by Sharon Florentine Sep 20, 2020

IBM and HP each have announced expanded partnerships withHistorically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to drive a more diverse and inclusive tech workforce.

The IBM Quantum education and research initiative is led by Howard University (pictured above) and includes 12 additional HBCUs. The initiative will offer access to IBMs quantum computers and enable collaboration with academic, education and community outreach programs, according to a statement from IBM.

IBM also will make a $100 million investment in technology, assets, resources and skills development by partnering with HCBUs through the IBM Skills Academy Academic Initiative, the company said in the statement.

Dario Gil, director of research, IBM

The IBM-HBCU Quantum Center is a multi-year investment designed to prepare and develop talent at HBCUs from all STEM disciplines for the quantum future, IBM said in the statement. It will focus on developing students through support and funding for research opportunities, curriculum development, workforce advocacy and special projects focusing on quantum computing, according to the statement.

Diversity is a source of competitive advantage, essential to create a thriving quantum industry, saidDario Gil, director of IBM Research. We could not be more excited about partnering with our HBCU colleagues to help educate and empower the first generation of quantum computing native students and researchers.

Lesley Slaton Brown, chief diversity officer, HP

Meanwhile, HP announced its latest HBCU Business Challenge, designed to engage Black students interested in pursuing careers in business and technology, according to a statement from HP.

Participants in HPs fourth annual HBCU Business Challenge will tackle critical business problems, gain real-world, on-the-job experience and identify potential career paths and job opportunities while expanding their professional networks, HP said in the statement.

In March 2020, HP piloted a new learning program in partnership with North Carolina A&T State University that provided HP MultiJet Fusion 3D printing equipment and a commitment to provide HBCU students with internships and apprenticeships to the universitys College of Engineering and College of Science and Technology, HP said in the statement. HP believes the pilot program will serve as a model for future similar programs with other HBCUs, according to the statement.

The HBCU Business Challenge is an integral part of our holistic partnership with the HBCUs and it embodies our commitment to provide talent with access, knowledge and opportunity. At HP, our long-term goal is to reinvent the standard for diversity, inclusion and belonging and this begins with paving the way for more Black talent to pursue careers in the tech industry, said Lesley Slaton Brown, chief diversity officer at HP.

ChannelE2E closely follows tech vendor and channel partner companies efforts to create a more equitable technology industry. You can find our coverage and news here.

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IBM, HP Partner with HBCUs to Drive Diversity and Inclusion - ChannelE2E

Newswise Physicists from Lancaster University have established why objects moving through superfluid helium-3 lack a speed limit in a continuation of earlier Lancaster research.

Helium-3 is a rare isotope of helium, in which one neutron is missing. It becomes superfluid at extremely low temperatures, enabling unusual properties such as a lack of friction for moving objects.

It was thought that the speed of objects moving through superfluid helium-3 was fundamentally limited to the critical Landau velocity, and that exceeding this speed limit would destroy the superfluid. Prior experiments in Lancaster have found that it is not a strict rule and objects can move at much greater speeds without destroying the fragile superfluid state.

Now scientists from Lancaster University have found the reason for the absence of the speed limit: exotic particles that stick to all surfaces in the superfluid.

The discovery may guide applications in quantum technology, even quantum computing, where multiple research groups already aim to make use of these unusual particles.

To shake the bound particles into sight, the researchers cooled superfluid helium-3 to within one ten thousandth of a degree from absolute zero (0.0001K or -273.15C). They then moved a wire through the superfluid at a high speed, and measured how much force was needed to move the wire. Apart from an extremely small force related to moving the bound particles around when the wire starts to move, the measured force was zero.

Lead author Dr Samuli Autti said: "Superfluid helium-3 feels like vacuum to a rod moving through it, although it is a relatively dense liquid. There is no resistance, none at all. I find this very intriguing."

PhD student Ash Jennings added: "By making the rod change its direction of motion we were able to conclude that the rod will be hidden from the superfluid by the bound particles covering it, even when its speed is very high." "The bound particles initially need to move around to achieve this, and that exerts a tiny force on the rod, but once this is done, the force just completely disappears", said Dr Dmitry Zmeev, who supervised the project.

