Golden Age for Quantum Computing? USD 5+ Billion Commitment Towards Quantum Supremacy

[DK Matai]

1. THIRTY FIVE YEARS after "Quantum Computing" was initially proposed as a powerful and challenging idea by the Nobel laureate physicist, professor Richard Feynman, at the First Conference on the Physics of Computation at MIT in 1981, we have arrived at a seminal turning point: beginning a rapid and hitherto unprecedented transition from theory and experimentation in Quantum Computing to engineering and applications in 2016 and beyond.

2. More than 10,000 articles on the topic of Quantum Computing and associated components were published in academic journals in the last year alone, and many of them came from applied scientists and engineering professors rather than information theorists and quantum physicists. Announcements totalling more than USD 5 billion were also made in regard to the advancement of Quantum Computing, components and associated applications by a number of serious players from Alibaba to Intel and from IBM to Google on the one hand; and from the Dutch to the Australian and from the Chinese to the Canadian government agencies on the other. Let us not forget the existing American and British as well as EU and Russian government agencies' funding commitments.

3. At the same time, it is worth noting that the opinion in the upper echelons of the global scientific community is coalescing rapidly around a handful of approaches in regard to building Quantum Computers that are considered most promising.

4. Who are the old boys? Academic research labs around the world; powerful governments, their secret services, defence departments and key agencies; and companies including IBM, Google, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin; have been working on the basic building blocks of sophisticated quantum computers for some years. Who are the new boys? In addition to quantum physicists, computer scientists and nerdy graduates, it is increasingly palpable to Quantum Innovation Labs http://QiLabs.net in London that at recent quantum computing round-tables and summits, there are representatives present from major industries, including venture capital, investment banking, aerospace, automotive, medical and scientific equipment makers.

5. “We are in a Golden Age for Quantum Computing,” says Dario Gil, vice president, science and technology, at IBM Research. “Academics, industry, investors and government leaders are all coming together. It will take a broad ecosystem to make this grand challenge a reality.”

6. The Canadian company D-Wave claims to have already built a quantum computer, but many researchers, including those at IBM, and other top academic centres of excellence in Europe, America and Asia are skeptical about how "quantum" it really is.

7. Researchers at IBM have announced in 2015 that they have taken a step towards solving one of Quantum Computing's biggest challenges: developing a better way to detect and correct annoying errors. Mark Ritter, who oversees scientists and engineers at IBM’s T J Watson Research Laboratory, blogged: "I believe we’re entering what will come to be seen as the golden age of quantum computing research." Further, Ritter writes, his team is "on the forefront of efforts to create the first true quantum computer."

8. A quantum computer harnesses the science of the very small — the "spooky" behaviour of subatomic particles — to solve problems that may be computationally non-viable for a classical computer or simply take too long. How molecules interact at the quantum level, for example, is difficult to study in a laboratory and impossible to simulate on a classical computer but could be simulated on a quantum computer to accelerate modeling and synthesis.

9. "This (quantum simulation) has potential for things like drug discovery, drug design, chemical design, and hopefully applications in the bio-pharma realm," says Jerry Chow, manager of IBM's Experimental Quantum Computing group. A quantum computer could also crack the most sophisticated encryption in use today. For example, the NSA has been investing in quantum computing research for this very reason as exposed by the Washington Post a few years ago.

10. Now that quantum computing is entering the realm of the practical, it’s incumbent on business and government leaders to understand its potential, for centres of excellence to strengthen their programs in quantum computing, and for applied scientists and project managers to become aware of promising new career paths. “We’re all becoming quantum engineers,” says Chow at IBM. The next big step will be to demonstrate “Quantum Supremacy” — proof that quantum computers can outperform conventional computers by a wide margin. As the Golden Age of Quantum Computing evolves, this in turn may bring tremendous benefits for individuals, society and the future of the planet. 

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