A state-of-the-art quantum computing centre opened by the Government will tackle climate change, supercharge artificial intelligence, discover new drugs – and could even help make NHS rotas.
The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) in Oxfordshire opened last week and will house 12 different quantum computers.
Quantum computers are able to work on several problems at the same time and can complete tasks in minutes which would take conventional machines several days.
Ministers hope the NQCC will spearhead quantum research in the UK and allow the technology to begin to be applied outside of a laboratory and in the real world.
Around £1 billion of taxpayers’ money has been invested in quantum technologies in the last decade and it is seen as a key area for innovation and future economic growth by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
“The point about quantum computing is that it can do multiple things in parallel and is probably best when dealing with lots of different variables which change all the time,” Lord Vallance, the Science Minister, said at the opening of the NQCC in Harwell.
“There are some very sciency problems it can help with, such as how do you make a chemical that might interact with something in the body as a drug.
“On the other hand, there’s one example here today of the NHS asking if this approach could look at the very complicated interacting rotas with lots of moving parts to optimise the system.”
He added that ensuring the UK keeps pace with quantum is important for national security as well as from a scientific and technological perspective.
Quantum computers have long been touted as the key to creating an unhackable internet with encryption that is impossible to break.
But quantum computers also promise to be able to decode any cipher or encryption, making anyone without quantum capabilities vulnerable to foreign espionage.
“Advances in technology are geopolitically important, and it is a competition,” Lord Vallance said.
“Quantum is one of those areas that is important for national security and resilience, and therefore we need to be really good at it to stay competitive in what is a competitive world with growing capability in these areas in a variety of non-democratic countries that don’t share our values.”
Lord Vallance added that quantum could be “really foundationally important” in a similar way to the current AI revolution, but warned we are still “at the foothills” of the process.
“I don’t think anyone can predict how big this is going to be, but you can definitely dream as to how big it could be,” he said.
“And given the types of things it does, these massive in-parallel computational challenges with many variables, this could be really, really foundationally important.
“It’s not going to be the same as AI in the sense every single person is going to be looking at it every day, but you can see how it could be quite foundational for several industries.
“What’s going on here is going to impact several sectors and it’s not just that this is a theoretically interesting thing to do.
“This will create jobs and businesses and will impact lives. For example, the ability to distribute energy more effectively will ultimately lead to changes in the price you pay for this. So this is important for society.”