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The goal of building a quantum computer is to harness the quirks of quantum physics to solve certain problems far faster than a traditional computer can. And at the heart of a quantum computer is the quantum bit, or qubitthe quantum equivalent of the 1s and 0s that underlie our digital lives.

A qubit is the fundamental building block of quantum information science technology, says Joseph Heremans, an electrical engineer at the US Department of Energys Argonne National Laboratory.

Traditional bitscan be any sort of switch, anything that can flip from 0 to 1.But building a qubit takes something more.

A qubit is essentially a quantum state of matter, Heremans says. And it has weird properties that allow you to store more information and process more information than a traditional bit.

Those weird properties include superposition (the ability to be in a mixed state, a weighted combination of 1 and 0) and entanglement (in whichmultiple qubits share a common quantum state). Both might seem like theyd be hard to come by. Fortunately, nature has provided lots of options, and engineers have cooked up a couple more.

Researchers are exploring more than half a dozen ways to implement qubits, with two promising approaches currently in focus: superconducting circuits and trapped ions.

Ionsatoms that have lost one or more of their electronsemerged as a promising qubit platform at the dawn of experimental quantum computing in the mid-1990s. In fact, the first qubit ever built was fashioned out of a single beryllium ion.

Ions are natural quantum objects: Two of the discrete energy levels of their remaining electrons can represent a 0 or 1; those energy levels are readily manipulated by lasers; and because ions are electrically charged, they are easily held in place by electromagnetic fields. Not much new needed to be invented to produce trapped-ion qubits. Existing technology could handle it.

Another upside of trapped ions is that they are stalwart defenders against a qubits greatest nemesis: loss of information. Quantum states are fragile, and superpositions stick around only if the qubits dont interact with anything. A stray atom or an unexpected photon can collapse the quantum state. In physics speak, the qubit decoheres. And decoherence is the death knell to any quantum information technology.

We want a system where we can manipulate it,because we want to do calculations, butthe environment doesnt talk to it too much, says Kenneth Brown, an electrical engineer at Duke University.

Trapped ions check both boxes. Held safely in a darkened vacuum, they have a low interaction with the environment,he says.

Because of that robustness, trapped ions exhibit some of the lowest error rates of any qubit technology.But they struggle to grow beyond small-scale demos. Adding more ions to the mix makes it harder for the lasers that control them to single out which one of them to talk to. And scaling up to more qubits means getting lots of auxiliary tech, such as vacuum systems, lasers and electromagnetic traps, to play along.

The largest trapped-ion quantum computer on the market is a 32-qubit machine built by IonQ, headquartered in College Park, Maryland. But quantum engineers want machines with hundreds, if not thousands, of qubits.

Just a few years after the first trapped-ion qubit, researchers produced the first qubit implemented in a superconducting circuit, in which an electric current oscillates back and forth around a microscopic circuit etched onto a chip.

When cooled to temperatures just a few hundredths of a degree above absolute zero, the oscillator circuit can behave as a quantum object: A flash of radio waves tuned to just the right frequency can put the circuit into one of two distinct energy levels, corresponding to a quantum 1 or 0. Follow-up zaps can steer it into a superposition of those two states.

Theyre a really promising route to make quantum computers because they can be made on microchips, says Paul Welander, a physicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. And microfabrication is something that weve been doing in the semiconductor industry for a long time.

Taking advantage of techniques used to make computer chips, a manufacturer can fabricate superconducting circuits on large wafers.

Another advantage of the superconducting circuit is the ability to make a device thats hundreds of micrometers across and yet, it behaves like an atom, Welander says.

Engineers get all the quantumness of an atom but with the ability to design and customize its properties by tuning circuit parameters.

These circuits are also extremely fast, cranking through each step in a computation in mere nanoseconds. And because they are circuits, they can be designed to suit the needs of engineers.

Superconducting qubits have found a home in the largest general-purpose quantum computers in operation. The biggest, unveiled in November 2021 by IBM, contains 127 qubits. That chip is a step toward the companys goal of creating a 433-qubit processor in 2022, followed by a 1,121-qubit machine by 2023.

