Quantastic!
Reading time: approx. 15 MinQuantastic!Humanity learns to calculate with elementary particles. Google, IBM and Alibaba are building ever better quantum computers. In just a few years, with qubits they’ll be calculating exponentially faster and better than today’s supercomputers. Quantum systems are thus likely to change the world of work in the areas of mobility, traffic and logistics, and even production planning and materials research. The global race is on.
A designer fridge in Ehningen
A designer fridge in EhningenIn the small town of Ehningen, near Stuttgart, Germany, with flourish and fanfare, a mirror-black designer refrigerator has been unveiled that will do our calculations in the future: Germany’s first generally accessible quantum computer, equipped with 27 qubits, was built by the US company IBM in a 3x3x3 meter cube, cooled with helium down to minus 273 degrees.
Its name: Q System One. With this ice-cold super-brain, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is now running a research station for quantum computing. The first trial and practice projects involve modeling batteries and fuel cells for logistics, energy and finance, and are already being calculated with outside companies and researchers.
IBM already has 30 such mega-computers on the network to solve humanity’s previously unsolvable calculation problems. Even Angela Merkel joined the online ceremony in June. The German chancellor helped to initiate the deal and approached it in a particularly assertive manner. “We are in the midst of an intense competition,” Merkel said. “And Germany wants to have an important say in it.” Historically, Germany has been at the top worldwide in quantum research and now intends to use this technological wonder work for powerful commercial applications. “The rest of the world isn’t sleeping!” says Merkel.The German federal government has set up a “quantum computing road map”, will be investing €2 billion in research by 2025, and has founded the QUTAC quantum consortium: Ten large industrial partners, from BASF to Siemens are developing industrially relevant solutions on various technological platforms.
Wolfhard Sengler, Associated Partner at MHP, is observing developments in quantum computing. “Germany needs to watch out,” says Sengler, “so that it doesn’t fail to keep pace with the competition.”In quantum computing patents, the United States is far ahead, with 41 percent. Canada, Japan and China are right behind. But Germany — the birthplace of quantum physics — is way behind, with just 2 percent of all patents. “We must get intensively involved in this issue,” Sengler appeals. But what does a quantum computer actually do differently? What can we expect from them? And how will our world’s technologies change?
Elementary particles explained
Elementary particles explainedQuantum physics describes nature’s operating system — the puzzling interaction of elementary particles. The first insights go back to German-speaking physicists Max Planck and Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger. On their basis, revolutionary quantum technologies arose: magnetic resonance tomography, atomic clocks, cascade lasers.
Now Quantum Revolution 2.0 is starting. Professor Oliver Ambacher heads up the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF and the Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering in Freiburg. To him, it’s clear:
The difference compared to today’s computers lies in a completely different approach that pushes the imagination to its limits: While bits only take on states of 0 or 1, of “off” or “on”, qubits also map all values in between by superimposing their statuses. “When you couple qubits together, they don’t just take on two statuses, but several:
With two qubits, there are four possible statuses, and with three qubits there are eight already,” Ambacher explains. “Ideally, the computing power of a quantum processor doubles with each qubit, which can also be interwoven into an ensemble.”
Qubits beat bits
Qubits beat bitsWhile today’s conventional bit processors can only calculate one step after the other, in the future, quantum computers will simulate many states at the same time. Sengler says that doesn’t just make them tools for big data, but for optimization of highly complex systems. The best example: Navigation. Up to now, navigation devices have guided all cars around a traffic jam using the same route and soon clog other streets. Quantum computers, however, offer all vehicles the best alternative for them, in relation to all other cars.
Experts estimate the current number of installed quantum computers at 50 to 70. Up to now, they’ve been prototypes in the evaluation stage that don’t represent much of an advance over conventional high-performance computers, but they show the way to the future. “I assume that, two generations from now, quantum computers will show a calculation advantage in solving application-related problems,” the Fraunhofer researcher predicts. For 2024, IBM is planning a quantum gate computer with 1,121 superconducting qubits that might have this potential. “Commercial use will be possible in five years.” But none of this will replace conventional high-performance computers — they’ll just offer additional skills for highly complex tasks. What to expect is not a perfect quantum computer, but various systems and processors for various applications.
Traffic jam free all the way through town
Traffic jam free all the way through townThe incredible revolution in quantum physics is increasingly giving wings to the visions of scientists and managers. The first successes are already here. As early as 2017, with a quantum computer experiment unique in the world, the Volkswagen Group processed the driving data from 10,000 taxis in Beijing and was actually able to improve the traffic flow in the mega-city — still virtually at the time. During the “WebSummit” technology conference at the end of 2019 in Lisbon, VW showed live how to guide buses faster through the metropolis.
“Our routing project with MAN buses was the world’s first productive application of a quantum algorithm for traffic optimization,” says Florian Neukart, Director of the Volkswagen Data:Lab in Munich. “The buses were navigated so efficiently through traffic in real time that they gained several minutes on each trip.”
VW used “annealers” from Canadian quantum computing firm D-Wave with up to 5,000 qubits specialized in solving optimization problems. Moreover, with large delivery service providers, the Group has been working on optimal allocation of transport capacity and determination of ideal departure times and routes, which are calculated dynamically according to the traffic situation. This can reduce the use of transport fleets. And that’s not all:“The quantum-supported algorithm can also optimize other factors, such as emissions and probability of accidents — or all criteria together,” says Neukart.
