Dr. Vibhu Sharma, shaping next generation technologies in the broader areas of automation, cybersecurity, energy efficiency and healthtech.
The Economist projects that the overall gains to global GDP from quantum technologies could reach upwards of $21.2 trillion by 2035, impacting industries as diverse as financial services, chemical products and construction. To understand its potential, consider these examples of how quantum breakthroughs will impact various sectors:
1. Quantum computing can unlock solutions for energy grid optimization that are impossible with today’s computing power.
2. Quantum entanglement for communication can facilitate ultra-low latency and highly reliable data transmission through information teleportation.
3. Diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers offer ultra-sensitive magnetic detection at atomic levels, which can advance biomarker identification and patient outcomes.
4. The unique properties of quantum materials can enable lossless power flow and solve some crucial challenges of energy transmission.
Because of its potential, quantum technology offers massive economic value for early adopters. However, achieving business value from quantum tech will be complex. Companies will need a strong quantum business strategy, which requires a mix of visionary and resilient leadership.
Understanding The ROI And Risk Of Quantum
Understanding the ROI of quantum technologies requires careful consideration of various factors, and many of these considerations are no different from past generations of technological innovation.
For instance, how much will the new technology improve the overall value of existing products? How fast will customers adopt these new products? Will the new product hurt the sales of existing products? While answering these questions is crucial, it's important not to let them derail investigating quantum technologies fully. Questions like these have led companies to miss out on harnessing the business potential of key radical innovations for generations, and quantum will be no different.
Supply chain dynamics will also be essential to understand, such as managing existing technology suppliers, the impact on cost structures and the resiliency improvement required for the shift to a newer value network.
Adopting quantum technology will also affect many parts of the organization internally: product design, manufacturing, marketing and sales. To make the most of this technology, organizations will need to adjust how these functions work and also clearly communicate the value the new technology offers to their customers.
Changes to the workflow, organizational structure and practices are almost always resisted at first, and focusing on the competitive advantage alone may not be sufficient to overcome the adoption resistance inertia. That's why it's essential to hire change management champions and invest in training.
Simultaneously, companies will have to manage the risk of early adoption. This requires balancing capturing the business value of improved products against high levels of uncertainty and costs associated with the quantum technology-enabled products and services.
In the medical imaging space, for instance, launching a new imaging modality product is an arduous and long effort involving complex regulatory, improved patient outcome and insurance approval efforts. Launching an early biomarker-detection product based on quantum sensing must go through a series of successful medical trials. This will require buy-in from the users (radiologists) who are different from the end beneficiaries (patients).
Building A Quantum Business Strategy
To deliver business value, a scalable product architecture and a resilient supply chain, business leaders must build their quantum strategy based on three pillars:
1. Technology Awareness: Stay informed about advancements in quantum technologies by tracking key milestones and emerging capabilities.
2. Business Architecture: Evaluate how quantum technologies could reshape your current business models by simulating potential use cases and market scenarios.
3. Change Management: Empower leaders who can guide the organization through the transitional challenges.
To achieve these outcomes, start by creating dedicated teams that own the quantum transition. Their work should focus on clear value propositions, starting with small-scale pilot projects suitable for early adoption. Building a lean, capable core team can enable fast experimentation while allowing your organization to learn quickly from failures and prepare for a gradual and sustainable scale-up of successful prototypes.
To guide this team, companies should identify early-use cases that are both practical to adopt now and capable of supporting long-term, scalable growth.
Selecting quantum devices based on technology properties—for instance, higher fidelity and stability—or ancillary systems—cryogenics and control electronics—is not enough. Companies must also consider whether these devices can be manufactured at scale and whether critical raw materials like helium, molybdenum and ytterbium are readily available.
One promising example of a scalable quantum building block is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. NV centers combine atom-like quantum behavior (such as long-lived spin states and stable optical transitions) with the advantages of a solid-state platform, allowing for fast electrical and magnetic control using on-chip infrastructure.
Prioritizing such versatile technologies like this one can create network effects and technology reuse benefits. This approach also helps in reaching the market quickly by fostering collaboration and shared infrastructure across multiple quantum use cases.
Conclusion
Fully capturing the value of quantum technologies means more than owning and developing the quantum technology assets.
To become an early adopter and to take advantage of this massive opportunity, companies must also develop a deep business understanding of the applications that can benefit from quantum technologies. Most importantly, they must have the resiliency to build processes that support adoption and strategically position themselves for the coming wave of innovation.