But superconducting circuits struggle against decoherence as well.

They are made of many, many atoms, Welander says.

That provides ample opportunity for something to go wrongmaterials and fabrication processes present a particularly thorny challenge when attempting to mass-produce millions of qubits at a time.

Material interfaces are especially problematic. Metal electrodes, for example, readily oxidize. Now we have an uncontrolled state at the surface, Welander says, which can lead to decoherence of the quantum state and loss of information.

Another drawback is that superconducting circuits must stay frigid, hovering at temperatures just above absolute zero. That requires extreme refrigeration, which presents challenges for scaling superconducting quantum computers to thousands or millions of qubits.

While these two qubit technologies are perhaps the best known, they are not the only game in town.

Another approach employs flaws in diamonds. These gemstones are made up of carbon atoms arranged in a rigid, repeating latticework. But sometimes, another type of atom gets in. For example, a nitrogen atom or a vacancythe absence of an atomcan take the place of a carbon atom. Such nitrogen and vacancy impurities are a bit a like a trapped molecule in the diamond crystal, Heremans says.

Here, electrons trapped in the crystaline flaw store information in a quantum property called spin, a type of intrinsic rotational momentum. When measured, the spin takes on only one of two optionsperfect for encoding a 1 or 0. Those options can be toggled with laser light, radio waves or even mechanical strain.

Researchers are also exploring making qubits out of electrically neutral atoms, trapped using lasers instead of electromagnetic fields. Neutral atoms are the most natural qubit candidate, says Mikhail Lukin, a physicist at Harvard University.

Like ions, neutral atoms can be isolated from the environment and stay coherent for long stretches of time. But modern laser technology gives scientists more flexibility with neutral atoms than electromagnetic traps do with trapped ions. Neutral atoms can be organized into many different 2D patterns, providing more ways to connect the atoms and entangle them, leading to more efficient algorithms.

Using neutral atoms, Lukin and colleagues recently unveiled a 256-qubit special-purpose quantum computer known as a quantum simulator, the largest of its kind, with plans to build a 1,000-qubit simulator in the next two years.

The list of possible qubits goes on. Photons, semiconductors, moleculesthese and other platforms have potential.

But despite all these options, theres no clear winner. Its not yet obvious what can be scaled up to 1,000 qubits or beyond. Its not even certain that there is just one best approach.

Were still in hunting-and-finding mode, Welander says. For quantum computing, it may actually end up being something hybrid, using multiple quantum materials and systems.

Perhaps a single processor will employ superconducting qubits working alongside diamond-defect qubits, which might talk to other quantum processors using photon-based qubits.

In the end, what makes the best qubit depends on how the qubit is being used: A good qubit for quantum computing might be different from a good qubit for quantum sensing or a good qubit for quantum communication, Heremans says.

What is clear is that qubit progress isnt just a physics problem. It really requires expertise in a wide range of fields, from materials science to chemical and electrical engineering, Welander says.

And its not just the qubits themselves that need attention. Qubits require a lot of support technologyvacuum systems, cryogenics, lasers, microwave components, nests of cablesall working in sync to get the most out of any quantum processor.

In many ways, quantum computers are where digital computers were in the 1950s and 60s. Then too, researchers were searching for the right technology to represent 1s and 0s and perform the logic operations necessary for any calculation. Bulky vacuum tubes gave way to more compact transistors; germanium transistors yielded to better-performing ones made of silicon; integrated circuits let engineers cram many transistors and support electronics onto single wafers of silicon.

For quantum computing to reach its full potential, qubits still need the right technology. Theres a lot of areas where people who are interested and people who are intrigued can plug in and make an impact, Welander says.

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More than one way to make a qubit - Symmetry magazine

In todays China, behemoths like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are out of favor, but little giants are on the rise.

