An environment for sustainable research software in Germany and beyond: current state, open challenges, and call for action

Research software has become a central asset in academic research. It optimizes existing and enables new research methods, implements and embeds research knowledge, and constitutes an essential research product in itself. Research software must be sustainable in order to understand, replicate, reproduce, and build upon existing research or conduct new research effectively. In other words, software must be available, discoverable, usable, and adaptable to new needs, both now and in the future. Research software therefore requires an environment that supports sustainability. Hence, a change is needed in the way research software development and maintenance are currently motivated, incentivized, funded, structurally and infrastructurally supported, and legally treated. Failing to do so will threaten the quality and validity of research. In this paper, we identify challenges for research software sustainability in Germany and beyond, in terms of motivation, selection, research software engineering personnel, funding, infrastructure, and legal aspects. Besides researchers, we specifically address political and academic decision-makers to increase awareness of the importance and needs of sustainable research software practices. In particular, we recommend strategies and measures to create an environment for sustainable research software, with the ultimate goal to ensure that software-driven research is valid, reproducible and sustainable, and that software is recognized as a first class citizen in research. This paper is the outcome of two workshops run in Germany in 2019, at deRSE19 - the first International Conference of Research Software Engineers in Germany - and a dedicated DFG-supported follow-up workshop in Berlin

Quantum Transpiler Optimization: On the Development, Implementation, and Use of a Quantum Research Testbed

Quantum computing research is at the cusp of a paradigm shift. As the complexity of quantum systems increases, so does the complexity of research procedures for creating and testing layers of the quantum software stack. However, the tools used to perform these tasks have not experienced the increase in capability required to effectively handle the development burdens involved. This case is made particularly clear in the context of IBM QX Transpiler optimization algorithms and functions. IBM QX systems use the Qiskit library to create, transform, and execute quantum circuits. As coherence times and hardware qubit counts increase and qubit topologies become more complex, so does orchestration of qubit mapping and qubit state movement across these topologies. The transpiler framework used to create and test improved algorithms has not kept pace. A testbed is proposed to provide abstractions to create and test transpiler routines. The development process is analyzed and implemented, from design principles through requirements analysis and verification testing. Additionally, limitations of existing transpiler algorithms are identified and initial results are provided that suggest more effective algorithms for qubit mapping and state movement