The second edition of the SMU Smart City Society’s Code for Cities “Quantum Computing in Smart Cities” hackathon came to a successful close on 2 September 2022, with the top three teams walking away with a total of S$4,500 in cash prizes. Organised in collaboration with IBM Singapore, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), and the National Quantum Computing Hub (NQCH), the competition saw its largest ever participation by 26 teams comprising more than 100 participants from various universities in Singapore.

Established in 2021, Code for Cities became SMU Smart City Society’s annual flagship event, exposing participants to real-life industry problems faced in the Smart City domain. Backed by the SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SMU IIE), Smart City Society was formed with a vision to become a one-stop platform for students interested in Smart City technologies, connecting them with industry partners in the Smart City domain.

This year’s problem statement was “How can quantum computing be used to address problems faced in smart cities?” specifically in the smart mobility, smart environment and smart health domains. The 26 teams crafted proposals that identified quantum computing use cases with illustrations of how these cases could be applied to solve their identified problem. Five teams were selected to compete in the Final Round by the judging panel, which included:

Dr Shesha Raghunathan, Senior Research Scientist, Strategic Partnerships at IBM Quantum and IBM Quantum Ambassador APAC Lead

Dr Raymond Rudy, IBM Researcher (Tokyo) and Project Researcher, Keio University

Dr Lau Hoong Chuin, Principal Scientist, Institute of High Performance Computing

Dr Paul Robert Griffin, Associate Professor of Information Systems (Practice), SMU

SMU’s Team Five Guys was crowned the grand winner of the hackathon and took home the grand prize worth S$2,000. The team was formed by students from the School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS), who proposed a solution named “Bob the Builder” which aims to use quantum computing to alleviate traffic conditions in Singapore, particularly during peak hours. They adopted the use of quantum annealing to allow traffic lights to better react to real-time traffic conditions, with the use of heatmaps to optimise traffic light timings to help reduce traffic congestion and unnecessary waiting time at successive traffic light junctions.

Xu Xinhui, leader of team Five Guys said, “Although none of our team members had any prior knowledge about quantum computing, we wanted to explore and understand what future technologies have to offer. However, this lack of knowledge came with its own challenges as all of us struggled to understand the different terminologies used. Nonetheless, we were thankful for the opportunity to participate in this competition and are honoured to receive the 1st prize. The team has gained valuable knowledge about the prospects of quantum computing from the hackathon and are excited to see how it will play a role in Singapore.”

Arick Soo, President of SMU Smart City Society said, “This year, we are privileged to have organised this hackathon in collaboration with IBM and IMDA with the support of NQCH, SMU IIE and the Association for Public Affairs Singapore. I would like to extend our gratitude to all our partners and speakers for supporting Code for Cities 2022. Their contribution is a significant and tangible step towards value creation for SMU students, enabling us to connect our passion, academic skills and concepts on evolving smart city domains, into simulation and practice. Lastly, our heartiest congratulations to the winning teams and sincere appreciation to all the participants!”