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The emergence of quantum computing has led industry heavyweights to fast track their research and innovations. This week, Google conducted the largest chemical simulation on a quantum computer to date. The U.S. Department of Energy, on the other hand, launched five new Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers. Will this accelerate quantum computings progress?

Quantum technology is the next big wave in the tech landscape. As opposed to traditional computers where all the information emails, tweets, YouTube videos, and Facebook photos are streams of electrical pulses in binary digits, 1s and 0s; quantum computers rely on quantum bits or qubits to store information. Qubits are subatomic particles, such as electrons or photons which change their state regularly. Therefore, they can be 1s and 0s at the same time. This enables quantum computers to run multiple complex computational tasks simultaneously and faster when compared to digital computers, mainframes, and servers.

Introduced in the 1980s, quantum computing can unlock the complexities across different industries much faster than traditional computers. A quantum computer can decipher complex encryption systems that can easily impact digital banking, cryptocurrencies, and e-commerce sectors, which heavily depend on encrypted data. Quantum computers can expedite the discovery of new medicines, aid in climate change, power AI, transform logistics, and design new materials. In the U.S., technology giants, including IBM, Google, Honeywell, Microsoft, Intel, IonQ, and Rigetti Computing, are leading the race to build quantum computers and gain a foothold in the quantum computing space. Whereas Alibaba, Baidu, Huawei are leading companies in China.

For a long time, the U.S. and its allies, such as Japan and Germany, had been working hard to compete with China to dominate the quantum technology space. In 2018, the U.S. government released the National Strategy Overview for Quantum Information Science to reduce technical skills gaps and accelerate quantum computing research and development.

In 2019, Google claimed quantum supremacy for supercomputers when the companys Sycamore processor performed specific tasks in 200 seconds, which would have taken a supercomputer 10,000 years to complete. In the same year, Intel rolled out Horse Ridge, a cryogenic quantum control chip, to reduce the quantum computing complexities and accelerate quantum practicality.

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Whats 2020 Looking Like For Quantum Computing?

In June 2020, Honeywell announced the development of the worlds highest-performing quantum computer. In July 2020, IBM announced a research partnership with the Japanese business and academia to advance quantum computing innovations. This alliance will deepen ties between the countries and build an ecosystem to improve quantum skills and advance research and development.

AWS, Microsoft, and several other IaaS providers have announced quantum cloud services, an initiative to advance quantum computing adoption. In August 2020, AWS announced the general availability of its Amazon Braket, a quantum cloud service that allows developers to design, develop, test, and run quantum algorithms.

Since last year, auto manufacturers, such as Daimler and Volkswagen have been leveraging quantum computers to identify new methods to improve electric vehicle battery performance. Pharmaceutical companies are also using the technology to develop new medicines and drugs.

Last week, the Google AI Quantum team used their quantum processor, Sycamore, to simulate changes in the configuration of a chemical molecule, diazene. During the process, the computer was able to describe the changes in the positions of hydrogen accurately. The computer also gave an accurate description of the binding energy of hydrogen in bigger chains.

If quantum computers develop the ability to predict chemical processes, it would advance the development of a wide range of new materials with unknown properties. Current quantum computers, unfortunately, lack the augmented scaling required for such a task. Although todays computers are not ready to take on such a challenge yet, computer scientists hope to accomplish this in the near future as tech giants like Google invest in quantum computing-related research.

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It, therefore, came as a relief to many computer scientists when the U.S. Department of Energy announced an investment of $625 million over the next five years for five newly formed Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers in the U.S. The newly formed hubs are an amalgam of research universities, national labs, and tech titans in quantum computing. Each of the research hubs is led by the Energy Departments Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermi National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; powered by Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Riggeti, and ColdQuanta. This partnership aims to advance quantum computing commercialization.

