Relatives and enemies
However, in a war of any kind, friendship is about resources. And while no other country matches China and America’s efforts toward quantum gain, great strides are being made elsewhere as well.
Quantum is high on the technology priority list for France and Germany, which have been moving forward this year even in the midst of a coronavirus crisis. France unveiled its “national strategy for quantum technologies” in May, calling for an investment of € 1.5bn, and in June Angela Merkel pledged € 2bn towards a German quantum innovation project. They are both awaiting global quantum leaders.
But they have competition – from Britain, and not just thanks to last year’s £ 1bn investment threshold. Missing in the headlines about Brexit and Covid was the news in September that global quantum company Rigetti Computing was leading a consortium to launch the first “commercially available quantum computer” in the UK, held in Abingdon, Oxford. Science minister Amanda Solloway spoke of the desire to make the UK “the first quantum-ready economy”.
The UK is behind the likes of Jiuzhang and Sycamore, but the focus on trade is particularly interesting. In fact, in an interview in this paper following the investment news, Canadian founder Rigetti Computing spoke out about quantum potential in the next three to five years, with practical applications ranging from molecular detection, to Netflix, to weapons.
It is also worth noting that the UK has the potential to attract investment and collaboration from global companies. China may have the technological edge right now, but in the current geopolitical climate – from coronavirus outbreak to invasion in Hong Kong and the South China Sea – it is not. It is hard to imagine that many multinational technical companies have a special confidence to join the Beijing government.
So as the first doses of the Covid vaccine are delivered and the pandemic is introduced into the background mirror in 2021, keep an eye on the race for quantum gain. Who will win could prove the leaders of the AI revolution, a new class of encryption, and prepare for the next pandemic – and with it, the dynamics of geopolitical supremacy for future generations.