There is huge promise in quantum technology, especially in the
chemical and materials corner. New medicines, for example, or
more efficient solar panels could be developed quickly through this
technology. So said Dutch tech expert Deborah Nas this week in the
Dutch podcast Doorzetters by Ruud Hendriks and Richard Bross.
Hendriks and Bross' weekly podcast always focuses on one guest who
has something to say about entrepreneurship in the world of tech, crypto,
startups and scale-ups. This time it was Deborah Nas. She is an
innovation expert, technology trend watcher, author and professor at TU
Delft.
The Delft university is at the forefront of quantum technology. Within
QuTech, TU Delft and TNO work together on quantum computers and
quantum computing. At Delft, Deborah is one of the triggers of the
Quantum Vision Team.
"One of the promises of quantum is that we can develop medicines very
cost-efficiently and quickly. You can do designs at a molecular level,
instead of trying new things by trial and error in a petri dish. Other
examples are more efficient solar panels or catalysts for binding CO2.
We need the latter to become CO2 neutral. So in the chemical and
materials corner there is a huge promise of quantum", said Deborah.
She did point out that everything is ‘still theoretical’. "There are weak
quantum computers now, which are sensitive to noise. The strong
quantum computers we envisage are not there yet. It is therefore still
very theoretical what might soon be possible. Teams are now working
very hard to make those quantum computers and networks stable and
scalable."
According to Deborah, we in the Netherlands are ‘very good’ in terms of
quantum knowledge, both in computers and networks. "The government
has seen that too. It has released 615 million euros from the Growth
Fund to make Quantum Delta NL possible. There are a lot of very good
scientists in that programme. They are working hard to take the
technology to the next level. I'm in the piece called 'Quantum and
Society' where we think about the ethical, legal and social effects of
quantum. What does quantum mean when we have that soon", Deborah
said.
This podcast can also be found on YouTube.
This podcast of Doorzetters can be found here.
