Quantum Technology Insight

Quantum Outlook

Quantum Outlook 2019

2018 has seen rising awareness of the future potential of quantum technology. 2019 is set to see quantum computing in particular at the peak of its hype cycle. Fact Based Insight believes that investors should take a wide view of the sector to find value in the short, medium and long term. The road to…

UK Flag

Quantum Technology for a Global Britain?

The UK Quantum Showcase demonstrates why others around the world are seeking to copy the UK’s quantum technology approach. It’s little surprise that the UK government is providing additional funding of £315m over the next 5 years. The 2018 UK National Quantum Technology Showcase took place in the prestigious QEII conference centre overlooking London’s Parliament…

Will the EU’s magnificent Flagship win the geopolitical Quantum race?

The splendour of Vienna’s Hofburg Palace saw the kickoff of the 20 projects that are the initial phase of the Europe’s €1b Quantum Flagship programme. The vision on display was impressive and wide ranging. It was also constrained by the limited resources so far committed and the unique politics of the EU. The Quantum Flagship…

Beating Quantum Winter

Beating quantum winter: opportunities further up the quantum value chain

The development of large scale quantum computers is expected to be a decade long journey. Some predict a quantum winter before early investors see returns. This need not be the case for those willing to look more widely. Quantum computing is the poster child of the emerging quantum technology sector. However, the same underlying technologies…

Quantum software

The central role of quantum software

Quantum thought leader Scott Aaronson reminds us that the challenge of achieving quantum advantage depends not just on breakthrough quantum hardware but also on mastering revolutionary new quantum software. Scott Aaronson is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, and the founding director of its Quantum Information Center. An expert…

Quantum Safe Cryptography

The world is waking up to the need for quantum safe cryptography

A new quantum network has been launched in the UK and quantum initiatives are underway at telecom players SK Telecom, BT, Telefónica and Huawei – the world is starting to prepare in earnest for the advent of large scale quantum computers. Quantum computers promise to bring a remarkable range of benefits to industry and society. …

Integrated phontonics chip

Looking beyond quantum supremacy

Striking progress modelling molecular vibrations with a quantum simulator brings the abstract quest for quantum supremacy into context. Is this a pointer to medium term commercial applications? The world is waiting for a first demonstration of quantum supremacy,  a computation not practical on any conventional computer. However behind that headline will lie a number of…

Quantum computing race

Qubit technology: global field microwave trapped ions

Are quantum majors Google, IBM, Intel and Alibaba backing the right technologies for the long term? Quantum majors Google, IBM, Intel and Alibaba, together with startup Rigetti have so far focussed on building quantum devices based on superconducting qubits. Many expect that quantum supremacy will soon be demonstrated based on such a device. But how…

Quantum Startups

Finding winners: quantum startups

Quantum computing makes headlines, but its sister technologies of quantum cryptography and quantum sensing are reaching market sooner. The first quantum revolution began in 1901 when Max Planck showed that the light emitted from a heated black-body consists of discrete quanta, later dubbed photons. Nature turns out to be built in its entirety on the…

Quantum Strategy

Quantum strategies in the NISQ era

We are about to enter a new transitional phase in the development of quantum technology. Behind the headlines there are a diversity of strategies available for those wanting to get on board. In 2012 Caltech professor John Preskill coined the term quantum supremacy for the quest to demonstrate a calculation on a quantum device that…