Chetan Nayak, general manager of Quantum Hardware at Microsoft, says, While quantum computing will someday have a profound impact, todays quantum computing systems are still nascent technologies. To scale these systems, we must overcome a number of scientific challenges. Microsoft has been tackling these challenges head-on through our work towards developing topological qubits, classical information processing devices for quantum control, new quantum algorithms, and simulations.

At the start of this year, Daniel Newman, principal analyst and founding partner at Futurum Research, predicted that 2020 will be a big year for investors and Silicon Valley to invest in quantum computing companies. He said, It will be incredibly impactful over the next decade, and 2020 should be a big year for advancement and investment.

Quantum computing is still in the development phase, and the lack of suppliers and skilled researchers might be one of the influential factors in its establishment. However, if tech giants, and researchers continue to collaborate on a large scale, quantum technology can turbocharge innovation at a large scale.

What are your thoughts on the progress of quantum computing? Comment below or let us know on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Wed love to hear from you!

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The Quantum Dream: Are We There Yet? - Toolbox

The combination of these factors means that, unlike previous recessions, business has not responded to this crisis by hunkering down and cutting costs.

This crisis has seen companies changing and innovating their operating models via a dramatic uptick in technology investment, which has changed the game.

Just before the crisis, Accenture recorded a major performance gap between the leaders in technology adoption and the laggards.

We conducted a vast global survey, including 500 Australian executives, which found the top 10 per cent of companies leading in technology were performing twice as well as the bottom 25 per cent (the laggards).

When COVID hit, almost overnight, this digital performance gap started widening because leaders could adjust their operating models faster than laggards.

But then, something really interesting happened. The pandemic became a catalyst for pushing Australias digital laggards to transform.

Everyone has been experimenting with agile delivery and rapid implementation. And thats brought about a real change in peoples thinking about whats possible.

The value of swift and strategic technology investment has well and truly been demonstrated in a very accelerated manner. Every CEO is recognising that they are actually leading a technology company.

As a result, demand for cloud computing in Australia is at an all-time high.

The massive ramp-up of workloads moving to the cloud has hit fast forward, with cloud spending accelerating through the crisis.

In the next 3-4 years, we expect to see the average business move over 75 per cent of its operations to the cloud from the current 25-30 per cent.

The scene is set for Australian industries, supply chains and workforces to remake ourselves better, faster and smarter than before. But, as we do, we must ensure we get value from our technology investment.

Key to that is for companies to think in terms of systems not individual technologies.

To leapfrog from being a laggard to a leader requires moving to enterprise-wide future systems that are:

In short, to make our organisations resilient, we must leverage greater levels of automation in combination with high-quality, relevant data, thats been decoupled from business silos.

And we must continue to experiment with and rapidly adopt emerging technologies.

The good news is, as we shift from survival towards revival, exponential technology change is not slowing down its advancing.

Next generation technologies, like DARQ (distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence, extended reality and quantum computing) and 5G, are making a measurable impact in the current context. The use of quantum computing and AI is developing even more rapidly as it contributes to drug and vaccine discovery.

Hyper-automation is strengthening operations and helping companies prepare for future supply chain disruptions.

As the need for these technologies comes into sharp focus, demand will accelerate invention, innovation and adoption.

What we previously imagined would be a decade-long journey is now a sprint for the next three years.

In this environment, capturing the market means getting to it first. This is why Australian companies must keep forging ahead with their rapid technology adoption.

We need to take the best of what weve learned into the future, bring our organisations with us, and crystallise digital transformation at the front and centre of strategy and competitive advantage.

This is the path that will see Australia become a smart nation and our companies become global leaders.

Scott Hahn leads Accentures technology practice in Australia & New Zealand.

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Industry insight: why smart tech adopters will dominate the future - The Australian Financial Review

China has revised its exports restrictions list for the first time in 12 years. Chinas new restrictions on exports include a bunch of deep technologies, including AI, drone, satellite and cybersecurity. Certain technologies will now be subject to export bans or restrictions, meaning they have to be greenlit by the Chinese government for sale overseas.