Thats the designation for a new generation of startups that have been selected under an ambitious government program aimed at fostering a technology industry that can compete with Silicon Valley. These often-obscure companies have demonstrated theyre doing something innovative and unique, and theyre targeting strategically important sectors like robotics, quantum computing and semiconductors.

Wu Gansha won the little giants title for his autonomous driving startup after a government review of his technology. That gave the Beijing company, Uisee, an extra dose of credibility and financial benefits. Last year, it raised more than 1 billion yuan ($157 million), including money from a state-owned fund. Its also become a unicorn, with a valuation of at least $1 billion.

Its an honor to wear the little giant label, Wu said. The essence of the project is that the companies must possess some specialty that others dont have.

The program has been around for more than a decade, but it has taken on new prominence after Beijing launched a sweeping crackdown against leading companies like Alibaba and Tencent. The little giants label has become a valued measure of government endorsement, a signal for investors and employees that the companies are insulated from regulatory punishment. Chinese President Xi Jinping has given his personal blessing to the program.

This is helpful to startups in many ways: Its a subsidy. Its a grant. Its an honor. Its a stamp of approval, said Lee Kai-Fu, founding managing director of the venture firm Sinovation.

The program is key to the Chinese Communist Partys ambitious strategy to reposition the countrys technology industry. For two decades, China largely followed the Silicon Valley model, allowing entrepreneurs to pursue their ambitions with little government oversight. That led to enormous successes, including e-commerce pioneer Alibaba, social media giant Tencent and ByteDance Ltd., creator of the hit TikTok short-video app.

Kai-Fu Lee, chairman and chief executive officer of Sinovation Ventures, center, speaks during a panel discussion at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing in 2019. | BLOOMBERG

But in a series of regulatory moves over the past year, Beijing made clear the technology industry must realign to conform with government priorities. Alibaba and Tencent were quickly forced to eliminate anti-competitive practices, while games companies had to limit minors to three hours of online play per week. More broadly, the government has signaled softer internet services are out of favor.

Instead, Beijing aims to shift resources to strategically important technologies like chips and enterprise software. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has named 4,762 little giants since 2019, many in semiconductors, machinery and pharmaceutical industries. The designation typically comes with lucrative incentives from the central government or provincial authorities, including tax cuts, generous loans and favorable talent acquisition policies.

What the country is trying to promote is more hardcore technology, said Yipin Ng, founding partner of Yunqi Partners, a venture fund that is investing in little giants. In that sense, this is more in line with what they are trying to promote things that makes China more competitive.

Governments from the U.S. to Africa have established programs to support smaller enterprises, but Chinas efforts dwarf those in terms of scale, resources and ambition. Xi, the countrys most powerful leader since Mao, has instituted a half dozen programs that will collectively disburse trillions of dollars in pursuit of economic might, social stability and technological independence.

The U.S. trade war has stiffened the Chinese Communist Partys resolve to build a self-sufficient industry. The countrys vulnerability was exposed when former U.S. President Donald Trumps administration blacklisted national champions like Huawei Technologies Co. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. That prevented them from buying U.S. components such as chipsets and industrial software, crippling operations.

The little giants concept dates back to at least 2005, when the local government in Hunan province instituted policies to support small enterprises. The central governments powerful MIIT endorsed the Hunan campaign, which included land grants and financial support, as a model for developing the private sector. Local governments in places like Tianjin began their own initiatives.

It was in 2018, with the trade war, that the central government began to seriously push the program. MIIT announced a plan to create about 600 little giants that would develop core technologies. The procedure for winning the designation was designed to foster competition and identify the most promising companies.

Smartphones display the TikTok logo in front of the ByteDance logo in this illustration from 2019. | REUTERS

Candidates apply with a six-page form detailing financial status, number of patents and research accomplishments. In the first round of selection, each province could nominate no more than a dozen companies. The countrys top three tech hubs Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai had a combined quota of only 17 candidates.

Guan Yaxin, chief operating officer of Beijing-based ForwardX Robotics, said the process was relatively smooth for her company because it has proven innovations, with 121 patents globally, including 25 in the U.S.

