Now is the right time to bake quantum into your R&D strategy...yes really
Even as they wrap their heads around AI, business leaders and organizations should be devoting some R&D resources to quantum computing. Though it's still a nascent technology, Professor Francesco Bova joined the Executive Summary to explore the huge potential economic benefits of the new form of computing, and explains why every business should be getting themselves "quantum ready" today.
Show notes:
[0:00] A new technology is waiting on the sidelines; quantum computing is poised to be worth trillions.
[0:23] Meet Associate Professor Francesco Bova, who has been studying the economic potential of quantum for the past five years.
[0:45] And he believes now is the time for businesses to get themselves quantum ready.
[1:14] What is quantum, and how is it different from classical, or traditional computing?
[1:58] The real potential benefit of quantum is speed and it's ability to solve "intractable" problems - that is problems too large for a traditional computer.
[3:26] What is the quantum advantage?
[3:56] Quantum is in the noisy intermediate scale; it's not fault tolerant, must operate in very specific conditions and isn't commercially available. But it can work, and people are using it in a "hybrid" approach.
[5:00] And both public and private investment is flowing.
[6:28] A big reason is the "threat" that quantum might break the encryptions that currently underpin much of our secure digital activity, like banking or health data.
[7:25] But it may also be a boon for industry, particularly pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automotive and finance.
[8:20] It could, for example, be a way to speed up drug discovery.
[9:00] And it has a number of applications in the data-heavy finance industry.
[11:27] A number of businesses are currently playing around in this space using the hybrid approach.
[11:57] So how should businesses get "quantum ready"? Step one: identify your pain points.
[12:56] Step two: consider experimenting with the hardware or partnering with a company already in this space.
[13:48] Finally, explore a formal education or boot camp on the topic to get up to speed.
[14:00] "I would argue that in most cases, especially for larger companies, the opportunity cost of spending a bit of time doing these things is comparatively small, relative to maybe even the short-term benefit you can generate from experimenting with this hardware."