The new rules, unveiled by Chinas Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology, added many itemsincluding personal information push services based on data analysis and voice-recognition technologies commonly used in smartphones, robots and wearable devicesto the restricted list. Technologies on the list cant be exported without a license from the government.

Chinas Export Prohibited and Restricted Technology Catalog contain various technologies pertaining to artificial intelligence, voice, telecommunications, cybersecurity and cryptography.

Zhao Lijian, Spokesman, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, The main reason behind releasing the catalogue to regulate technology export management is to facilitate technological development, cooperate with foreign companies and to safeguard national economic security.

Telecom

First is the telecommunications and other information transmission services such as those that modify the control points of spatial data transmission technology. It includes telemetry coding and encryption technology (both hardware and software) for information transmission of the satellite navigation system, in addition to circuit design technology used therein.

Artificial Intelligence

Next technologies in the list include those related to artificial intelligence systems. Here are the following prohibitory list items-

Speech synthesis technology: This includes voice signal feature analysis and extraction technology, text feature analysis, speech analysis.

Artificial intelligence interface technology: This includes voice recognition technology, microphone array technology, voice wake-up technology, smart assistants, automated scoring technology for oral expression, pronunciation error detection technology, etc.

Cryptography & Security

Some of the cryptographic and security technologies which are mentioned on the prohibitory list include:

Cryptographic chip design: The list mentions high-speed cryptographic algorithms, parallel encryption, security design for crypto processors, the design and implementation of systems on a chip (SOC) security.

Quantum encryption: Another piece of innovation which is an area of intense global competition is quantum cryptography implementation method, quantum cryptography transmission technology, quantum cryptography code, etc.

Advanced Defence Technologies: This includes the innovation that helps companies defend themselves against potential cyber threats. Following are the technologies specified in the catalogue:

The Trump administration had blacklisted Chinese companies working on AI. Further, the US government urged its companies not to establish tech research units in China. American companies such as Microsoft, Google, and IBM had built research labs in China to hire local AI talent and to keep up with Chinese innovation trends. Now, as the tensions and trade restrictions continue to rise, analysts say this will lead to extreme tech protectionism between global powers, especially when it comes to technologies which could be deployed in defence and combat such as AI, cryptography, quantum computing and cybersecurity.

The US Commerce Department forced new export controls on artificial intelligence software, a mandate to block US companies from transporting AI systems developed in the US due to national security concerns. The Trump administration banned Huawei and TikTok from operating in the US, citing risk to data privacy of citizens.

Still considering further AI software controls, and the Trump administration is increasingly examining how tech companies and consumers from each nation interact with one another.

The new restrictions take the global trade war between the US and China to the next level. The prohibitory list would require technology companies to take permission from the Chinese government before selling specific technologies overseas. Now with the Chinese export restrictions, it is very likely that the US along with western countries which are its close allies are not going to be able to get access to new Chinese innovation in the foreseeable future.

Even social media platforms which are headquartered in China such as TikTok are impacted due to their extensive use of AI-based technologies. TikTok can no longer close its buyout deal once the mandate goes live in a few weeks. The social media company had been in negotiations with tech giants like Microsoft for an acquisition deal.

China has revised its exports restrictions list for the first time in 12 years. Just as video app TikTok tries to find suitors to take over its operations in the US, Australia and New Zealand, Beijing insists the new move is aimed at national economic security.

Chinas new tech export restriction rules not only add uncertainty to the sale of TikToks US operations but also could affect exports of broader consumer tech products such as drones and cellphones.

AI has become a controversial issue for the economic and political rivalry between the US and China over the past few years. The emerging tech is flying ahead swiftly, and there are big economic advantages and strategic benefits to be realised on both sides.

The news can hurt startups working in emerging technologies which may be planning to expand operations overseas. China is home to most startups in AI which have a global presence working alongside US tech companies. Post the export prohibition; the startups will have to reevaluate their expansion plans and make them in line with Chinese interests.