###

The Lancaster researchers included Samuli Autti, Sean Ahlstrom, Richard Haley, Ash Jennings, George Pickett, Malcolm Poole, Roch Schanen, Viktor Tsepelin, Jakub Vonka, Tom Wilcox, Andrew Woods and Dmitry Zmeev. The results are published inNature Communications.

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Why there is no speed limit in the superfluid universe - Newswise

In less than two months, Americans will choose a president for the next four years. If your vote is based on which candidate can rebuild our economy, the choice is clear.

Our economy is roaring back from the depths of the pandemic, because President Trumps pro-growth economic agenda over the last four years laid the groundwork.

On Sept. 4, the Department of Labor announced that 1.4 million jobs were created since April. The national unemployment rate fell to 8.4%, a 6.3% improvement during that period. These results exceeded the expectations of economists and even the most bullish Wall Street analysts. Reflecting confidence in the economys recovery, the stock markets have traded at record highs since the nationwide economic closures that began in March.

Under Trump, the Republican Senate and then Republican-controlled House passed the most comprehensive tax cuts and tax reform legislation in a generation. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 reduced taxes for businesses from 35% to 21%. It also provided valuable incentives for manufacturers and small businesses including restaurants to hire more employees and allowed business owners to write off any investment in new equipment and tools for their businesses.

One of the presidents earliest directives was tomandatethat for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated. InTrumpianstyle,the presidents teamactuallyexceededhis own initialdirectiveand eliminated 22 regulations for every new regulation issued. According to the Council of Economic Advisers, Trump deregulation has reduced regulatory burden on our economy by nearly $50 billion and helped American families save at least$3,100 each year.

Since the pandemic struck, the presidents economic leadership has also been bold and decisive. For example the Pledge to Americas Workers and the White House Initiative on Industries of the Future are centered on jumpstarting high-tech job training and bolstering American dominance in transformational industries such as 5G wireless broadband, quantum computing and artificial intelligence. These are the sectors that will determine long-term American leadership of the global economy.

But as our nation continuesthe transition from pandemic tosustained economic recovery,the contrast between Trumpsoptimistic andpro-worker jobs agendaandformer vice president Joe Bidensembrace ofindefinitequarantine and economic closure is clear.During the Democratic presidential primary,Biden, who wastrailing inenthusiasmamongDemocraticactivists,raced to embrace theGreen New DealchampionedbyRep. AlexandriaOcasio-Cortezof New York.

Included in the Green New Deal is a fracking ban that would eliminate hundreds of thousands of energy, manufacturing and construction jobs in Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states. Biden wont even renounce the Green New Deals mandate to eliminate U.S. commercial airlines within a decade. This would further devastate already suffering high-skilled union jobs in the aviation, aerospace manufacturing and hospitality sectors. According to recent studies, the demise of American aviation alone would cost us 1.6 million jobs and a 1% decline in our gross domestic product.

At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words.Progressives and media naysayersscoffed at the Trump administrations vision for economic growthduring the darkest days of the pandemic. Despite the doomsday projections of sustained economic depression, Trumps economicplatformoftax cuts, deregulation and limited government have been rocket fuel for Americas coronavirusrecovery.

On the flip side, the former vice president would undermine our economy and put American workers back on the ropes.

Joseph Lai served as White House special assistant for legislative affairs from 2017 to 2019.

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U.S. continues on economic road to recovery under Trump - Boston Herald

Almost a month after the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy announced over $1 billion for the establishment of 12 new artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science (QIS) research institutes nationwide, IBM announced its first IBM Quantum education and research initiative for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

Led by Howard University and 12 additional HBCUs, the statement said the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center will offer access to its quantum computers, as well as collaboration on academic, education, and community outreach programs.

In addition, as part of the companys continued efforts around diversity and inclusion, IBM will make a $100M investment in technology, assets, resources, and skills development through partnerships with additional HBCUs through the IBM Skills Academy Academic Initiative.

