Start your engines! The race to quantum computing is on
Five key take-aways from Quantum Europe 2016
Is quantum computing the future? The European Commission seems to think so and in April announced a €1 billion support program for research activities. The news was a key topic of discussion for the hundreds of policy makers, scientists and engineers that joined the Quantum Europe 2016 conference in Amsterdam. Here’s what I learned about the state of quantum technology (pun intended).
By Sander Hofman
It’s all about the zetabytes
Quantum Europe’s speakers from Google, ASML, Toshiba, LETI, ESA and imec each highlighted data growth as a key driver for emerging technologies such as quantum computing and photonics. Why? Well, just take a look around you. Fifty years of Moore’s Law has brought us a plethora of data-driven devices and applications, like smart phones, cloud storage, sensor-laden cars — even your fridge is connected these days!
This is the ‘Internet of Things’ and it is expected to connect a staggering 50 billion devices by 2020. All these devices are generating unstructured data, such as visual, audio, text and sensor data. The amount of unstructured data will double every 2 years to a whopping 180 zetabytes (that’s 180.000.000.000 terabytes) by 2025, according to Intel estimates (Intel Developer Forum 2016). Quantum computing could help our network infrastructure deal with such exponential requirements for data storage, communications security and computational analysis.
Quantum is moving beyond the hype
The whole point of Quantum Europe 2016 was to bring government, industry and academia together and share progress in the field. And I have to say, it was impressive.
A highlight was the keynote by Google’s John Martinis, who talked about quantum computing’s promise of exponential scaling and what needs to happen to make the technology work. To build a real-world quantum computer, “…you need to build perfect qubits to scale computer power exponentially. But here’s the thing: perfection needs control and isolation, while exponential scaling needs coherence.” (Coherence between qubits determines how long you can preserve quantum information before it’s lost. It’s a crucial challenge on the road to the elusive quantum computer.)
That being said, some companies did show actual quantum-based applications during the conference, mostly focused on infrastructure and security. For example, Toshiba showed its Quantum Key Distribution system, delivering quantum cryptography keys over fibre-optic networks exceeding 100 km in length — enough to cover a metropolitan area. And Qiang Zhang of China’s University of Science and Technology shared progress in building a long-distance quantum backbone between major cities in China.
Quantum and classical computing will co-exist
Since we make semiconductor lithography equipment at ASML, I was curious to understand the impact of quantum technology on the semiconductor industry. Several of the speakers highlighted this particular topic and the consensus in the hall seemed to boil down to this: if and when quantum indeed materializes as a viable technology, it will offer enormous advantages to network infrastructure but it will very likely be complementary to classical computing.
McKinsey’s Marc de Jong walked the audience through several scenarios for quantum computing, ranging from a use similar to today’s supercomputers (very few systems worldwide, but crunching the toughest data) to a PC-like vision where quantum computing would be integrated into household electronics. He concluded that “it will at least be a decade until we can do something really interesting, and even then it may be niche. Quantum will likely be integrated into the conventional way. This will fuel the global semiconductor value chain.”
Similarly, Toshiba’s long term vision on quantum technology noted how quantum technology would be integrated into conventional networks. Benefits would include a significant reduction of network hardware and boosted communications security.
Europe is positioned well — but can it deliver?
Across Europe, the amount of R&D activity and levels of investment in the field of quantum technology are high. McKinsey estimated that almost 2,500 European researchers are now working on quantum technology with a combined annual budget of 550 million euros. This effort may indeed have given Europe a head start in the field. But the race is on and major countries around the world are boosting their own investments, including China (220 million euros) and the United States (360 million euros).
Charles Marcus (University of Copenhagen) noted how Europe could learn something from the United States, which coordinates and funds nation-wide research programs through its federally funded centers. Of course the flagship initiative is trying to do just that. But more than structure, it’s also about a mindset to invest, share risks and work together in fundamental science.
It is clear that as the race to the quantum computer heats up, Europe finds itself at a crossroads. Top notch institutes around the continent work on breakthrough research that has put Europe at the cutting edge of quantum technology. And with its ambitious vision and flagship initiative, the European Commission bets big on strong collaboration between European governments, academia and industry.
Will it be enough to win the race?