AI has been one of the most active, high-profile and significant sectors that China has witnessed for the past few years. The industry is one where top VCs have invested billions of dollars and has attracted top talents.

comments

Vishal Chawla is a senior tech journalist at Analytics India Magazine and writes about AI, data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and blockchain. Vishal also hosts AIM's video podcast called Simulated Reality- featuring tech leaders, AI experts, and innovative startups of India. Reach out at vishal.chawla@analyticsindiamag.com

Excerpt from:
China's Export Restriction List: Which Technologies Included And Why? - Analytics India Magazine

A new government initiative will direct hundreds of millions of dollars to support new centers for quantum computing research.

Why it matters: Quantum information science represents the next leap forward for computing, opening the door to powerful machines that can help provide answers to some of our most pressing questions. The nation that takes the lead in quantum will stake a pole position for the future.

Details: The five new quantum research centers established in national labs across the country are part of a $1 billion White House program announced Wednesday morning that includes seven institutes that will explore different facets of AI, including precision agriculture and forecast prediction.

How it works: While AI is better known and increasingly integrated into our daily lives hey, Siri quantum computing is just as important, promising huge leaps forward in computer processing power.

Of note: Albert Einstein famously hated the concept of entanglement, describing it as "spooky action at a distance." But the idea has held up over decades of research in quantum science.

Quantum computers won't replace classical ones wholesale in part because the process of manipulating quantum particles is still highly tricky but as they develop, they'll open up new frontiers in computing.

What they're saying: "Quantum is the biggest revolution in computers since the advent of computers," says Dario Gil, director of IBM Research. "With the quantum bit, you can actually rethink the nature of information."

The catch: While the underlying science behind quantum computers is decades old, quantum computers are only just now beginning to be used commercially.

What to watch: Who ultimately wins out on quantum supremacy the act of demonstrating that a quantum computer can solve a problem that even the fastest classical computer would be unable to solve in a feasible time frame.

The bottom line: The age of quantum computers isn't quite here yet, but it promises to be one of the major technological drivers of the 21st century.

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Why quantum computing matters - Axios

AFRICA

South Africa is a few steps ahead in the advancement of quantum computing and quantum technologies in general, said Mark Tame, professor in photonics at Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape.

South Africas University of KwaZulu-Natal has also been working on quantum computing for more than a decade, gradually building up a community around the field.

The buzz about quantum computing in South Africa just started recently due to the agreement between [Johannesburgs] University of the Witwatersrand and IBM, said Professor Francesco Petruccione, interim director, National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Science, and South African Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing and Communication at the School of Chemistry and Physics Quantum Research Group, University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Interest was intensified by Googles announcement last October that it had developed a 53-qubit device which it claimed took 200 seconds to sample one instance of a quantum circuit a million times. The IT company claimed it would take a state-of-the-art digital supercomputer 10,000 years to achieve this.

A University of Waterloo Institute for Quantum Computing paper stresses quantum computers ability to express a signal (a qubit) of more than one value at the same time (the superposition ability) with that signal being manifested in another device independently, but in exactly the same way (the entanglement ability). This enables quantum computers to handle much more complex questions and problems than standard computers using binary codes of ones and zeros.

The IBM Research Laboratory in Johannesburg offers African researchers the potential to harness such computing power. It was established in 2015, part of a 10-year investment programme through the South African governments Department of Trade and Industry.

It is a portal to the IBM Quantum Experience, a cloud-based quantum computing platform accessible to other African universities that are part of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), which involves 16 of the continents leading universities (in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa).

Levelling of the playing field

The IBM development has levelled the playing field for students, [giving them] access to the same hardware as students elsewhere in the world. There is nothing to hold them back to develop quantum applications and code. This has been really helpful for us at Stellenbosch to work on projects which need access to quantum processors not available to the general public, said Tame.