At the same time, Volkswagen is working on improving its industrial production. In this pilot project, the paint shop in Wolfsburg used a quantum algorithm to minimize the number of color changes per day. Even in autonomous driving, these ingenious computers will be helpful in the future: To evaluate millions of datasets that arise from the ability of the vehicles to “see” with cameras, radar, lidar and ultrasound, and from the reactions of drivers, algorithms from machine learning will be used, among other things.“It takes a long time to train that kind of algorithm,” says Neukart.
“Quantum computers could indirectly speed up the process. Not all data will be processed faster, but the algorithms themselves will improve faster.” Volkswagen is now also a software company for new mobility products that will benefit from quantum computers, as will large cities, delivery services and future operators of self-driving fleets, Neukart says.
Solution to the battery dilemma
Solution to the battery dilemmaBatteries are seen as the bottleneck for transforming traffic. However, quantum computers can revolutionize today’s technologies, because they can potentially predict the properties of molecules of various materials. The automotive industry is working on simulation of new batteries, such as lithium-sulfur rechargeables. They are expected to increase energy density and charge faster. This will make the batteries lighter, smaller and more sustainable.
“With quantum computers, we can simulate materials right down to the atomic structure, which has never been possible with supercomputers,” says Volkmar Denner, outgoing CEO of Bosch. “This will result in new catalytic converter materials that will significantly reduce the use of precious metals in fuel cells.”Beyond this, Bosch is researching quantum sensors that make use of diamonds. According to Denner, they will measure at least 100 times more sensitively than current systems.
They could make current flows in the tiniest chips and circuits in the nano range visible, and they could bring new insights into neurological diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and epilepsy. The auto companies are also increasingly interested in quantum radar, which can deliver extremely high resolutions from miles away and without disruptive interference. With its help, self-driving cars should be able to recognize objects better in the future and distinguish more easily between objects and pedestrians. All over the world, quantum computers are devouring billions in development costs. Their procurement and operation in Germany alone may cost hundreds of millions of euros in coming years. Nonetheless, research institutes’ computing centers, government ministries and private companies seem to be all in. Fraunhofer experts anticipate that companies that value absolute protection of their data will get their own quantum computers and benefit directly from the technology. Small and middle-sized companies are likely to get access to the computing power over the cloud: quantum computing as a service.
“We researchers must now develop systems that can process application-relevant issues,” says Ambacher, “ones that companies can seize on.” The Europeans must answer the question of how independent they need to be in quantum computing and how ready they are to invest in it.” The German government has already decided: “In 5 to 10 years, Germany and its European partners must be at the top of international competition and be ready to build and operate an applicable quantum computer,” says the government’s road map. An internationally competitive quantum computer with at least 100 controllable qubits, scalable to 500 qubits, is being subsidized until 2025.
Answers to questions never asked
Answers to questions never askedIt’s obvious that quantum computers will change the world. Sven Gabor Janszky, one of Germany’s renowned trend researchers, sees a new era dawning.
At the same time, quantum computing will become not only an economic megatrend, but also a matter of global power. Last year, Janszky’s think tank “2b AHEAD”, in Leipzig, presented a study on the future of quantum computing. To him it’s foreseeable that areas such as mobility services and logistics, industrial processes and energy grids, trade, financial markets and medicine are heading for a quantum leap.
It’s no longer science fiction that quantum computer controlled robotic taxi fleets will fulfill the old vision of large cities with no traffic jams or that quantum computers will make individualized medications available to all. And those, says Janszky, are only the possibilities known so far: “In the next phase, with millions of interwoven qubits, we’ll be answering questions that people haven’t even asked yet.”
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Author Sven Heitkamp
Sven Heitkamp is a freelance reporter and copywriter from Leipzig. He discovers what innovations startups are working on and explores how large corporations work…
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Quantastic!
A designer fridge in Ehningen
“The rest of the world isn’t sleeping!” says Merkel.
Wolfhard Sengler, Associated Partner at MHP, is observing developments in quantum computing. “Germany needs to watch out,” says Sengler, “so that it doesn’t fail to keep pace with the competition.”
Elementary particles explained
Now Quantum Revolution 2.0 is starting. Professor Oliver Ambacher heads up the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF and the Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering in Freiburg. To him, it’s clear:
With two qubits, there are four possible statuses, and with three qubits there are eight already,” Ambacher explains. “Ideally, the computing power of a quantum processor doubles with each qubit, which can also be interwoven into an ensemble.”
Qubits beat bits
“I assume that, two generations from now, quantum computers will show a calculation advantage in solving application-related problems,”
Traffic jam free all the way through town
“Our routing project with MAN buses was the world’s first productive application of a quantum algorithm for traffic optimization,” says Florian Neukart, Director of the Volkswagen Data:Lab in Munich. “The buses were navigated so efficiently through traffic in real time that they gained several minutes on each trip.”
And that’s not all:
“It takes a long time to train that kind of algorithm,” says Neukart.
“Quantum computers could indirectly speed up the process. Not all data will be processed faster, but the algorithms themselves will improve faster.”
Solution to the battery dilemma
“With quantum computers, we can simulate materials right down to the atomic structure, which has never been possible with supercomputers,” says Volkmar Denner, outgoing CEO of Bosch. “This will result in new catalytic converter materials that will significantly reduce the use of precious metals in fuel cells.”
Answers to questions never asked
“In the next phase, with millions of interwoven qubits, we’ll be answering questions that people haven’t even asked yet.”
Discover more:
