Increasing Investments In Quantum Technologies

According to the research Quantum technologies: How to prepare your organization for a quantum advantage now, China (43 percent) and the Netherlands (42 percent) have the largest share of companies working on or planning to work on quantum technologies, well ahead of Germany and the UK (each on 26 percent), versus 23 percent on average globally.

While the vast majority of the organizations working on quantum started more than two years ago, 28 percent of them stated that they had done so in the last two years. Overall, quantum technologies are beginning to move out of research environments and into real-world applications: among the organizations working on quantum, nearly 20 percent have reached implementation stage (experiments or proofs of concepts). A further 23 percent have identified relevant use cases and are preparing for implementation.

These companies intend to leverage the tech in a number of ways, from improving sustainability in operations and discovery of new materials for battery manufacture, to securing information, through to medical sensors and mitigating harmful industrial gases. Financial services organizations are using quantum technologies for more accurate pricing of risky assets, optimizing portfolios for better returns, and detecting frauds. In addition, Life Sciences companies are attempting to shorten the drug-development cycle using quantum computing.

Seven in ten organizations working on quantum agreed that due to long product development cycles in their businesses, they need to invest time now in building a base (the right skills, identifying problems or use cases, conducting lab experiments, or striking partnerships) and integrating quantum technologies into their processes. More than half (58 percent) of the organizations working on quantum stated that they had secured C-level support for quantum initiatives in the last year.