34 COMPUTING 35 “Since quantum computing is a step- Venturelli, who manages Science Ope- quantum computers will revolutionize change technology with substantial rations for Universities Space Research the market.” barriers to adoption early movers will Association activities at the Quantum seize a large share of the total value, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory How Companies Should Prepare as laggards struggle with integration, located at NASA’s Ames Research talent, and IP,” the report says. Center. “As of now the world has still There won’t be a shift. Quantum com- to invent an algorithm that would be puting resources will be seamlessly in- Such projections are provoking worth using in current challenges in tegrated on the cloud and made avai- anxiety. No company wants to fall finance, logistics, data science,” he lable transparently when needed, says behind when a technology shift trans- says. “However, there is a grounded Venturelli. If the business is related to forms industry. Yet, there are enough optimism that when we will have ac- chemistry or material science it might unknowns about quantum computing cess to more and more sophisticated make sense to hire specialists, setup and enough fundamental scientific quantum computers empirical partnerships with quantum compu- riddles to solve that no one can say research in the next five years will en- ting manufacturers and top research for certain when it might be ready to able scientists to invent non-rigorous groups to steer the entire community make an impact. methods that will have qualitatively towards the correct questions and different features with respect to the problems that might have a chance to So how will quantum computing best known algorithms and possibly a be addressed by quantum computing change business? Which sectors will compelling speedup.” in the short term. If the business is be impacted first? What should every a perspective enduser further out in executive know about the technology Technology Bottlenecks the future the best way for executives and what should they be doing to to prepare is to make sure that their prepare? Participants in a panel on The main bottleneck to quantum technical team leaders are not fooled the potential of quantum computing computing today is hardware, says by the hype and understand the state at the World Ecnomic Forum’s annual Ekatrina Almasque, a partner at ven- of art as it progresses, he says. Ven- meeting in Davos, January 21-24, mo- ture capital firm OpenOcean, which turelli recommends focusing more on derated by The Innvoator’s Editor-in- participated in a $13 million invest- hardware and theory than on software. Chief Jennifer L. Schenker, will try ment into Finnish quantum computing “If the core business strongly relies on and answer those questions. company IQM last July. While computational performance then it mi- pioneers in quantum computing such ght be worth it to have an internal task The first impact of quantum compu- as IBM and D-Wave Systems provide force experimenting with the concepts ting capabilities is likely to be felt in software companies with cloud access or funding academia or specialized the businesses that are dependent on to their data centers for early testing startups on spot projects in order to simulation of quantum mechanical of narrow use cases, the cost of gain some timing advantage against processes, such as materials, chemi- using these machines in a commercial competitors in detecting opportuni- cals and scientific research, says environment remains prohibitive, she ties,” he says. “But it is important panelist Scott Aaronson, a theoretical Says. “What we need is some hard- to recognize that this is still science computer scientist and David J. Bruton ware that works and that costs less so research and we are likely years away Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer that we have enough qubits to solve from having production value.” Science at the University of Texas at real problems like drug discovery.” Austin. Even if hardware is available, a sui- AQT’s Monz also recommends compa- table software based on algorithms nies create internal teams that receive That alone will likely have a monumen- that offer a speed-up compared to training on the potential of quantum tal impact on society. “Think of it as classical algorithms needs to be computing in their sector, figure out the ability to turn on a new telescope developed for specific applications. who is developing a full application for into nature,” he says. But businesses “Neither can impact existing industry challenges in that field and then do a need to manage their expectations without the other,” says Thomas proof of concept trial. “This will essen- says panelist Chad Rigetti, CEO of Monz, Co-founder and CEO of Aus- tially give you internal know-how on Rigetti Computing, a California-based trian quantum computing company quantum computing, in combination company that designs and fabricates AQT. That said, “quantum computing with a proof-of-concept realization quantum chips, integrates them with a promises to have an extreme impact that both explains the underlying diffe- controlling architecture, and develops on any business that’s limited by rences to classical computing but also software for programmers to use to classical computing capabilities where shows the real state-of-the-art,” he build algorithms. “The potential of we have quantum algorithms and says. “Follow and extend on this initial quantum computing is significant but hardware that offer an advantage,” he proof-of-concept once a year and you there are major challenges to un- says. “This means the resolution on a can be sure not to miss out.” locking its value,” he says. video will not change due to quantum computers, this is already fairly effi- J.L.S. That’s a point of view shared by most cient. But when we talk about material in the industry. Quantum computing’s design, drug design, portfolio optimi- D-Wave System’s 2000Q system. Enterprises can get started learning how to code their early quantum applications using the impact on machine learning and zation in finance and risk analysis for Canadian quantum computing pioneer’s quantum cloud service and begin to incorporate the technology into their workflows. optimization in the short term is more insurance companies these are areas speculative, but possible, says Davide where there are strong indications that