Recap: The First Two Quantum Reality Check Webinars

Two sessions, two speakers, one common thread: quantum technology stopped being science fiction some time ago, but the useful parts are not the parts most people are watching.

Here is what came out of both.

Webinar 1, 8 May. Johannes Kofler on the three fields

Johannes Kofler of JKU Linz opened the series with the map. Quantum technology splits into three application areas for companies, and they are at completely different levels of maturity.

Quantum communication and cryptography is the one that is already in production. Quantum key distribution runs in pilot deployments at Erste Group, at A1 and in the Austrian parliament. If you hold data that has to stay confidential for a long time, this is the area that needs a decision now, not later. Harvest now, decrypt later is a live problem, and the EU migration roadmap runs to 2030.

Quantum computing is a marathon. The community expects economically relevant quantum advantage in simulation, materials science and quantum chemistry in roughly five to ten years. That is not a reason to ignore it. It is a realistic window in which to position yourself.

Quantum sensing is in development and partly deployed already. It matters wherever measurement precision carries the business model.

The thread through the session: quantum needs lead time. If you want to be ready when your own use case becomes relevant, the work starts before the use case arrives.

Kofler's recommended next step was refreshingly unglamorous. Talk about it with as many people inside your company as you can, find the one who is intrinsically interested, and give that person the job of working out where quantum could matter for your business. A short internal talk or a small workshop is usually enough to start it moving.

Webinar 2, 19 June. Natalie Kilber on the advantage available now

Natalie Kilber, CEO and co-founder of Haste GmbH, made the argument that reframed the series for a lot of people watching.

The biggest quantum advantage of this decade does not need a quantum computer.

Quantum-inspired algorithms, meaning computational methods that borrow the logic of quantum physics, run on ordinary hardware today. Applied to optimisation problems they produce documented efficiency gains of 10 to 30 percent.

Optimisation problems are more common than the term suggests: best routes, shift plans, production sequences, portfolio allocation. The sectors where this is immediately relevant are logistics, supply chain and manufacturing, with financial services close behind.

Kilber also made the point that AI and quantum are converging from both directions. AI is accelerating quantum development, and quantum-inspired methods are already improving AI models.

The advice for decision makers, which was not what people expected

The to-do list from the second session was deliberately unspectacular, and it is worth repeating because it contradicts what most companies instinctively do.

Do not hire quantum experts. Hire or develop translators, people who can connect the business side to the technical side. Quantum specialists without business context produce research, not projects.

Secure your own data as an asset. Whatever comes next computationally, the differentiator is proprietary data. That work pays off regardless of which technology wins.

Experiment in the cloud rather than buying hardware. Every major quantum platform is accessible as a service. Buying hardware at this stage is a way of spending a lot of money to learn things you could learn for very little.

Build a culture that runs experiments. The organisations that will move fastest when the technology matures are the ones already comfortable testing things that might not work.

Where this goes next

The third webinar covers quantum sensing on 2 October, online and open to everyone.

The Innsbruck roundtable on 12 October takes the quantum computing and AI thread from webinar two into a closed peer session, where corporates that have already run problems on quantum hardware share what they measured and what it cost.

And the Quantum Ideation Days on 25 and 26 November are where a question becomes a project.

The Quantum Reality Check is run by weXelerate together with the FFG, and participation is free of charge.

Slides and recordings from both sessions are available to registered participants. Full programme at quantum.wexelerate.com, or write to ecosystem@wexelerate.com.