International Quantum Strategy Day 

Those following my posts of late will have read my happy announcement of being in the winning team of the Quantum Strategy Institute’s International Quantum Strategy Day competition this year. 

Our task was to advise the QSI on how they could advise their clients with regards to the best strategy for quantum readiness, or being ready to gain advantage and avoid losses upon the arrival of commercially useful quantum computers. Out of the options presented to us we had to argue for between one and three applications, the relevant criteria being potential for profit, and the timescale (prefer near-term payoffs).

Our choices were:

1. Optimisation: Quantum computing is well-suited for optimisation problems, well understood optimisation algorithms available already including QAOA and QUBO and quantum annealing like that provided by D-Wave. We pointed out use cases across logistics and healthcare such as route planning, shift planning, OR scheduling and ambulance dispatch.

2. Quantum sensing: This has already shown early signs of profitability in the mining sector and with new applications and further development occurring at a rapid pace this would be an area of early high returns,

3. Quantum CyberSecurity: There are two aspects to this, the use of quantum technology to improve cybersecurity and measure-taking against the cryptographic danger posed by quantum computers,

   1. Random Number Generators: The roll-out of this technology has already started and for any firm with high stakes resting on cybersecurity demanding truly random number generation is highly advisable. This need will become more ubiquitous as AI eventually gets smart enough to guess the patterns behind pseudorandom number generators. While quantum random numbers are available via cloud services we were advising QRNG for deployment on site for companies with either high security needs to avoid their quantum random numbers being intercepted, or with high volume requirements which cannot afford the latency inherent to cloud-based services. We also notes that assets on site can run security checks to ensure that they are performing as per their specifications.

   2. Post-Quantum Cryptography: Technically not a quantum technology but rather a countermeasure to it, PQC does not so much generate profit as avoid loss. Nevertheless it was our view that PQC must be included in any serious quantum technology strategy. To counter objections that the threat was still some time away we emphasised the steal now, decrypt later attacks already happening.

The difference between advising a consultancy and being consultants ourselves was that we could advise the adoption of recommendations 1. and 3. above by the consultancy as a way to lead by example!

I thank the judges, Brian Lenahan, Petra Soderling, Leopold Wildenauer, and Michael Harvey, and my team members Gregory Skulmoski, Yvette White, Nishikanta Mohanty and our leader Muria Roberts. I also promise not to post about it again, unless someone asks me to!