We believe that in order to expand opportunity for diverse populations, we need a diverse talent pipeline of the next generation of tech leaders from HBCUs. Diversity and inclusion is what fuels innovation and students from HBCUs will be positioned to play a significant part of what will drive innovations for the future like quantum computing, cloud, and artificial intelligence, said Carla Grant Pickens, Chief Global Diversity & Inclusion Officer, IBM.

The $1 billion announced by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Department of Energy will go to National Science Foundation-led AI Research Institutes hosted by universities across the country, including at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, University of Texas, Austin, University of Colorado, Boulder, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of California, Davis, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The 13 HBCUs intending to participate in the Quantum Center were prioritized based on their research and education focus in physics, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and other STEM fields. They include;

Albany State University Clark Atlanta University Coppin State University Hampton University Howard University Morehouse College Morgan State University North Carolina Agricultural, and Technical State University Southern University Texas Southern University University of the Virgin Islands Virginia Union University Xavier University of Louisiana.

Howard University has prioritized our efforts to support our students pathway to STEM fields for many years with exciting results as we witness more and more graduates becoming researchers, scientists, and engineers with renowned national companies. Our faculty and students look forward to collaborating with our peer institutions through the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center. Were excited to share best practices and work together to prepare students to participate in a quantum-ready workforce, said President Wayne A. I. Frederick.

The HBCUs who are part of the Skills Academy Academic Initiative include Clark Atlanta University, Fayetteville State University, Grambling State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Johnson C. Smith University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, Southern University System, Stillman College, Virginia State, and West Virginia State University.

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OSTP, NSF, DoE, and IBM make major push to strengthen research in AI and quantum - BlackEngineer.com

Quantum Information Processing Markethas been riding a progressive growth trail over the recent past. The first two quarters of the year 2020 have however witnessed heavy disruptions throughout all the industry facets, which are ultimately posing an unprecedented impact onQuantum Information Processing market. Although healthcare & life sciences industry as a whole is witnessing an influx of opportunities in selected sectors, it remains a matter of fact that some of the industry sectors have temporarily scaled back. It becomes imperative to stay abreast of all the recent updates and predict the near future wisely.

The report primarily attempts to track the evolution of growth path of market from 2019, through 2020, and post the crisis. It also provides long-term market growth projections for a predefined period of assessment, 2020 2025. Based on detailed analysis of industrys key dynamics and segmental performance, the report offers an extensive assessment of demand, supply, and manufacturing scenario. Upsurge in R&D investments, increasing sophistication of healthcare infrastructure, thriving medical tourism, and rapidly introducing innovations in Quantum Information Processing and equipment sector are thoroughly evaluated.

NOTE: Our team is studying Covid-19 impact analysis on various industry verticals and Country Level impact for a better analysis of markets and industries. The 2020 latest edition of this report is entitled to provide additional commentary on latest scenario, economic slowdown and COVID-19 impact on overall industry.

Request Free Sample Report Quantum Information Processing industry outlook @ Key players in the global Quantum Information Processing market covered in Chapter 4: 1QB Information Technologies, Airbus, Anyon Systems, Cambridge Quantum Computing, D-Wave Systems, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, QC Ware, Quantum, Rigetti Computing, Strangeworks, Zapata Computing

In Chapter 11 and 13.3, on the basis of types, the Quantum Information Processing market from 2020 to 2025 is primarily split into:HardwareSoftware

In Chapter 12 and 13.4, on the basis of applications, the Quantum Information Processing market from 2020 to 2025 covers:BFSITelecommunications and ITRetail and E-CommerceGovernment and DefenseHealthcareManufacturingEnergy and UtilitiesConstruction and EngineeringOthers

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2015-2026) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13:

United States, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Rest of the World

Some Points from Table of Content

Global Quantum Information Processing Market Report 2020 by Key Players, Types, Applications, Countries, Market Size, Forecast to 2026

