World Quantum Day: What are the biggest challenges quantum will solve?
Machine speaks to quantum insiders to discuss the world-changing potential of this fast-evolving technology.
It's been roughly 100 years since a group of physics pioneers laid the foundation for quantum mechanics.
In 1925, Max Born, Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan developed matrix mechanics, in which physical quantities like position, momentum, and energy are represented as matrices. This provided a way to understand quantum jumps - sudden transitions between energy levels in an atom.
During the same year, the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger invented wave mechanics by putting forward Schrödinger's equation, a mathematical description of the wave function (the state of an isolated quantum system).
To mark this occasion, the United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), which will "be observed through activities at all levels aimed at increasing public awareness of the importance of quantum science and applications". Today is also World Quantum Day - a global celebration of qubits, superposition and the technological implications of the branch of physics that emerged roughly one century ago.
It's no secret that quantum mechanics is a pretty mindbending subject, making the wider quantum computer sector a bit of a black box for the uninitiated.
To help cut through the complexity, we asked some of our friends and contacts in the quantum sphere to tell us which challenges they are most excited about solving with this fast-evolving technology. Here's what they told us...
"Uniting the ecosystem around an open-architecture approach."
Mandy Birch, Founder & CEO of TreQ
"Quantum could be the most powerful technology the world has ever known. It’s referred to as a dual-use technology when actually it’s triple-use: economic prosperity, security, and human discovery. Discovery fuels breakthroughs in science, medicine, materials, and more, unlocking knowledge that will help industries, institutions, and individuals thrive.
"One benefit of quantum for society is accelerated development of drugs to defeat disease. Quantum can help model pharmaceuticals, allowing for millions of simulations before wet chemistry analysis. This new computing capability could also accelerate research on smaller clinical data sets, ensuring that benefits reach populations historically underrepresented in medical studies.
"To fully realize these benefits of quantum computing, and many more, we must learn lessons from big data and AI to ensure quantum’s potential benefits reach beyond just technology giants or a select few.
"To achieve this objective, open-architecture development expands participation, broadens quantum’s benefits, and is essential to fully harness today's flourishing quantum ecosystem. Until recently, quantum companies had to build everything in-house, but now, with 513 pure-play quantum companies and a growing supply chain, we can integrate the best technologies and accelerate innovation.
"Open architecture broadens participation, reduces risk, and ensures capital efficiency by minimizing redundant investments for upgrades and extensions as technology evolves.
"On-premise delivery is also important. While cloud access to quantum computing has expanded rapidly to engage a broad base of end users, algorithmic access represents only the endpoint of technology development. Delivering quantum systems on-premise enables hands-on exploration and deeper understanding. Broad engagement throughout the full quantum stack - not just the surface layers - ensures we build quantum solutions that truly benefit society, avoiding pitfalls we've encountered with social media, AI, and big data.
"The International Year of Quantum is the perfect opportunity to unite the quantum ecosystem around an open-architecture approach. With quantum infrastructure built on open-architecture principles, governments, institutions, and enterprises can address the challenges hindering broad workforce engagement to ensure quantum's transformative benefits reach all who stand to gain from this pioneering work."
Quantum-enhanced security for telcos and financial services
Wenmia Yu, Director of Business Development and Co-founder, Quantum Dice:
"The biggest challenge quantum technology must solve is bridging the gap between theoretical potential and practical, widespread implementation across critical sectors. In 2025, we have an opportunity to accelerate deployment of quantum technologies, like quantum-backed cybersecurity protocols, that will transform how we protect the masses of sensitive data generated in our digital world.
"This year will be crucial in encouraging cross-sector collaboration to integrate quantum solutions for critical infrastructure like financial services and telcos. By increasing awareness with an initiative like the IYQ, we can bring together experts and end-users and create quantum-enhanced cybersecurity protocols that protect critical infrastructure from ever-present cyber threats."
READ MORE: Commercialising the "second quantum revolution"
Post-quantum cryptography
Greg Wetmore, Vice President Product Development at Entrust
"Quantum technology is a double-edged sword because it offers the promise of advancement in many areas, but it also represents a pressing cybersecurity threat. A scaled quantum computer will undoubtedly drive innovation, however, we also know it will be able to break all the traditional public key encryption methods that protect our sensitive information.
"The quantum security threat is particularly challenging because unlike previous technological advancements and threats we can only guess at when a scaled quantum computing will arrive. When it does, and if we are unprepared for it, there will be an immediate and overpowering vulnerability for all sensitive information. Even the much feared ‘Y2K’ had a fixed deadline. ‘Y2Q’, on the other hand, will arrive one day with no forewarning and change everything.
"Thankfully, it is possible to prepare for the threat of quantum technology today, via post-quantum cryptography. In fact, 2025 is a crucial year for ‘post-quantum’ preparedness because organisations are starting to put quantum-safe infrastructure in place, and regulatory bodies are beginning to address the importance of ‘post-quantum cryptography’.
"Establishing post-quantum provisions is not just important to safeguarding against an early arrival of quantum technology, but it also protects organisations against a particularly malicious threat: ‘harvest now, decrypt later’. This is where bad actors will steal encrypted information today in order to decrypt it when quantum computers are available, meaning some organisations could well have suffered a significant cyber breach, and they don’t even know it yet. Implementing quantum-safe standards and infrastructure is the key to preventing this.”
READ MORE: When will quantum computing have its "ChatGPT moment"?
Quantum sensing and transforming critical infrastructure
Andrei Dragomir, CEO and Co-founder, Aquark Technologies
"One of the biggest challenges quantum technology can solve is securing critical global infrastructure—from replacing vulnerable GNSS, to improving communications and securing our most sensitive data. Unlike some of the exciting applications for quantum computing which have greater scalability requirements than we can meet at this moment in time, improving global infrastructure with quantum solutions is already underway and this is set to grow exponentially in the short-term.
"We're already seeing quantum-sensing based solutions being deployed by large-scale corporations. The International Year of Quantum will be transformative for moving our shared mission forward. It will drive collaborations across the quantum ecosystem around the world, increasing recognition and accelerating progress as we move from lab demonstrations to field-deployable systems. Quantum sensing and communications are practical solutions we can implement now for the benefit of all."
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