Opinion: Call for India to Ramp Up Effort in Quantum Computing or Lose Technological Independence
Opinion | Prepare for a world of quantum haves and have-nots
Selected notes ~
+ Buried within the 13,000-odd words of the Union Budget speech on Saturday was a paragraph that set aside ₹8,000 crore over five years for the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications. Most commentators seem to have either missed or overlooked this budgetary allocation, but in terms of significance, the implications are well worth considering.
We still have a long way to go before quantum computing becomes commercially viable, but there is reason for urgency. As soon as quantum computing becomes commercially viable, much of what we take for granted today will become irrelevant.
+ Though the allocation in this year’s budget [India’s budget] is clearly part of a long-term national strategy, I cannot help wonder whether it is, at least in some small measure, a response to Google’s recent announcement that it had achieved “quantum supremacy”—the ability to perform a calculation on a quantum computer that is impossible on a conventional computer. And the fear that we might, once again, be falling behind.
+ In the war for quantum supremacy, it is those who can understand and use the fundamental technologies behind quantum computing who will emerge dominant. In the not-so-distant future, the world will be divided into the quantum haves and have-nots. It is imperative that India makes every effort to stay in the game if it is to have any hope of remaining relevant. If we are to retain any measure of technological independence, we will need to ramp up our research in quantum computing and actively invest in the development of indigenous quantum computational capabilities.
Source: liveMINT. Rhaul Matthan, Opinion | Prepare for a world of quantum haves and have-nots…
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