This government endorsement is very helpful when I expand the business because the clients will understand we are not just a random startup, she said.

MIIT has since expanded the program to thousands of companies, with about 1,000 priority little giants at the top of the hierarchy. Members of this rarefied club, which includes Wus Uisee, receive direct funding from the central government. In January, the Finance Ministry set aside at least 10 billion yuan to fund small and mid-sized enterprises until 2025, with the lions share directly financing the priority startups research. The goal is to create 10,000 little giants by 2025.

Its quite clear that this is a selection of companies very much subordinate to Chinas specific industrial policy and needs, said Barry Naughton, a professor and China economist at the University of California, San Diego. They were partially picked because they are good firms, but an equally important criteria is they fit the urgent policy needs of the government right now.

There are substantial risks. The success of Chinas technology industry over the past 10 years came from giving entrepreneurs like Alibabas Jack Ma and ByteDances Zhang Yiming free rein to build their businesses. Flipping the model to focus on the governments priorities risks leading to waste and failure, Naughton said.

These are small companies that are being nurtured because they can potentially be alternative suppliers. How do you nurture them? You throw money at them, he said.

The little giants have become popular targets for venture capitalists, many of whom lost money on portfolio companies during Beijings crackdown. One VC said that some startups in the program have been able to raise capital in the last six months while boosting their valuations by 50% to 75%. Another VC reportedly invests only in companies identified as little giants by the government.

Signs of Alibaba Group and Ant Group are seen during the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, in Nov., 2020. | REUTERS

Zhang Hui, co-founder of Guizhou Changtong Electric Ltd., applied for the program in Guizhou province in 2020 and received the award last year, based on his companys power equipment technology. The startup soon landed more than 100 million yuan from state-backed funds, and other investors have been knocking on his door to offer additional capital.

Of course, venture investors will chase little giants for investment, he said. It would be a surprise if they didnt.

Venture investments in China hit a record last year despite the crackdown. The value of deals rose about 50% in 2021 to $130.6 billion, according to the research firm Preqin.

EcoFlow Inc., a portable battery startup in Shenzhen, announced a 100 million yuan fundraising led by Sequoia as the company won the little giant label from MIIT. The four-year-old firm now plans an initial public offering in its hometown city within three years.

The government is also making it easier for these startups to go public, another incentive for entrepreneurs and venture investors. China set up a dedicated stock exchange in Beijing last year to help small enterprises raise capital.

Guan of ForwardX Robotics pointed out that founders retain control over their companies even if they participate in such government programs. Her company, which makes mobile robots used in manufacturing and logistics, has about 300 employees and plans to expand into Japan and the U.S. She sees the governments support as a big benefit as little giants try to grow.

Many of them are very small now compared with multinationals, she said. But the government sees the potential for them to become a real giants one day.

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China's 'little giants' are its latest weapon in tech war with U.S. - The Japan Times

ELMSFORD, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SEEQC, the Digital Quantum Computing company, today announced the addition of a scientific advisory board to its leadership. This addition comes at a time when the company is unveiling a new brand identity and expanding its team internationally, including the appointment of Shu-Jen Han as its vice president of engineering.

Scientific Advisory Board

SEEQCs new scientific advisory board consists of leading academics from across the world, including Javad Shabani, assistant professor of physics at NYU, professors from the University of Napoli Federico II, Francesco Tafuri and Giovanni Piero Pepe, and Maxim Vavilov, professor at the University of Wisconsin.

The company instituted this board of quantum scientists to guide SEEQCs team as they continue their mission to solve quantum computings' most challenging problems. The board will help ensure that SEEQC bases its products, research and development on sound scientific data.

By integrating this team of scientists into SEEQCs product roadmap, the company can internally peer-review its research and development and receive feedback and scientific advice more quickly than other commercial entities. This ensures that the company is receiving proper oversight and quality consultation as it advances its technological discoveries expanding quantums reach from academia to real-world application.

