Oxford’s Srivastava Discussed the UK’s Quantum Technology Efforts Before House of Commons

(PhysicsWorld) Rupesh Srivastava recently told around 65 invited attendees at a Quantum Technologies briefing at the UK’s House of Commons, “In the next 5-10 years a quantum computer will do a calculation that a supercomputer can’t do.” Rupesh is a Technology Associate at Oxford University’s Clarendon Laboratory working for Networked Quantum Information Technologies (NQIT) Srivistava is well placed for an educated guess as to what industries should care about quantum tech.
There are a multitude of fields where there is at least an outside chance that quantum calculations could be useful, from optimizing personal medicine to organizing complex production lines in manufacturing. However, in all these proposed areas there is a lot of work to do to make a commercial success of the technology’s potential.
According to Srivastava the UK already counts among the world leaders in quantum technology, although the challenge remains to maintain this position. The UK has four cross-institution quantum hubs in imaging, sensing, communication and computation, and Oxford University leads the quantum computation hub.
There was a lot of hope voiced at the briefing that Oxfordshire could establish itself as a “Quantum Valley” analogous to Silicon Valley in the US, but how the area’s potential ultimately unfolds remains to be seen.