Quantum computing has the potential to drive massive positive change.
But once quantum computers reach hundreds or thousands of qubits, organizations will need more robust programming tools. And quantum computers are already partially there.
In 2021 and 2022, IBM launched the 127-qubit Eagle processor and the 433-qubit Osprey quantum processor. This year, its 1,000+-qubit Condor processor is expected to take flight.
If universities don’t train students on how to use new modern quantum software platforms, those individuals are not going to have the skills to use the quantum hardware that exists.
Here is how to best equip university students for the quantum computing environments of today and tomorrow and better position people and organizations to address global challenges.
Provide university students with hands-on experience
Universities teaching quantum courses need to provide their students with opportunities to have hands-on experience with the kinds of tools that they would use in industry. That’s why my company provides software for free to university programs. And it’s why we collaborated with MIT to teach an interdisciplinary course on quantum computing at MIT.
The MIT course began with a lecture on the history of and math and physics behind quantum computing. Then we started programming using assembly-level language. We then presented some of the applications and industries to which quantum computing can be applied. The students then had the opportunity to learn about and use design automation platforms.
Familiarity with assembly languages is foundational. But to prepare the future workforce to program the quantum hardware of today and tomorrow, students must learn how to employ modern quantum software platforms that use higher-level languages such as C++ and Python. Using such platforms is the only way organizations can automate and scale quantum computing efforts. Without them, businesses will be stuck doing small-scale, low-level programming.
Teach students what quantum computing can and cannot do
There are many ways to apply and benefit from quantum computing. But quantum computing can’t do everything. People will never make Zoom calls over quantum computers. Academic institutions need to teach students what quantum computing can and cannot do.
Rarely will quantum computing be the sole answer to any global challenge. But quantum computing could be the tool that unlocks a lot of possibilities and enables far more growth.
Quantum computing could help unlock the next generation of electric vehicle batteries. It could allow firms to find cheaper and more transferable ways to develop drugs so that the global community has better access to antibiotics and vaccines. It could lead to the discovery of cheaper and more readily available resources and higher strength ratio materials. Quantum computing could facilitate better weather forecasting, which involves a tremendous amount of computing resources. That increased accuracy in weather forecasting could save lives.
Invite the future workforce participants to get creative
The private and public sectors are going to need brilliant, imaginative people to use the bones of quantum computing and software to build tremendously valuable new applications. Quantum software development competitions can help to foster some of that imagination.
Such competitions have been widespread in classical computing. In recent years, the quantum computing arena has seen a growing number of companies launch competitions as well.
IBM, Microsoft and other companies have staged their own branded quantum challenge events. Deloitte’s quantum climate challenge for 2023 concludes in April. Companies like Airbus and BMW, which are exploring and investing in quantum computing to drive their businesses forward, have launched quantum challenges.
Get people from technical and business disciplines involved in quantum computing
Quantum computing has tremendous potential to solve many of our global challenges. So, we need students to learn quantum skills and get interested in using them to solve problems.
Initially, quantum computing will follow the same steps classical computing took. At the onset, technical people will do the programming. But as technology evolves, we’ll get to a place in which even non-technical people can contribute to application creation and improvement.
Think about it. Who could have imagined all the technologies that got applied when computing first came about? I never imagined the number of jobs and technologies that have emerged.
For example, AI was not something people imagined when computing first came onto the scene. It may have been a sci-fi concept, but few people ever thought AI would be practical.
But today we are living in the age of sci-fi, where once far-out ideas are becoming reality.