While IBM has another centre on the continent, at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2018 the University of the Witwatersrand became the first African university to join the American computing giants Quantum Computing Network. They are starting to increase the network to have an army of quantum experts, said Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, a nuclear physicist, and vice-chancellor and principal of the University of the Witwatersrand.

At a continental level, Vilakazi said Africa is still in a learning phase regarding quantum computing. At this early stage we are still developing the skills and building a network of young students, he said. The university has sent students to IBMs Zurich facility to learn about quantum computing, he said.

To spur cooperation in the field, a Quantum Africa conference has been held every year since 2010, with the first three in South Africa, and others in Algeria and Morocco. Last years event was in Stellenbosch, while this years event, to be hosted at the University of Rwanda, was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Growing African involvement

Rwanda is making big efforts to set up quantum technology centres, and I have former students now working in Botswana and the Gambia. It is slowly diffusing around the continent, said Petruccione.

Academics participating at the Stellenbosch event included Yassine Hassouni of Mohammed V University, Rabat; Nigerian academic Dr Obinna Abah of Queens University Belfast; and Haikel Jelassi of the National Centre for Nuclear Sciences and Technologies, Tunisia.

In South Africa, experimental and theoretical work is also being carried out into quantum communications the use of quantum physics to carry messages via fibre optic cable.

A lot of work is being done on the hardware side of quantum technologies by various groups, but funding for these things is not the same order of magnitude as in, say, North America, Australia or the UK. We have to do more with less, said Tame.

Stellenbosch, near Cape Town, is carrying out research into quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum sensing (the ability to detect if a quantum-sent message is being read).

I would like it to grow over the next few years by bringing in more expertise and help the development of quantum computing and technologies for South Africa, said Tame.

Witwatersrand is focusing on quantum optics, as is Petrucciones team, while there is collaboration in quantum computing with the University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria.

University programmes

Building up and retaining talent is a key challenge as the field expands in Africa, as is expanding courses in quantum computing.

South Africa doesnt offer a masters in quantum computing, or an honours programme, which we need to develop, said Petruccione.

This is set to change at the University of the Witwatersrand.

We will launch a syllabus in quantum computing, and were in the process of developing courses at the graduate level in physics, natural sciences and engineering. But such academic developments are very slow, said Vilakazi.

Further development will hinge on governmental support, with a framework programme for quantum computing being developed by Petruccione. There is interest from the [South African] Department of Science and Innovation. Because of [the economic impact of] COVID-19, I hope some money is left for quantum technology, but at least the government is willing to listen to the community, he said.

Universities are certainly trying to tap non-governmental support to expand quantum computing, engaging local industries, banks and pharmaceutical companies to get involved in supporting research.

We have had some interesting interactions with local banks, but it needs to be scaled up, said Petruccione.

Applications

While African universities are working on quantum computing questions that could be applicable anywhere in the world, there are plans to look into more localised issues. One is drug development for tuberculosis, malaria and HIV, diseases that have afflicted Southern Africa for decades, with quantum computings ability to handle complex modelling of natural structures a potential boon.

There is potential there for helping in drug development through quantum simulations. It could also help develop quantum computing networks in South Africa and more broadly across the continent, said Vilakazi.

Agriculture is a further area of application. The production of fertilisers is very expensive as it requires high temperatures, but bacteria in the soil do it for free. The reason we cant do what bacteria do is because we dont understand it. The hope is that as quantum computing is good at chemical reactions, maybe we can model it and that would lead to cheaper fertilisers, said Petruccione.

With the world in a quantum computing race, with the US and China at the forefront, Africa is well positioned to take advantage of developments. We can pick the best technology coming out of either country, and that is how Africa should position itself, said Vilakazi.

Petrucciones group currently has collaborations with Russia, India and China. We want to do satellite quantum communication. The first step is to have a ground station, but that requires investment, he said.

Originally posted here:
A continent works to grow its stake in quantum computing - University World News