Chapter 1Report Overview

Chapter 2Global Market Growth Trends

Chapter 3Value Chain of Quantum Information Processing Market

Chapter 4Players Profiles

Chapter 5Global Quantum Information Processing Market Analysis by Regions

Chapter 6North America Quantum Information Processing Market Analysis by Countries

Chapter 7Europe Quantum Information Processing Market Analysis by Countries

Chapter 8Asia-Pacific Quantum Information Processing Market Analysis by Countries

Chapter 9Middle East and Africa Quantum Information Processing Market Analysis by Countries

Chapter 10South America Quantum Information Processing Market Analysis by Countries

Chapter 11Global Quantum Information Processing Market Segment by Types

Chapter 12Global Quantum Information Processing Market Segment by Applications

Chapter 13Quantum Information Processing Market Forecast by Regions (2020-2026)

Chapter 14Appendix

Impact of Covid-19 in Quantum Information Processing Market: Since the COVID-19 virus outbreak in December 2019, the disease has spread to almost every country around the globe with the World Health Organization declaring it a public health emergency. The global impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are already starting to be felt, and will significantly affect the Quantum Information Processing market in 2020. The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought effects on many aspects, like flight cancellations; travel bans and quarantines; restaurants closed; all indoor/outdoor events restricted; over forty countries state of emergency declared; massive slowing of the supply chain; stock market volatility; falling business confidence, growing panic among the population, and uncertainty about future.

Points Covered in the Report

>>>>Get Full Customize report @ https://www.reporthive.com/request_customization/2237773

Get in Touch with Us :Report Hive Research500, North Michigan Avenue,Suite 6014,Chicago, IL 60611,United StatesWebsite: : https://www.reporthive.comEmail: [emailprotected]

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Quantum Information Processing Market Outlook, Development Factors, Latest Opportunities and Forecast 2025 | 1QB Information Technologies, Airbus,...

It used to be easy to tell the American and Chinese economies apart. One was innovative, one made clones. One was a free market while the other demanded payments to a political party and its leadership, a corrupt wealth generating scam that by some estimates has netted top leaders billions of dollars. One kept the talent borders porous acting as a magnet for the worlds top brains while the other interviewed you in a backroom at the airport before imprisoning you on sedition charges (okay, that might have been both).

The comparison was always facile yes, but it was easy and at least directionally accurate if failing on the specifics.

Now though, the country that exported exploding batteries is pioneering quantum computing, while the country that pioneered the internet now builds planes that fall out of the sky (and good news, weve identified even more planes that might fall out of the sky at an airport near you!)

TikToks success is many things, but it is quite frankly just an embarrassment for the United States. There are thousands of entrepreneurs and hundreds of venture capitalists swarming Silicon Valley and the other American innovation hubs looking for the next great social app or building it themselves. But the power law of user growth and investor returns happens to reside in Haidian, Beijing. ByteDance through its local apps in China and overseas apps like TikTok is the consumer investor return of the past decade (theres a reason why all the IPOs this seasons are enterprise SaaS).

Its a win that you cant chalk up just to industrial policy. Unlike in semiconductors or other capital-intensive industries where Beijing can offer billions in incentives to spur development, ByteDance builds apps. It distributes them on app stores across the world. It has exactly the same tools available to it that every entrepreneur with an Apple Developer account has access to. There is no Made in China 2025 plan to build and popularize a consumer app like TikTok (you literally cant plan for consumer success like that). Instead, its a well-executed product thats addictive to hundreds of millions of people.

So much as China protected its industry from overseas competitors like Google and Amazon through market-entry barriers, America is now protecting its entrenched incumbents from overseas competitors like TikTok. Were demanding joint ventures and local cloud data sovereignty just as the Communist Party has demanded for years.

Hell, were apparently demanding a $5 billion tax payment from ByteDance, which the president says will fund patriotic education for youth. The president says a lot of things of course, but at least the $5 billion price point has been confirmed by Oracle in its press release over night (what the tax revenue will actually be used for is anyones guess). If you followed the recent Hong Kong protests for a long time, you will remember that patriotic youth education was some of the original tinder for those demonstrations back in 2012. What comes around, goes around, I guess.

