Quantum computing for operations research: current state and perspectives
A tutorial by David Bernal Neira, presented at IFORS 2026, the 24th Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies, 12–17 July 2026, Vienna, Austria.
- Session: Tutorial session (Stream: Tutorials)
- Chair: Andres Medaglia
- Date & time: Tuesday, 10:30–12:00
- Room: HG – Audimax
Abstract
Quantum computing is processing information through phenomena that can be described through quantum mechanics. Compared to non-quantum, classical computing, this computational paradigm promises to accelerate specific tasks. The study of algorithms running in quantum computers has spurred a series of novel research in various areas, including computational chemistry, quantum system simulation, and combinatorial optimization. Some of these topics are particularly interesting to the Operations Research community, as they include core tasks in our profession. This tutorial is aimed to provide a bird's-eye overview of the state of usage of quantum computing in operations research. The work of the Quantum Computing committee at INFORMS for over a year, gathering experiences and perspectives of academics, practitioners, and stakeholders, provides a solid base to present various approaches on how one can leverage current and future quantum devices for OR tasks, particularly optimizations.
The tutorial will have a hands-on experience with quantum computing hardware for combinatorial optimization. In particular, we are going to cover the formulation of problems using quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) models, which, given their equivalence to the transverse field Ising model, are the standard framework to encode optimization as the energy minimization of a quantum energy function, or Hamiltonian.
We will then cover different quantum algorithms designed to address QUBO problems, including quantum annealing, the quantum approximation optimization algorithm (QAOA), and variational quantum eigensolvers (VQE). We will explore the different topics while executing codes in quantum simulators, quantum annealers, gate-based quantum computers, and other novel hardware for this framework. All the codes are developed as open-source alternatives and run on cloud services, allowing anyone with an internet browser to experience using quantum computers.
New to SECQUOIA?
This tutorial is part of the work of the SECQUOIA research group at Purdue University, led by David Bernal Neira. We develop methods and open-source software spanning classical and quantum optimization for industrial applications. Explore more of our work: