IBM’s Quantum System One (IBM)
Quantum Computing Graduates From the Lab to the Marketplace and to the Corridors of National Security
As quantum computing’s potential turns to reality in the bustling marketplace – and in the less-accessible corridors of national security strategists – it’s essential that all of humanity, not just powerful corporations or nations with the labs and resources, stand to reap the benefits from quantum solutions.
By John Heilprin
September 29, 2023
It’s Graduation Day for quantum computing, which is poised to find solutions to complex global problems that could transform businesses, governments and societies. Quantum computing, studied since at least the early 1980s near Boston, holds the potential to solve equations within minutes that previously might have taken traditional computers some thousands of years to work out.
Unlocking that full potential, however, will depend on ensuring the most diverse groups and geographical regions have the opportunity to use quantum technologies so they can best tackle the challenges they face directly.
That’s the idea behind the creation of an Open Quantum Institute (OQI) in Geneva, the most advanced initiative developed by GESDA through a global task force composed of research institutes, technology companies and diplomacy leaders. Over the past year GESDA has been engaging more than 130 international experts to prepare the launch of the institute for a pilot phase of three years.
The OQI can speed up the availability of this emerging technology by bringing experts and local innovators together to jointly develop use cases geared towards accelerating the achievement of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.
Until now scientists and engineers grappling with complex problems have relied on supercomputers – binary code-based machines with thousands of classical CPU and GPU cores – that can run large calculations and advanced artificial intelligence. Even supercomputers have a fundamental speed limit for signal transmission and circuit switching. That’s why new computers that will use the quantum states of quantum bits should be able to solve problems with a far greater degree of complexity.
Quantum computing holds particular relevance for banking. Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements, the central bank of central banks, recently launched Project Leap, a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub Eurosystem Centre, the Bank of France and the Deutsche Bundesbank, to prepare central banks and the global financial system for a transition towards quantum-resistant encryption.
“Quantum computers, should they reach sufficient size and power, may be able to break the cryptographic encryption schemes used to ensure secure financial transactions and data. While today’s quantum computers have yet to reach the necessary scale, most experts believe this is only a matter of time,” BIS says. “This makes the quantum threat one of the most important cybersecurity issues facing the financial system today, potentially exposing all financial transactions and much of our existing stored financial data to attack.”
The technology also holds the likely solutions. The first phase of Project Leap tested post-quantum cryptographic protocols between two central banks. One traditional public key algorithm was implemented alongside several quantum-resistant algorithms in a hybrid cyphering mode, BIS says, with the aim of maintaining the confidentiality of messages sent across two distanced IT systems. The quantum-resistant communication channel was first tested with payment messages transmitted between the Bank of France and the Deutsche Bundesbank. The second phase will look at more than two central banks to investigate more complex IT environments.
Geneva firm ID Quantique already is a market leader in harnessing light to develop and industrialize advanced quantum products and technologies for organizations to ensure long-term protection of data and public safety. It was created by four scientists from the University of Geneva in 2001. The company’s board chairman and co-founder, Nicolas Gisin, is a GESDA collaborator and University of Geneva professor emeritus of quantum information and communication.
Switzerland’s first quantum hub, QuantumBasel, announced an agreement this year with U.S. quantum computer manufacturer IonQ to jointly establish and manage a European quantum data center and install two advanced IonQ quantum computers at QuantumBasel. QuantumBasel said it is set to house Switzerland’s first commercially viable quantum computer starting in 2024 at the uptownBasel commercial site and IonQ will establish an innovation center. “There are already a number of use cases today that QuantumBasel has presented to various companies in logistics, financial services, industrial production and life science, some of which have been carried out,” says Damir Bogdan, CEO of uptownBasel Infinity.
The nascent quantum industry has been evolving to include technology giants such as Google, Microsoft and IBM. The implications for national security also have sparked competition among global powers such as the U.S. and China for quantum supremacy.
Even small countries like Switzerland have a stake in quantum computing and other emerging defense technologies, according to a Swiss Science Council white paper in 2020. The Swiss Federal Office for Defense Procurement, known as armasuisse, is responsible for monitoring future defense technologies.
“Because many quantum technologies have civilian applications, a security perspective on quantum technology cannot just focus on issues of military security,” the council’s paper found. “Quantum technologies also have clear implications for the security of civilian infrastructures and cybersecurity. For a country like Switzerland, tackling the security issues that could potentially arise from future developments in quantum technology is therefore only likely to succeed if aspects of military security, civil security, technology policy and basic research are properly coordinated.”
Reaching for ‘new heights’ through collaboration
International cooperation on quantum is paramount. In May, for example, Swiss Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), paid an official visit to South Korea to mark the two nations’ 60 years of diplomatic relations. It coincided with Swiss–Korean Innovation Week, a platform for cooperation in science, business relations and policymaking.
“Quantum technology is a highly complex field requiring cooperation among the brightest minds all over the world. No one can do it all by themselves,” Parmelin told a group of scientists at the Quantum Nanoscience Center in Seoul. “We need to develop quantum technologies under the paradigm of democratic values such as openness and transparency, which requires mutual trust and political commitment of like-minded countries with shared values.”
As part of a symposium on quantum science and technologies and a workshop on digital responsibility, Parmelin signed a joint declaration with South Korea’s Minister of Science and ICT Jong-ho Lee to strengthen the nations’ existing ties in all areas of research, particularly digital transformation, biotechnology and quantum technologies.
“Both Korea and Switzerland are actively pursuing development on quantum technology, and I think there are many similar common interests,” said South Korea’s First Vice Minister of Science and ICT Oh Tae-Seog. “If we share our experience and know-how in these areas, we can reach new heights.”
The Swiss Federal Council adopted a new quantum initiative last year to reinforce research and innovation in key scientific fields. Earlier this year, the newly created Swiss Quantum Commission, hosted by the Swiss Academy of Sciences SCNAT as mandated by the Swiss Confederation, began coordinating the expertise of Swiss research institutions.
Where the science and diplomacy can take us
The prospect of future quantum computing has been a priority at GESDA for several years and has informed discussions at both the first and second annual GESDA Summits, based on the insights of hundreds of scientists globally contributing to the forward-looking Science Breakthrough Radar.
The quantum findings in the 2022 Science Breakthrough Radar®
Based on the Radar, here’s where we stand in several important areas:
1-1.6.4 Quantum Revolution & Advanced AI
Two decades of academic research into quantum computing brought significant recent investments in the field from major technology companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Google, Intel, Alibaba, Huawei, Fujitsu and Honeywell. A rapidly growing number of start-ups are also active in the field. Today’s most promising machines include IBM’s 127 “quantum bit” (qubit) Eagle processor, the largest general purpose quantum computer to date.
Demonstrations showed that some quantum machines are now taking only a few minutes to perform complex calculations that would take days on the most powerful classical computers. Although there are no real-world uses as yet, it is clear that quantum machines are starting to push into problems that are extremely difficult, time intensive and expensive for standard processors. Radar, page 39.
Anticipation in a nutshell
5-year horizon: New, useful quantum algorithms accelerate hardware development
10-year horizon: Quantum processors find real-world applications
25-year horizon: Million-qubit computers solve useful, classically intractable problems
Debate 1: Quantum Revolution & Advanced AI: What Do People Say?
Geographically, the discussion varies by tone and nature about Quantum and AI, with people in Asia the most positive and those in Europe and the U. S. showing more hesitancy about the uses, side effects and ethics involved. Older people in North America and Europe and younger people in Latin America, Africa and Asia had the most to say. Positive sentiment focused on the supporting infrastructure and new technology rather than implementation. Radar, page 252.
Debate 1: Quantum Revolution & Advanced AI: What Do People Do?
GESDA’s monitoring tool, providing live data on the actions of selected citizens, small groups and NGOs, was divided into four indicator categories: raising public awareness, entrepreneurial activities, policy-oriented activities and contributions to science and technology. The category of raising public awareness about the technology, science and societal impliactions was by far the most active. Radar, page 256.
Opportunities: Opening Quantum for the Benefit of Humanity
Google’s 2019 breakthrough – using a computer with 54 quantum bits, or qubits, to perform a calculation in 200 seconds that would have taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years to complete – marked a major inflection point in the development of quantum technology.
The calculation itself was of little practical use, but expectations for the usefulness of quantum computers are rising. It’s anticipated that in coming decades they will turbocharge the search for new materials and drugs, lead to quantum communication networks with uncrackable encryption, and help create quantum sensors providing ultra-precise measurements in medicine, Earth sciences, and positioning systems.
Global coordination and governance will need to be established to ensure that the new quantum infrastructure is open to everyone and its applications are beneficial to all. Already, discussions are focused on which intractable problems the quantum computers could help solve; how best to raise policymakers’ understanding of quantum technology so they can make forward-looking decisions; and ways of ensuring quantum applications are open to all. Radar, page 292.