Development economists like to talk about catch-up strategies, tactics that countries can take to avoid the middle income trap and cut the gap between the West and the rest. But what we need now are developed economists to explain Americas fall behind strategy. Because we are falling behind, in pretty much everything.

As the TikTok process and the earlier Huawei imbroglio show, America is no longer on the leading edge of technology in many key strategic markets. Mainland Chinese companies are globally winning in areas as diverse as 5G and social networks, and without direct government intervention to kill that innovation, American and European tech purveyors would have lost those markets entirely (and even with those interventions, they may still lose them). In Taiwan, TSMC has come from behind Intel to take a year or two lead in the fabrication of the most advanced semiconductors.

I mean, we cant even pilfer Chinese history and mythology and turn it into a decent god damn film these days.

And the fall-behind strategy continues. Immigration restrictions from an administration hell-bent on destroying the single greatest source of American innovation, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, have fused into the largest single drop in international student migration in American history.

Why does that matter? In the U.S. according to relatively recent data, 81% of electrical engineering grad students are international, 79% in computer science are, and in most engineering and technical fields, the number hovers above a majority.

Its great to believe the fantasy that if only these international grad students would stay home, then real Americans would somehow take these slots. But whats true of the strawberry pickers and food service workers is also true for EE grad students: proverbial Americans dont want these jobs. They are hard jobs, thankless jobs, and require a ridiculous tenacity that American workers and students by and large dont have. These industries have huge contingents of foreign workers precisely because no one domestic wants to take these roles.

So goes the talent, so goes the innovation. Without this wellspring of brainpower lodging itself in Americas top innovation hubs, where exactly do we think it will go? That former aspiring Stanford or MIT computer scientist with ideas in his or her brain isnt just going to sit by the window gazing at the horizon waiting for the moment when they can enter the gilded halls of the U.S. of A. Its the internet era, and they are just going to get started on their dreams wherever they are, using whatever tools and resources they have available to them.

All you have to do is look at the recent YC batches and realize that the future cohorts of great startups are going to increasingly come from outside the continental 48. Dozens of smart, brilliant entrepreneurs arent even trying to migrate, instead rightfully seeing their home markets as more open to innovation and technological progress than the vaunted superpower. The frontier is closed here, and it has moved elsewhere.

So what are we left with here in the U.S. and increasingly Europe? A narrow-minded policy of blocking external tech innovation to ensure that our sclerotic and entrenched incumbents dont have to compete with the best in the world. If that isnt a recipe for economic disaster, I dont know what is.

But hey: at least the youth will be patriotic.

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Gangster capitalism and the American theft of Chinese innovation - TechCrunch

Executive Summary

The quantum race is already underway. Governments and private investors all around the world are pouringbillions of dollarsinto quantum research and development. Satellite-based quantum key distribution for encryption has been demonstrated, laying the groundwork fora potential quantum security-based global communication network.IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies are investing heavilyin developing large-scale quantum computing hardware and software. Nobody is quite there yet. Even so, business leaders should consider developing strategies to address three main areas: 1.) planning for quantum security, 2.) indentifying use cases for quantum computing, and 3.) thinking through responsible design. By planning responsibly, while also embracing future uncertainty, businesses can improve their odds of being ready for the quantum future.

Quantum physics has already changed our lives. Thanks to the invention of the laser and the transistor both products of quantum theory almost every electronic device we use today is an example of quantum physics in action. We may now be on the brink of a second quantum revolution as we attempt to harness even more of the power of the quantum world. Quantum computing and quantum communication could impact many sectors, including healthcare, energy, finance, security, and entertainment. Recent studies predict a multibillion-dollar quantum industry by 2030. However, significant practical challenges need to be overcome before this level of large-scale impact is achievable.

Although quantum theory is over a century old, the current quantum revolution is based on the more recent realization that uncertainty a fundamental property of quantum particles can be a powerful resource. At the level of individual quantum particles, such as electrons or photons (particles of light), its impossible to precisely know every property of the particle at any given moment in time. For example, the GPS in your car can tell you your location and your speed and direction all at once, and precisely enough to get you to your destination. But a quantum GPS could not simultaneously and precisely display all those properties of an electron, not because of faulty design, but because the laws of quantum physics forbid it. In the quantum world, we must use the language of probability, rather than certainty. And in the context of computing based on binary digits (bits) of 0s and 1s, this means that quantum bits (qubits) have some likelihood of being a 1 and some likelihood of being 0 at the same time.

Such imprecision is at first disconcerting. In our everyday classical computers, 0s and 1s are associated with switches and electronic circuits turning on and off. Not knowing if they are exactly on or off wouldnt make much sense from a computing point of view. In fact, that would lead to errors in calculations. But the revolutionary idea behind quantum information processing is that quantum uncertainty a fuzzy in-between superposition of 0 and 1 is actually not a bug, but a feature. It provides new levers for more powerful ways to communicate and process data.

One outcome of the probabilistic nature of quantum theory is that quantum information cannot be precisely copied. From a security lens, this is game-changing. Hackers trying to copy quantum keys used for encrypting and transmitting messages would be foiled, even if they had access to a quantum computer, or other powerful resources. This fundamentally unhackable encryption is based on the laws of physics, and not on the complex mathematical algorithms used today. While mathematical encryption techniques are vulnerable to being cracked by powerful enough computers, cracking quantum encryption would require violating the laws of physics.

Just as quantum encryption is fundamentally different from current encryption methods based on mathematical complexity, quantum computers are fundamentally different from current classical computers. The two are as different as a car and a horse and cart. A car is based on harnessing different laws of physics compared to a horse and cart. It gets you to your destination faster and to new destinations previously out of reach. The same can be said for a quantum computer compared to a classical computer. A quantum computer harnesses the probabilistic laws of quantum physics to process data and perform computations in a novel way. It can complete certain computing tasks faster, and can perform new, previously impossible tasks such as, for example, quantum teleportation, where information encoded in quantum particles disappears in one location and is exactly (but not instantaneously) recreated in another location far away. While that sounds like sci-fi, this new form of data transmission could be a vital component of a future quantum internet.

A particularly important application of quantum computers might be to simulate and analyze molecules for drug development and materials design. A quantum computer is uniquely suited for such tasks because it would operate on the same laws of quantum physics as the molecules it is simulating. Using a quantum device to simulate quantum chemistry could be far more efficient than using the fastest classical supercomputers today.

Quantum computers are also ideally suited for solving complex optimization tasks and performing fast searches of unsorted data. This could be relevant for many applications, from sorting climate data or health or financial data, to optimizing supply chain logistics, or workforce management, or traffic flow.

The quantum race is already underway. Governments and private investors all around the world are pouring billions of dollars into quantum research and development. Satellite-based quantum key distribution for encryption has been demonstrated, laying the groundwork for a potential quantum security-based global communication network. IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies are investing heavily in developing large-scale quantum computing hardware and software. Nobody is quite there yet. While small-scale quantum computers are operational today, a major hurdle to scaling up the technology is the issue of dealing with errors. Compared to bits, qubits are incredibly fragile. Even the slightest disturbance from the outside world is enough to destroy quantum information. Thats why most current machines need to be carefully shielded in isolated environments operating at temperatures far colder than outer space. While a theoretical framework for quantum error correction has been developed, implementing it in an energy- and resource-efficient manner poses significant engineering challenges.

Given the current state of the field, its not clear when or if the full power of quantum computing will be accessible. Even so, business leaders should consider developing strategies to address three main areas:

The rapid growth in the quantum tech sector over the past five years has been exciting. But the future remains unpredictable. Luckily, quantum theory tells us that unpredictability is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, two qubits can be locked together in such a way that individually they remain undetermined, but jointly they are perfectly in sync either both qubits are 0 or both are 1. This combination of joint certainty and individual unpredictability a phenomenon called entanglement is a powerful fuel that drives many quantum computing algorithms. Perhaps it also holds a lesson for how to build a quantum industry. By planning responsibly, while also embracing future uncertainty, businesses can improve their odds of being ready for the quantum future.