The fact that half of my fellow board members work in foreign universities, and many of us have international backgrounds, should not be overlooked. SEEQC is an international company, and it is incorporating that element of itself at every level, said advisory board member, Francesco Tafuri. By bringing together this group of international scientists, SEEQC is getting access to even more experience than by engaging exclusively with American universities. These individuals bring a rich and diverse history of scientific research and experience to the company with them.

Appointing New Vice President of Engineering

In addition to expanding its leadership with the advisory board, SEEQC has also appointed industry veteran Dr. Shu-Jen Han as its vice president of engineering. Han brings more than a decade of experience in the nanotechnology and semiconductor industry to SEEQC, as well as world-class expertise in logic and memory chip-making a critical component of scaling the companys system-on-a-chip quantum design.

Han started his career at IBM working in the semiconductor sector after receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University, later he managed the nanoscale device and technology group at IBMs T. J. Watson Research Center working on world-leading post-silicon transistor research. Han has valuable experience in advancing complex semiconductor chip technology from basic research to product qualification both as a director and later as senior director at HFC Semiconductors Advanced Memory Technology Division. He has authored over 90 technical publications, two book chapters and over 150 issued US patents.

Were thrilled to formally welcome Shu-Jen to SEEQC, and I am excited by the leadership and expertise hell bring to our global team of quantum engineers and researchers, said John Levy, CEO of SEEQC. Shu-Jen is one of the foremost minds in the semiconductor research and development world were grateful he chose to join SEEQC and our mission to bring scalable quantum computing to the enterprise world.

In his new role, Han will help build a scalable research and development organization, lead SEEQCs multi-disciplinary engineering groups and establish a clear roadmap for its commercialization. He also oversees the day-to-day operations of the companys newly renovated chip foundry, a fully operational chip manufacturing facility focusing on superconducting quantum and classic electronics.

Renewed Brand Commitment

As the company continues to evolve its technology and business model, it is also evolving its unique brand. Under the guidance of its creative director, Fredrik Carlstrm, SEEQC is rededicating itself to its original goal and mission statement under renewed branding and communication initiatives.

SEEQC was built upon the premise of approaching quantum differently than its predecessors and counterparts, and its new brand reflects that. The brand takes into account SEEQCs unique team, the integrated process in which design, manufacturing and testing are all done in-house, resulting in a unique approach to building a scalable quantum computer.

The new brand reflects SEEQC at its core not only as a company name but as an acronym: Scalable, Energy-Efficient Quantum Computing. Other aspects of the companys brand portfolio have been updated to evince different aspects of the companys technology. SEEQCs visuals evoke a feeling of efficiency, purpose and a close relationship with nature, just as its end-product uses elements of nature to solve classically intractable problems and address the worlds greatest challenges.

The new design and communication are a mirror image of SEEQCs approach to building scalable, re-configurable quantum computers around a family of chips designed to support a host of high-value problems for clients today, said Carlstrm. We want the brand we put forward to show what were really about and to show our ethos in everything we do from the design of our hardware and software to our offices, facilities, website and brand identity.

Partnership with QuantWare

To further advance its technology, SEEQC has partnered with Dutch quantum startup QuantWare. With additional support from the University of Napoli Federico II, the companies will co-develop an advanced Quantum Processor Unit (QPU) with integrated cryogenic digital control logic. This partnership combines SEEQCs proprietary platform with QuantWares scalable QPU design, resulting in the worlds first commercially available platform, capable of overcoming key scalability engineering challenges.

About SEEQC:

SEEQC is developing the first fully digital quantum computing platform for global businesses. SEEQC combines classical and quantum technologies to address the efficiency, stability and cost issues endemic to quantum computing systems. The company applies classical and quantum technology through digital readout and control technology and a unique chip-scale architecture. SEEQCs quantum system provides the energy- and cost-efficiency, speed and digital control required to make quantum computing useful and bring the first commercially-scalable, problem-specific quantum computing applications to market.

