No one may fully understand quantum computing yet, but one thing is clear the expectations are high.
And where there are high expectations, theres money.
Both private and public funding for European quantum technologies has grown notably over the last few years.
In 2021, private funding to quantum startupsincreased by 2.5xcompared to 2020, and by 8x compared to 2019.
However, lets not forget that hardware alone wont be enough.
Without suitable software, quantum computers will have no value.
Yet, quantum software gets undeservedly little attention and, thereby, funding.
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The first phase of this initiative has concluded with152 million invested.
When it comes to private investments, the situation is better, albeit similar.
In 2021/2022, about14.5%of equity investments into European quantum computingstartupswere directed to software solutions.
And it seems that in 2023, this trend continues.
So why, when it comes to quantum tech, its the other way around?
And to some extent, theyre right building successful quantum hardware is indeed the most burning challenge.
Well, right now.
But in the big picture, its only one-third of the problem.
The first and most obvious one is to build aquantum computer.
The second challenge is to reduce errors in quantum computers, enabling them to perform longer computations.
Better hardware will reduce errors, but is unlikely to be sufficient by itself.
We must find ways to correct quantum computing errors at the software level.
Hence, two of the three central quantum computing problems are software-related.
But how come this isnt at all reflected in the distribution of funding?
Look, the development of quantum software takes years.
It took my colleagues and me between five and 10 years to developquantum walksas a method for solving problems.
I expect a similar timescale for new problem-solving methods of comparable or larger significance.
There will be quantum computers with applications mainly in physics and chemistry.
In other areas, they will still be mostly used for experimentation rather than for actual problem-solving.
The range of applications will simply be too small for the world to care.
