzeitgeist.com