Opportunities in Quantum Computing

By Vishruth Bharath

Quantum computing is a rarely talked about topic in an everyday setting. It’s commonly regarded as a reserved topic to researchers, professors, or engineers, but many don’t realize how many quantum applications affect their daily lives. From smartphones to laptops, some part of the quantum field is integrated into almost every new electronic device that is available to the consumer market. Even though many of these applications are relatively smart, we do have something to look forward to in the upcoming years. We could potentially expect to see quantum computing in a wide variety of business sectors, ultimately into all aspects of the average consumer’s life.

According to a study done by Prescient and Strategic Market Research, the quantum computing industry is expected to grow to a multi-million, possibly even billions, dollar industry by the year 2030. By that time, sectors like healthcare or finance and quantum computing industries could already be on track to achieve large-scale consumer impact. Nothing is for sure, of course, but what is interesting here is the substantial number of methods that quantum computing could affect not only businesses but the average person. For instance, quantum computers could efficiently sort through vast amounts of healthcare data, which is currently growing at an annual 36%. This data could come from clinical trials, disease registries, medical devices, or electronic health records. Healthcare facilities could use these data points to optimize wait times, pricing, assistance, and treatments for patients with quantum computers’ help.

Aside from healthcare, quantum powered applications in the finance industry can help optimize investment portfolios, perform credit scoring, and evaluate risk. In addition to finance, another field that would be affected by quantum computing significantly would be computer science and engineering. Take machine learning; for example, quantum computing has the power to process advanced and taxing algorithms. Quantum computers would take a standard machine learning algorithm and transform it into a quantum circuit, maximizing efficiency.

There are numerous other use-cases for this rising technology, but the time is yet to come until quantum computing can be used to its full potential. We don’t know what the future holds for quantum computing and when it will achieve a broad impact, but we can be sure that whatever it is, it will indeed affect all people and businesses significantly.