The first commercial quantum computer is still thought to be a decade away (representative)
Geneva:
Scientists will work to harness the huge emerging power of quantum computers for the public good, the founder of a new institute launched in Geneva on Tuesday said.
The Open Quantum Institute calls on researchers around the world to identify the most promising future applications for rapidly emerging technologies and ensure they are open and accessible to all.
“Quantum computing has the potential to change almost everything,” said Peter Brabeck-Latmathe, president of GESDA, the science and diplomacy platform that conceived the project.
Future technology is expected to be “1,000 to 10,000 times more powerful than the computing power we have today”, he told AFP, insisting it was crucial to start thinking seriously about how to manage it and ensure it was used for good.
At a ceremony on Tuesday evening at CERN’s European scientific laboratory, where the institute will be located during its three-year pilot, experts summarized discussions after a day-long workshop focusing on various visions of the role the institute would play.
‘The risk is huge’
Ozge Aydogan of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Laboratory told the meeting that it was important to reflect on the “dual nature of technology.”
“It can be an asset for the future, but it can also bring huge risks.”
Meanwhile, Fabiola Gianotti, head of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), said the landmark nuclear research laboratory was the ideal location for the center, which would benefit from Its long-term experience of “utilizing scientific and technological progress to benefit society”.
Quantum computing combines advances in scientific understanding of the subatomic world with leaps in information theory to solve mathematical problems that today’s conventional computers cannot solve.
While conventional computers process information in bits that can be represented as 0 or 1, quantum computers use qubits, which can be a combination of both, allowing them to solve more complex problems.
The first commercial quantum computers are believed to be up to a decade away, and the technology is not expected to be fully developed until around 2050.
Brabec Ratmat, the former long-time head of Swiss food giant Nestlé, said it was important to ensure such powerful technology was managed in an open and transparent manner and was not allowed to be controlled by a handful of tech giants.
Because quantum computing is still in the development stage, “we have time to think about the implications of these new technologies…the ethical considerations.”
The institute will seek applications of the technology to bring the world closer to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
For example, quantum computing simulations and calculations may help determine how to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to help control climate change.
It can also predict patterns of antibiotic resistance and identify new, more effective compounds to fight deadly bacteria.
To speed up the search for the best applications for the technology, GESDA, in partnership with Google and nonprofit tech organization XPrize, launched a competition on Tuesday calling on researchers everywhere to submit proposals.
The three-year competition will reward the team that submits the best project with an eventual $5 million prize.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