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Are You Ready for the Quantum Computing Revolution? - Harvard Business Review

We're still a long way from realising the full potential of quantum computing, but scientists are making progress all the time and as a sign of what might be coming, IBM now says it expects to have a 1,000 qubit machine up and running by 2023.

Qubits are the quantum equivalents of classical computing bits, able to be set not just as a 1 or a 0, but as a superposition state that can represent both 1 and 0 at the same time. This deceptively simple property has the potential to revolutionise the amount of computing power at our disposal.

With the IBM Quantum Condor planned for 2023 running 1,121 qubits, to be exact we should start to see quantum computers start to tackle a substantial number of genuine real-world calculations, rather than being restricted to laboratory experiments.

IBM's quantum computing lab. (Connie Zhou for IBM)

"We think of Condor as an inflection point, a milestone that marks our ability to implement error correction and scale up our devices, while simultaneously complex enough to explore potential Quantum Advantages problems that we can solve more efficiently on a quantum computer than on the world's best supercomputers," writes physicist Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President of IBM Quantum.

It's a bold target to set, considering IBM's biggest quantum computer to date holds just 65 qubits. The company says it plans to have a 127-qubit machine ready in 2021, a 433-qubit one available in 2022, and a computer holding a million qubits at... some unspecified point in the future.

Today's quantum computers require very delicate, ultra-cold setups and are easily knocked off course by almost any kind of atmospheric interference or noise not ideal if you're trying to crunch some numbers on the quantum level.

What having more qubits does is provide better error correction, a crucial process in any computer that makes sure calculations are accurate and reliable, and reduces the impact of interference.

The complex nature of quantum computing means error correction is more of a challenge than normal. Unfortunately, getting qubits to play nice together is incredibly difficult, which is why we're only seeing quantum computers with qubits in the 10's right now.

Around 1,000 qubits in total still wouldn't be enough to take on full-scale quantum computing challenges, but it would be enough to maintain a small number of stable, logical qubit systems that could then interact with each other.

And while it would take more like a million qubits to truly realise the potential of quantum computing, we're seeing steady progress each year from achieving quantum teleportation between computer chips, to simulating chemical reactions.

IBM hopes that by committing itself to these targets, it can better focus its quantum computing efforts, and that other companies working in the same space will know what to expect over the coming years adding a little bit of certainty to an unpredictable field.

"We've gotten to the point where there is enough aggregate investment going on, that it is really important to start having coordination mechanisms and signaling mechanisms so that we're not grossly misallocating resources and we allow everybody to do their piece," technologist Dario Gil, senior executive at IBM, told TechCrunch.

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IBM Just Committed to Having a Functioning 1,000 Qubit Quantum Computer by 2023 - ScienceAlert

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that Boeing, Google and IBM will be among the organizations to lead efforts to research and push forward quantum computing development.

The companies will be part of the steering committee for the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), a group thataims to identify standards, cybersecurity protocols and other needs to assist in pushing forward the quantum information science and technology industry.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Department of Commerces National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) announced the members of the steering committee on Wednesday, with NIST, ColdQuanta, QC Ware, and Zapata Computing also selected to sit on the committee.

The QED-C was established by the National Quantum Initiative Act, signed into law by President TrumpDonald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE in 2018, with the full consortium made up of over 180 industry, academic and federal organizations.

According to OSTP, the steering committee will take the lead on helping to develop the supply chain to support quantums growth in industry, and is part of the Trump administrations recent efforts to promote quantum computing.

Through the establishment of the QED-C steering committee, the Administration has reached yet another milestone delivering on the National Quantum Initiative and strengthening American leadership in quantum information science, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios said in a statement. We look forward to the continued work of the QED-C and applaud this private-public model for advancing QIS research and innovation.