The company is one of the first companies to have built a superconductor multi-layer commercial chip foundry and through this experience has the infrastructure in place for design, testing and manufacturing of quantum-ready superconductors. SEEQC is a spin-out of HYPRES, the worlds leading developer of superconductor electronics. SEEQCs team of executives and scientists have deep expertise and experience in commercial superconductive computing solutions and quantum computing. SEEQC is based in Elmsford, NY with facilities in London, UK and Naples, Italy.

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SEEQC Announces Addition of Scientific Advisory Board, Vice President of Engineering and Unveils New Brand Identity - Business Wire

From supporting a continuing shift to the cloud to embracing data-led services, CIOs already have a jam-packed digital transformation agenda for 2022 and now the evidence suggests they need to make room for another line item: quantum computing.

"It will take some time and therefore, now is the right moment to prepare for quantum," saysAlberto Di Meglio, head of CERN openlab, who spoke at a recent event arranged by IBM Research.

The CIO's guide to Quantum computing

Quantum computers offer great promise for cryptography and optimization problems, and companies are racing to make them practical for business use. ZDNet explores what quantum computers will and wont be able to do, and the challenges that remain.

Read More

CIOs who start investigating quantum will find a fast-growing area. Consultant Deloitte reports that venture capitalists invested more than $1bn into quantum-led businesses during 2021. The next 12 months will bring even more interest, with total VC spend likely to top $5bn by the end of the year.

SEE: What is quantum computing? Everything you need to know about the strange world of quantum computers

This injection of cash will help technologists to develop reliable and useful quantum computers. That's a big priority right now, as efforts to boost the number of quantum bits or qubits available for computation will help businesses in their quests to identify potential use cases.

Deloitte recognises the nascent nature of quantum means practical applications remain thin on the ground. It estimates that fewer than a dozen companies worldwide will use quantum computers as part of their day-to-day operations this year.

But while quantum computing won't deliver big benefits during the next 12 months, Deloitte says the technology will generate billions of dollars in value annually one day, which is why CIOs should start preparing for quantum advantage now.

Evidence suggests that message is already getting through: three-quarters (74%) of senior executives believe organisations that fail to adopt quantum computing soon will fall behind quickly, according to a recentsurvey by quantum company Zapata Computing and Wakefield Research.

Di Meglio believes the secret to successfully understanding where your business might potentially create a quantum advantage is to focus on developments that are already being made around new instruments, tools, and methods of collaboration.

He says early preparatory work will help CIOs and their businesses to identify the right skills, technologies and partners for quantum success in the longer term.

As part of this process, CIOs and their executive partners must look to build collaborative teams, where all the necessary skills for quantum are brought together and then exploited in the most useful way.

"Quantum computing is a very multidisciplinary area. Organisations, institutions and universities really need to work to break the silos in-between these areas," he says.

Di Meglio says the most effective approach will be to create networks or hubs that allow people from across a wide ecosystem of internal and external partners to think about the challenges that businesses face and to posit potential quantum-based solutions.

"For us, the model of the hub is the right way of working," he says. "It is inherently about collaboration with all the other institutes and researchers across the world. Building this ecosystem is an essential ingredient to be able to move towards usable applications."

Panellists at the IBM Research event referred to pioneering approaches that are already underway, such as QUTACH in Germany, which brings together 10 major businesses to explore practical applications of quantum.

Deloitte suggests quantum chemistry, materials science and optimisation problems will likely be the first useful use cases to materialise. Transportation is another sector with quantum potential.

However, the path forward won't be as clear in all industries. If CIOs are going to convince their boards that it's worth spending time and money investigating the complex world of quantum computing, then the IT industry is going to have help tech chiefs build a strategy for collaboration and exploration.

Hannah Ventz, the head of the Competence Network for Quantum Computing at Fraunhofer Institute, Germany, says research organisations like her own must make it easy for companies to get their first experiences in quantum.

"We try to convince them that now is the right time," she says. "And then we offer experts to quantum labs and hubs where people can get their first experiences."

