Call for Pakistan to Make Quantum Computing a National Priority

(TheNews.Pakistan) In Pakistan, there is a dire need to create a critical mass of experts in quantum computing and we need to make it a national priority. The US, EU and China are investing heavily in R&D on quantum computing in a race to achieve Quantum Supremacy, which is termed as the world’s most important technological race due to its implications on economy and military technology. One major reason is the computational capability which will eclipse the computational capabilities of existing systems by a significant margin – as per an estimate, the first true quantum computer can have a computational power which is a million times more than all the existing computers combined.
Centers of excellence in areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics etc have already been established. Unfortunately, they are not driven by a single national agenda. It is imperative that a similar center of excellence is established on quantum computing. To make it effective, it needs to form strong collaborative linkages internationally and locally with the rest of the centers of excellence.
The era of quantum computing could propel scientific and technological advancement to a whole new level with a myriad of exciting possibilities never thought of before. At a strategic level, achieving quantum supremacy will enable us to better secure our cyber assets which could otherwise be left vulnerable if our known persistent adversaries achieve it before us.
The author of this article is Dr. Sahibzada Ali Mahmud, who has diverse experience of more than 15 years in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT). He has worked on various projects in the domain of Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Grids and Artificial Intelligence (machine learning and deep learning).