In January of last year, a few co-authors and I published the paper Assessing the Benefits and Risks of Quantum Computers. This multi-institution paper sought to bridge the gaps between technical results in quantum computing, policy makers looking to get a handle on the implications of this technology for economic and national security impact, and those cybersecurity professionals grappling with the need to prepare for a post-quantum future. In the paper, we take “economically-impactful quantum computing” to mean quantum computers whose capabilities enable advances in commerce and private industry, and “cryptographically-relevant quantum computing” to mean those whose capabilities enable the breaking of currently-used cryptography.
As a quick review, the paper identified four key levers that were accelerating the development of economically-impactful quantum computing:
1. the creation of new kinds of quantum algorithms,
2. the rise of error mitigation techniques which enable noisy quantum computers to emulate less-noisy ones,
3. the development of problem partitioning methods that allowed quantum computers to tackle more complex problems, and
4. the exploration of commercially-relevant use cases by the private sector.