The establishment of the steering committee comes on the heels of the Trump administration announcing more than $1 billion in funding for new research institutes focused on quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

The announcement of the funds came after OSTP and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the establishment of three quantum computing centers at three different U.S. academic institutions, which involved an investment of $75 million. The establishment of these centers was also the result of requirements of the National Quantum Initiative Act.

While the Trump administration has been focused on supporting the development of quantum computing, Capitol Hill has also taken an interest.

Bipartisan members of the Senate Commerce Committee introduced legislation in January aimed at increasing investment in AI and quantum computing. A separate bipartisan group of lawmakers in May introduced a bill that would create a Directorate of Technology at the NSFthat would be given $100 billion over five years to invest in American research and technology issues, including quantum computing.

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Boeing, Google, IBM among companies to lead federal quantum development initiative | TheHill - The Hill

Artificial intelligence has been on the rise in workplaces for at least the past decade. From consumer algorithms to quantum computing, AIs uses have grown in type and scope.

There are a number of risks associated with this technology. One of the more troubling is the apparent racial bias one that assigns more negative emotions to Black people than white people, even when they are smiling.

One of the more recent advances in AI technologies is the ability to read emotions through facial and behavioral analysis. While the emotional AI technology has largely been implemented in marketing campaigns and health care, a growing number of high-profile companies are using it in hiring decisions.

Companies should stop this immediately.

There are a number of risks associated with this technology. One of the more troubling is the apparent racial bias one that assigns more negative emotions to Black people than white people, even when they are smiling.

For example, Microsofts Face API software scored Black faces as three times more contemptuous than white faces. This bias is obviously harmful in a number of ways, but its especially devastating to non-white professionals who are disadvantaged in their the ability to secure a job and progress within their field.

Any workplace that uses a hiring algorithm that disproportionately sees Black and brown people as worse emotionally will further drive workplace inequalities and discriminatory treatment.

According to a Washington Post report, more than 100 companies are currently using emotional AI, and this technology has already been used to assess millions of job applicants. Among the top-tier companies deploying emotional AI are Hilton, Dunkin Donuts, IBM and the Boston Red Sox.

Emotional AI recognition has been estimated to be at least a $20 billion market.

The technology uses facial recognition to analyze emotional and cognitive ability. Generally, an interviewee will answer preselected questions during a recorded video interview, and be assessed by the AI algorithm. The assessment provides a grade or score on various characteristics, including verbal skills, facial movements, and even emotional characteristicsall of which aim to predict how likely the candidate will succeed in a position before taking next steps.

Supporters of the technology argue that it removes human prejudice from the equation. But replacing human bias with an artificial one cant be the solution.

Moreover, companies tend to use emotional AI to screen for a very limited data set to decide who gets marked as employable. These limited data sets usually favor majority groups while ignoring minority ones. For example, if someones first language isnt English and they speak with an accent or if an applicant is disabled, they will more likely be earmarked as less employable.

The technology can also work to the disadvantage of women.

For starters, much of the AI technology fails to properly identify women even iconic women such as Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama. Many examples have shown that, particularly in fields that are already male dominated, women applicants are downgraded and less likely to be recommended than male applicants.

There are a plethora of other anecdotes that highlight the biases of emotional AI, even outside the workplace. These include cameras that identify Asian faces as blinking and software that misgenders those with darker skin.

Of course, companies have been warned of the ongoing biases and have so far ignored them; many still use software like HireVue, which Princeton Professor of Computer Science Arvind Narayanan described as a bias perpetuation engine. Research institute AI Now, based at New York University, has called for a complete ban on emotional AI tech.

Until emotional AI is shown to be free of racial and gender biases, its unsafe for use in a world already struggling to overcome inequalities. If companies want to assist in that struggle, they should end the use of emotional AI in the workplace.

This column was produced for the Progressive Media Project, which is run by The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.

September 17, 2020

12:32 PM

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Workplace Facial Screening is a Bad Idea - Progressive.org