Quantum Leadership — ALEX Institute

At a glance

Item	Detail
Course 1	OPENQuantum Business Foundations, IBM Quantum Learning (about 2–3 hours)
Course 2	OPENDesigning and Leading Quantum Projects, IBM Quantum Learning (about 4 hours)
Applied brief	A one-page quantum readiness brief for a real organization, reviewed by an SME
Length	3 weeks at about 3 hours a week, after a short Week 0 orientation
Cohort	Opens with the monthly cohort, on the first Monday of the month
Background needed	No math. No coding. Free IBMid account.
Cost	$0, including the optional Course 1 badge
License	Both courses are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

What OPEN means here: the Institute may adapt or translate these courses, as long as it keeps IBM's credit line and releases any adapted version under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Before you start

Prerequisites and readiness

Level	Prerequisite	Required?
Program gate	The Institute's AI prep course (no proof required)	Required
Course 1	None; built for experts and non-experts (IBM course page ↗)	No
Course 2	Course 1 completed (IBM course page ↗)	Required by this class
Technology	Computer, current web browser, personal email, free IBMid	Required
Time	About 3 hours a week for 3 weeks	Required

Readiness check (your Mentor confirms before Week 1):

You confirm completing the AI prep course (no proof required)
Free IBMid account created and signed in
You commit to about 3 hours a week and weekly Mentor check-ins

Week by week

Week	You do	Hours	Group session	Due by end of week
0	Readiness check; create your IBMid; join the class channel	About 0.5	Class introduction	Readiness checklist done
1	Course 1, all lessons (optional free badge exam)	About 3	—	Course 1 complete
2	Course 2: Introduction, Early stages	About 2	Mid-class Q&A with the SME	Course 2 lessons 1 and 2 done
3	Course 2: Assemble your team, Grant writing; submit your brief	About 3 to 4	Class completion	Course 2 complete; brief sent to the SME

Enrollment

Enrollment steps

Confirm the prerequisite. Tell your Mentor you completed the AI prep course. No proof is required.
Create a free IBMid. Go to IBM Quantum Learning ↗ and choose Sign in. Use a personal email address, use your name exactly as it should appear on the badge, and finish any email verification before opening a course.
Open Course 1. In the Learning catalog, open Quantum Business Foundations and choose Start from beginning. Stay signed in so progress is tracked.
Complete the pre-course survey when the course shows it.
Finish all Course 1 lessons. Read all text not marked optional and watch all videos.
Open Course 2. Open Designing and Leading Quantum Projects and complete all four lessons.
Submit the applied brief to the SME.

Optional: the free Course 1 badge.

After Course 1, follow the course's exam link to IBM Training and sign in with the same IBMid.
Two failed attempts lock the exam temporarily, so finish the lessons first.
Accept the badge from the Credly email. The exam shares your name, email and badge with Credly, IBM's badge processor.

Your applied brief

A one-page quantum readiness brief for a real organization you choose

The organization: who it is and what it does.
One problem quantum computing could address, drawn from the Course 1 use cases.
A first-stage plan, using the early-stages lesson from Course 2.
The team needed, using the "Assemble your team" lesson from Course 2.

Support and completion

Who supports each learner

Role	Ratio	What they do in this class
ALEX Mentor	About 1 to 10, permanent per learner	Runs the readiness check; weekly check-ins; confirms progress
ALEX SME	At least one per class	Answers quantum questions; joins the mid-class Q&A; reviews the applied brief
ALEX Class Lead	About 1 to 12, per class	Answers logistics asynchronously by voice; leads group sessions

A learner who misses a weekly deliverable gets an extra Mentor check-in that week.

What completes the class

Requirement	Evidence	Verified by
Course 1 lessons complete	Learner self-report, confirmed at check-in	Mentor
Course 2 lessons complete	Learner self-report, confirmed at check-in	Mentor
Applied brief accepted	Brief on file with SME feedback	SME

The Course 1 badge is free but optional. It is not a completion requirement.

Level 1B · In development

Quantum Sovereignty & Quantum-Safe Readiness

Data stolen today can be decrypted by a quantum computer tomorrow. Governments are setting migration deadlines now. Know who controls your organization's keys, data and vendors, and what it must change first. About 3 weeks.

Label	Material	Detail
OPEN	IBM Quantum Learning: Practical Introduction to Quantum-Safe Cryptography	$0. Hash functions, symmetric and asymmetric keys, and the new quantum-safe standards. Python examples are optional; your Mentor and SME cover the math.
OPEN	Institute study guide: national quantum strategies and sovereignty	Who controls quantum capability, encryption keys and data location
OPEN	Applied brief: Quantum-Safe Readiness Brief	Map one organization's encryption, data location and vendor dependence; three migration actions, each with an owner and a date. SME-reviewed.

Take it after Quantum Leadership. It pairs with Week 3 of AI Security Essentials.

Where it leads

A 14-course open pathway, from no-math basics to graduate theory

Every course below is OPEN (openly licensed). "Est." marks an estimate where the provider publishes no length. The Institute assigns a Mentor and an SME to every course it packages.

Level 1: Foundations (no math or coding)

#	Course	Hours	License
1	Quantum Business Foundations ↗ (IBM)	2–3	CC BY-SA 4.0
2	Designing and Leading Quantum Projects ↗ (IBM)	About 4	CC BY-SA 4.0
3	Applied brief (ALEX Institute)	1–2	CC BY 4.0
1B	Quantum Sovereignty & Quantum-Safe Readiness (IBM course + Institute guide and brief)	About 3 weeks	Open

Level 2: Bridge (light math)

#	Course	Hours	License
4	Introduction to quantum computing ↗ (The Open University)	About 8	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
5	Quantum Computing as a High School Module ↗ (Fermilab authors)	Est. 15–20	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Level 3: Core theory (basic linear algebra and complex numbers)

Learners without that math take a free linear algebra course first; IBM points to Khan Academy's series.

#	Course	Hours	License
6	Fundamentals of Quantum Information ↗ (TU Delft)	24–32	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
7	Basics of quantum information ↗ (IBM)	Est. 30–35	CC BY-SA 4.0
8	Fundamentals of quantum algorithms (IBM)	Est. 30–35	CC BY-SA 4.0
9	General formulation of quantum information (IBM)	Est. 30–35	CC BY-SA 4.0
10	Foundations of quantum error correction (IBM)	Est. 30–35	CC BY-SA 4.0

Courses 7 to 10 are the four units of Understanding Quantum Information and Computation ↗ (John Watrous), sized as one university semester.

Level 4: Applied and advanced

#	Course	Hours	License
11	Quantum Computing in Practice ↗ (IBM)	Est. 6–10	CC BY-SA 4.0
12	The Building Blocks of a Quantum Computer, Part 2 ↗ (TU Delft)	About 36	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
13	Quantum Computation ↗ (MIT, Peter Shor)	Est. 135–170	CC BY-NC-SA

How the estimates were made: course 5 from its 129-page text and its trial as a week-long school workshop; courses 7 to 10 as one quarter each of a standard 3-credit semester (about 135 hours); course 11 at 1 to 2 hours per lesson; course 13 as one graduate semester.

Conditions for every course: keep the source's credit line; release any adapted version under the same license; NC-licensed courses stay free to learners.