Towards a TU Delft Vision on Quantum Computing
Quantum computing is scaling up
The development of quantum computing is scaling up, and this manifests itself technically as well as socially. The technical scaling-up has received significant coverage in the news and scientific articles, and is observable in rapid progress: functional qubits have been achieved in many different physical systems, and quantum processors are containing an ever increasing number of better qubits. This progress poses grand technological challenges, such as how to control higher numbers of qubits. On the other hand, the social scaling-up concerns the broadening of stakeholders driving the development of quantum computing, from quantum physicists and computer scientists, to engineers, industrialists, governments and ultimately society at large. This second scaling-up involves incorporating know ledge and practices from different disciplines and reconciling divergent interests. It is this second development we focus on in summing up the findings of the Vision Team and in proposing a TU Delft vision on quantum computing: a constructive collaboration between all the stakeholders leads to challenging tasks and to meaningful choices about what quantum computing can eventually bring to society.
TU Delft stands in the forefront of both developments of quantum computing. It is home to seminal research on quantum computing. In 2014 TU Delft brought together physicists, computer scientists and engineers by co-founding QuTech, a collaboration of TU Delft and TNO, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research. A result of this collaboration is Quantum Inspire, providing experimental quantum computers for exploration to researchers and other interested parties all over the world.
Our meetings with stakeholders confirmed that a multidisciplinary approach is indeed essential for successfully overcoming the challenges of developing quantum computing, and TU Delft should embrace this approach for the years to come.
A common language across disciplines
The initial driver of quantum computing was the technical development of qubits. This development was physics-driven and put the language of quantum physics with its enigmatic concepts of superposition and entanglement central in our understanding of quantum computing. Yet, this understanding is not intuitive, as pointedly stated by the famous Richard Feynman: Nobody understands quantum mechanics. Quantum computing has however become a multidisciplinary endeavor. The accompanying language must evolve accordingly and outgrow its pure quantum physics origins.
The broadening of the understanding of quantum computing beyond physics is a crucial challenge according to many of the stakeholders we have spoken to, and also was the main topic of the winning student contributions. Building a prototype of a quantum computer relied on close collaboration between physicists, engineers and computer scientists. Developing applications of quantum computing requires that even more stake holders can understand quantum computing. We spoke for instance with scientists and software developers who are eager to explore how quantum computing can be used for problems in their fields, yet have difficulty grasping quantum physics. To include these new stakeholders, each with their own disciplinary tradition, it is necessary that a common understanding of quantum computing is emerging with concepts and language that all can master.
Moreover, the development of quantum computing depends on educating future generations of quantum computer experts who master the different disciplines for further development and who can operate quantum computers for their applications. This education again requires making quantum computing accessible and understandable more broadly. At the same time, we witnessed across all people we spoke with a natural curiosity towards the puzzling quantum phenomena such as Schrödinger’s cat being in a dead-and-alive superposition. Future quantum education should build on this curiosity but step away from a Feynman-style warning that nobody understands quantum.
Finding a common language for understanding quantum computing and interacting efficiently with quantum computers is still an open research topic. Solving this problem will require involving additional disciplines such as mathematics, design and philosophy.
TU Delft should contribute to creating this common and multidisciplinary language for quantum computing, through its research programs and in its education development.
Beyond the funnel of first use cases
Quantum computing comes with dreams of solving important scientific and societal problems, ranging from creating new materials to reducing energy consumption of industrial processes. And it comes with the more nightmarish possibility of breaking existing encryption of our digital data and communication. For this reason the social scaling of quantum computing has drawn in external stakeholders such as industry and the government for exploring and assessing applications. Yet, in our discussions there was no consensus on what the first use case will actually be – it may very well be an application not thought of yet!
We observed that the interests of industry and governments introduce the danger of funneling the search for applications into narrow domains. For industry to invest in quantum computing, it has to find commercially viable applications. This focus may introduce a bias towards only a few specific applications at the cost of others. Governments amplify this focus on commercial applications with arguments that investments in quantum computing should lead to national economic growth. Governments also increasingly acknowledge risks and opportunities of quantum computing for national and international issues such as cyber security and geopolitical balances. This focus is meaningful yet introduces the limiting perspective of seeing quantum computing as a technology controlled by the larger power blocks in the world for their economic and security interests.
To escape the funnel and unlock the full potential of quantum computing for all stakeholders and for all countries in the world, academic institutions should not only focus on the applications brought forward by industry and government. In fact, it is very likely that first use cases also arise in the science domain. Many research fields rely on high-performance computers, and quantum computing may overcome existing limitations. Such scientific applications of quantum computing might not be profitable, yet be relevant to society. If for instance quantum computing can lead to breakthroughs in pharmacy for the search for treatments to diseases in developing countries, and industry is not taking it up, we should develop these applications nevertheless.
We advise TU Delft to engage in the exploration of applications of a quantum computer in a broad range of fields, to contribute to our global society in a meaningful way. This includes interacting with industry and creating economic value, but also with academic researchers from any interested field.
Openness for science, education and society
The idea of having open access to research results and data has grown in the past years, and TU Delft is committed to this principle. This vision team believes that open access can play an important role in quantum computing. At the moment quantum computing is in the ramp-up phase, and most research can be open, whereas it may close as the technology becomes more proprietary. Yet, it should be acknowledged that quantum computing will stay for the next few years in its ramp-up phase. Hence, shifting now to a more closed mode of research out of geoeconomic or geopolitical motives will actually hamper development. Also in later phases open access can be beneficial to quantum computing: it can support the search for socially relevant applications, help industry with finding technological standards, and promote TU Delft’s research and education. For instance, in the absence of a settled curriculum, openly sharing education materials will lead to beneficial interactions with other universities, and can help to promote and advance the Delft education program.
Openness also has the meaning of being accessible and trustworthy. There is a significant outreach effort ranging from informing people about quantum computing to attempts to express the value of its applications in general (layperson) terms. Still, with the media mostly focusing on a few overly hopeful results – quantum computing curbing climate change – or extreme threats – quantum computing eliminating digital security – it can be hard to get a faithful picture of quantum computing. Hence, it is essential to provide industry, scientists, policymakers and the public with honest information about the development of quantum computing and about what applications it realistically can bring.
TU Delft should harness openness: it will be essential for quantum computing to be a successful research field, and should be used to promote our efforts in research and education. At the same time, we find it important that TU Delft provides balanced information in an open and active way.
The end point of social scaling is the inclusion of society as a whole into quantum computing. Developed with industry and governments in an (inter)nationally secure way and in with an open and trustful dialogue with societal stakeholders, quantum computing has the promise of becoming an exciting technology that brings economic prosperity and societally meaningful applications.