Thank you very much.
Good afternoon. My name is Norbert Lütkenhaus. I'm the executive director of the Institute for Quantum Computing.
I have been working in the field of quantum information since 1993. More specifically, I work in the field of quantum cryptography.
First, let me say a few words about what quantum information is. Alexandre Blais already gave something of the introduction. Of course, the main ingredient is quantum physics, which talks about how the world works on a microscopic scale. Actually, we had the first quantum revolution by understanding these rules and that gave us devices like lasers and transistors, which of course led to computers and so on. These technologies are actually driving today's high-tech industry and you of course know them from your everyday life.
The second quantum revolution is now merging quantum physics with computer science and information theory. The difference is that now we ask questions about whole systems and not just devices.
What are these questions? They are, for example, about how to compute the answer for a mathematical question. It might sometimes sound very abstract, like how can we factor large numbers? We actually found that we have to change our view of what is a hard problem and what is an easy problem. We know some problems that quantum computers can solve efficiently that conventional computers cannot.
Another example for quantum information is actually that we ask questions like, how can we securely communicate over a channel so that an eavesdropper cannot listen to our communications? How can we actually secure our privacy over here? Here again, quantum information gives us the tools at hand to protect this privacy.
This second quantum revolution is asking for systems. The knowledge about these systems and the knowledge of how to build them is what will drive tomorrow's high-tech industry.
Now it is important for me to say something about the time scale. In the end, quantum information is a long-term game, but it has short- and medium-term benefits and even benefits today.
Why is it a long-term game? First, we know quantum computers solve particular tasks like breaking codes or simulating quantum systems. They are really good at that one.
What else can they do? That is really a question for basic research. We really have to find these applications where a quantum computer can help. Any problems that are computationally intensive for conventional computers, maybe because you run out of computational power, is of course fair game to us. We need fundamental research. We need to understand what the advantage would be.
The second thing is, of course, the need to build quantum computers that actually scale up and that we can build into large computers. This is a hard problem, but as Dr. Blais already said, we are making progress. This is therefore a long-term game.
We have made advances as well in the medium term. As we make progress toward building scalable universal quantum computers that can solve all these wonderful things, we are finding out two things. One is that the hardware that they're building is getting better and coming toward the universal quantum computer.
At the same time, as we investigate which problems can be solved by a quantum computer, we realize there are more problems that need smaller quantum computers to actually work and have a crossover. The interesting question is, where does this crossover happen and what will the problems be? That is a field where academia and industry are working today because there will be an extremely high payoff when they find the first crossover problems.
In the short term, quantum communication is actually ready for action. These are things we can build and develop. The quantum-secured communication and the QEYSSat mission by the CSA, which is led out of IQC, are examples of this near-term development.
Now with other things, we have even shorter time scales. These are things that we can do today. That is something to do with the difficulty of building quantum computers. Quantum computers are difficult because just environmental noise can disturb them easily, so we really need to learn how to harness and control it. The interesting thing is if we have a device that is very susceptible to the environment, we then take it, turn it around and use this device as a sensor to measure small variations in electrical gravitation fields. That is the field of quantum sensors, which is something that we already see happening today.
If you think about the benefits for Canada of working in that field, of course it's important for the quantum industry. We know of course that the quantum industry is involved not only in the short term, but also already in the medium- and long-term activity today. It's very important to realize that one. There is a forecast from the Doyletech study that predicts an $8.2-billion year-end turnover and 18,000 highly skilled jobs by 2030.
If you think about that, it means that we need to build the workforce. IQC has been doing that for more than 20 years on all kinds of levels. At the moment, for example, we're training 200 graduate students who are working at Waterloo at the moment, and our graduates are easily taken up by the emerging quantum industry. Our colleagues in Sherbrooke and Calgary are building up these programs as well, so this will be something we do jointly.
The second point is very important. We need to maintain this research continuum. Lots of our focus is based on basic research, and we have this funnel of work built on that. It is really important. Although we look at the short term, for things like quantum centres, they come because we have the bigger effort. Always remember, if you like cherries, you need to plant a cherry tree. You can't grow the cherries directly. There is a whole system that you need.
The third part is asking how we structure it. Shared resources are very useful. In Waterloo, we have the Quantum-Nano Fabrication and Characterization Facility, which helps the incoming quantum industry to lower the initial investment threshold. It becomes a gain, it helps the academic research community and we have these networks and collaborations all over Canada to use it.
Together, the availability of talent, academic excellence and shared resources attract investment for the quantum industry. It may be local start-up companies—we have 14 spin-offs from IQC alone—or faculty interns, post-docs and students, as well as other companies coming from outside.
It will be a pleasure to elaborate more on those points when you have questions about them. I am available for meetings either online or one-to-one in person, once I'm in Ottawa.
Thank you very much.