Recent breakthroughs are demonstrating how quantum computing is beginning to deliver value beyond the laboratory.
In finance, IBM has worked with organizations such as Vanguard and Lloyds Banking Group to explore quantum applications in portfolio optimization and financial crime detection. In life sciences, researchers from IBM, RIKEN, a national research laboratory in Japan, and Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center in the US, recently used quantum-centric supercomputing to simulate protein complexes containing more than 12,000 atoms — the largest biologically meaningful molecular simulations performed with quantum hardware to date. While these examples come from very different domains, they point to the same trend: quantum computing is no longer a futuristic technology confined to research laboratories. It is beginning to be applied toward solving real-world industry challenges.
Even so, many organizations still view quantum computing as something far off in the future. Some believe it will have little impact on their business today, while others assume widespread adoption remains many years away. Yet history shows that transformative technologies do not arrive overnight. They evolve steadily over time, often while being dismissed as future technologies, until one day they become a fundamental part of how industries operate.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a prime example of this. Just a few years ago, relatively few companies treated generative AI as a core management and business strategy priority. Today, AI has become an essential factor in determining business competitiveness. The gap between organizations that prepared early and those that did not widened far more quickly than many expected.
Quantum computing is following a similar trajectory. While we have not yet reached the point where every enterprise is directly using quantum computers, neither are we at a stage where organizations can simply afford to wait. Leading global companies are currently focusing on the capabilities required for the quantum era, both in terms of what problems a quantum computer can be applied to and the skills needed by industry experts. Rather than reacting once the technology becomes mainstream, they see greater value in strengthening organizational readiness before the transformation fully arrives.
Quantum computing, in particular, introduces a fundamentally different approach on information representation. This opens the possibility to develop novel algorithms that provide innovative ways of solving problems. As a result, future competitiveness will not necessarily come from acquiring the hardware — more important are the people and organizational capabilities needed to understand which challenges can benefit from quantum technology, identify new business opportunities, and translate those opportunities into real innovation.
Around the world, companies are already moving more proactively than ever before — not because quantum computers will transform every industry tomorrow, but because they recognize that its potential is moving closer to reality. Rather than waiting for quantum computers to solve their problems, and then trying to catch up, they are investing in the people and organizations that will know how to use quantum computers to solve their industry’s complex problems — and therefore enable them to succeed.
I want to encourage more businesses in Cyprus to take this proactive approach and explore how they can benefit from quantum computing. The country has an unprecedented opportunity to develop new applications of quantum technologies and be part of a quantum valley that will create immense value, ultimately bringing forth a true revolution in computing. A testament to this is IBM’s recent demonstration of quantum advantage for three distinct use cases – meaning a quantum computer was able to perform computations beyond what classical computing can achieve alone — with rigorously validated results.
With quantum computing being a technology where preparation itself becomes a competitive advantage, by the time the technology reaches maturity, the gap created by talent, expertise, and experience may prove more significant than differences in infrastructure. Just as with AI, organizations that start building expertise early enough are likely to end up in a much stronger position.
The momentum generated by the three examples of quantum advantage is expected to accelerate further in the years ahead. IBM is also working toward the realization of the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029 — which could further accelerate time and cost efficiencies in a number of fields, such as drug development, materials discovery, chemistry, and optimization. The important point is not the year itself — what matters is that quantum computing is no longer a discussion reserved for the distant future. It has become a practical topic that organizations should be considering as part of their medium- and long-term business strategies.
Just as the internet, cloud computing, and AI transformed the world, quantum computing has the potential to become the foundation of a new wave of industry innovation. Predicting the future of technology with complete accuracy is impossible, but one thing remains certain: the future rewards those who prepare for it. The time for asking whether the quantum era will arrive has already passed. The more important question today is rather: how prepared are you?
*By Alessandro Curioni, Vice President, Algorithms and Applications, IBM Research and Director of the Zurich Research Laboratory