For CIOs who do want to give their staff exposure to quantum, Lidia del Rio, a physicist at ETH Zurich, says there's already a range of summer schools, hackathons and free online courses being run by some of the major tech firms.

However, del Rio also issues a word of warning. While these kinds of initiatives can help companies to build knowledge, there are still gaps in education programmes particularly when it comes to the more technical elements of quantum.

"My one criticism about these things is that they focus on things that are already known, like algorithms, and they are restricted in range. I understand why it's because these are the things that are easy to teach to a non-technical audience. But I think you need to have a much broader view of what quantum theory is," she says.

Del Rio says her organisation is aiming to raise awareness across industry and government about the risks and opportunities of all elements of quantum technology.

SEE: Status Report: Is quantum computing worth the leaps of faith?

One of the key areas for consideration going forward will be governance.Arunima Sarkar, AI lead in the Centre for Fourth industrial Revolution at the World Economic Forum, says it's crucial that all interested parties including CIOs ensure any quantum advantage is exploited in an ethical way.

She says emerging technologies both shape society and are shaped by society. Businesses, technology firms and public bodies must work together now to ensure governing principles are established as use cases are discovered.

"I would say that the most appropriate and effective time to consider the societal, ethical and legal implications of technology is when the technology is still in the design and the development phase as it allows for early intervention," says Sarkar.

To this end, WEF has started a series of discussions with multi-stakeholder communities globally to debate ethical implications and potential risks of quantum. It has also initiated the creation of the first set of quantum computing governance principles.

"These are a set of shared principles that we believe will help guide the ecosystem for responsible development and innovation in this field," she says.

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Quantum computing is coming. Now is the right time to start getting ready - ZDNet

A year ago French president Emmanuel Macron announced plans to provide a framework for his nation's industrial and research forces to make the country a key player in the development of quantum technology. The "Quantum Plan" included an investment of 1.8 billion ($2 billion) over five yearsa significant increase that placed France third after the United States and China.

That included nearly 800 million for computers alone.

Thesector has already experienced significant growth, with patent filings doubling between 2018 and 2020, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. It is believed that the technology could potentially revolutionize areas of defense such as artificial intelligence (AI), enabling autonomous vehicles and improved targeting for precision weapons systems.

Quantum Leap Forward

Quantum computers are not just improved computers. Rather the machinesonce fully developedcould utilize the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform computations. Theoretically, a single quantum computer could complete in seconds tasks that would take classical computers thousands or even millions of years.

The first nation to achieve quantum computing could have a significant advantage, especially as the technology could render current encryption obsolete.

According to a new report from GlobalData, "Quantum Technologies in Defense," this is why many countries are concerned about falling behind in the quantum race due to the potential for the technology to revolutionize communications. Communication is a critical area for the defense sector, with quantum key distribution (QKD) having the potential to completely prevent adversaries from accessing secure communications.

Per the report: "As the existing quantum workforce is extremely small, with only a limited number of people having the capability to design and build quantum computers, countries are pushing to develop an industrial and skills base that will enable them to utilize quantum technologies."

Part of France's spending will initially be to create a platform that will allow traditional computers to access quantum processing power. "Quantum computers are expensive and extremely complex to build, so a remote platform is critical for providing the defense industry with access to quantum tools," explained William Davies, associate defense analyst at GlobalData, in an email.

"The technology is an important investment for the future of the French defense industry, and is a good move for the country to keep up with its peers," Davies continued. "Allies such as the U.S. and the UK are also investing, as well as adversaries such as China, largely to benefit their own defense interests. Further, IQM, a European quantum computer company, is opening an office in Paris in 2022 as a direct response to France increasing investment in quantum. This businessinvestment will provide opportunities for France to expand its domestic quantum base and increase the amount of trained personnel in the sector."

Along with hypersonic weapons, stealth technology, and high-energy weapons, quantum computing could be a significant game changer. Clearly France intends not to be left behind.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Reuters.

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How France Is Becoming a Quantum Computing Power - The National Interest