The new IBM MIT lab viewed from street level
The new IBM MIT lab viewed from street level (image: IBM)

New MIT-IBM Computing Research Lab to focus on AI and quantum computing

IBM and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced the launch of the MIT–IBM Computing Research Lab, expanding a long-standing partnership to focus on AI, algorithms and quantum computing. 

The new lab builds on the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab, established in 2017, and will bring together researchers from both organisations to develop new computational approaches that combine AI methods with emerging quantum technologies.

“The MIT-IBM Computing Research Lab reflects an important expansion of the collaboration between MIT and IBM and the increasing connections across AI, algorithms and quantum,” said Dan Huttenlocher, Dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and MIT Co-Chair of the lab. 

According to IBM, the lab’s area of focus will include improving capabilities and integrating AI will traditional computing, alongside pursuing advances in small, efficient, modular language model architectures, novel AI computing paradigms, and enterprise-focused AI systems designed for deployment in real-world environments.

“We expect the MIT-IBM Computing Research Lab to emerge as one of the world’s premier academic and industrial hubs accelerating the future of computing,” said Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow, and IBM chair of the lab. 

From quantum algorithms to partial differential equations

In parallel, the lab will examine the mathematical and algorithmic foundations underpinning next-generation computing.

This includes work on quantum algorithms for complex problems and research into optimisation, machine learning, Hamiltonian simulations and partial differential equations, which are used to approximate the behaviours of systems that currently stump classical systems’ scale and accuracy.

These areas of research are expected to have applications across fields such as materials science, chemistry, biology, finance and weather modelling.

“For a decade, the collaboration between MIT and IBM has produced leading-edge research and innovation, provided mentorship and supported the professional growth of researchers both at MIT and IBM,” said MIT Provost Anantha Chandrakasan, who also spearheaded the creation of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab and is MIT Chair of the lab. 

The lab will also contribute to education and workforce development by supporting students and early-career researchers across MIT, engaging multiple departments to apply new computational methods to scientific discovery in both physical and life sciences.

Leadership of the lab will be shared between MIT and IBM. Aude Oliva, a Senior Research Scientist at MIT, and David Cox, Vice President of AI Foundations at IBM Research, will continue as co-directors, with additional leads appointed across each research stream.

Echoes in history: wartime computers

Those interested in the history of computing may like to know that this partnership has many echoes from the early years of computing. For example, IBM took on the job of building the Harvard Mark 1, brainchild of Howard H. Aiken.

The brilliant mathematician John von Neumann created a the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Here, he along with many others worked on one of the first computers based on the “von Neumann architecture”, which remains in place today.

You can read more about this chapter in time in our editor’s book, The Computers That Made The World (US link)

Aimee Chanthadavong
Aimee Chanthadavong

Aimee Chanthadavong has been a journalist, editor and content producer for more than a decade. During that time she's covered enterprise technology for premium websites such as ZDNet and InnovationAus as well as food and travel for Broadsheet and SBS.