‘Quantum’ Versus ‘Quantum Inspired’

(Information-Age) Chris Lloyd-Jones, who leads Avanade‘s emerging technology engineering team, discusses and differentiates between ‘quantum’ and ‘quantum inspired’ in this interview. Lloyd-Jones’ team focuses on technologies that are five to ten years out and are will soon become viable. He believes that many people and organisations brand what they produce as a quantum computer but that there is a difference between a machine that just uses quantum effect and a real quantum computer.
However, the machine that produces a “quantum effect” can be more effective than classical computers. Lloyd-Jones explained, “You can feed in molecules into a quantum-inspired computer. We’re taking some of the learnings from quantum and applying it to other algorithms and ways of working. For example, Avanade have been working with a pharmaceutical company to help them compare molecules. Previously, when you’re looking to discover a new drug, it can take up to 10 years: you have to go through a long series of human trials and you weren’t necessarily aware of what the molecule did. Now we can more quickly target the molecules pharmas should be looking at by identifying the ones that will have a negative effect.”