The quantum computing landscape in Germany

Google’s recent quantum supremacy claim [1] is an important step towards quantum computing, and it has drawn a lot of media attention to this research field. Successes like this have even led to the believe that we are right in the middle of a ‘quantum gold rush’ [2]. In this article, we will discuss, how Germany is participating in this as well as its current perspective.

Hardware

The present-day key players (Amazon, D-Wave, Google, Honeywell, IBM, Microsoft) are all based in Canada and the US [3, 4]. Two of them (D-Wave and IBM) do already provide public cloud services, through which customers can access quantum hardware. Germany does not have anything close to a commercial quantum computer (QC). However it is contributing to the EU research project OpenSuperQ [5], which has the premise of building the first European quantum computer. Close to Germany, there are two interesting industry-related projects. The research facility at the TU Delft [6] (collaboration with Microsoft) and the “Alpine Quantum Technologies”-startup (spin-off of the University of Innsbruck) [7].

For the already established realizations of quantum computers (superconducting electronic circuits, trapped ions, etc), it is unlikely that Germany will catch up in the near future with the before-mentioned ‘big players’ and startups [3, 8]. However, it may enter the QC hardware market, when a new ‘window of opportunity’ should open up (e.g. if a new way to create stable qubits is found). However, German spin-offs may play an important role in related technologies such as the quantum internet [9].

In this context, it is interesting that D-Wave and IBM have formed partnerships with the Jülich Supercomputing Center and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft respectively [10, 11]. Most notably, that means that they will install quantum computers in Germany, and for the first time outside of the US. Since both companies do already offer public quantum cloud services, there is no imminent benefit from having the machines close-by. However, it gives you more control on the running and scheduling of jobs. Furthermore, you can gain experience in the maintenance of such hardware devices. So there is certainly an advantage in having a quantum computer in the basement.

Besides that, there is also a huge demand for classical high-performance computing in the context of benchmarking and verification of results. Two present-day standards for such tasks are the Fujitsu’s ‘Digital Annealer’ [12] and the ‘Atos Quantum Learning Machine’ [13]. However, also the Jülich Supercomputing Centre does play a vital role in this business [14], for example, by having contributed to the already mentioned demonstration of quantum supremacy [15]. Currently, it is also expanding its research program by establishing a Helmholtz center for quantum computing [16].

Software

Many of the big German companies have already carried out proof-of-concepts. Most of them have been presented or published [17, 18, 19, 20]. There are two reasons for trying to become an ‘early adopter’. First, there is great fear to miss a crucial breakthrough in the field, and thus, missing the point, at which quantum computers do open the door to a new world of exciting applications and products. Secondly, there is hope that it may boost machine learning (‘quantum machine learning’ [21]). However, neither one nor the other seems to be within close range. Consequently, there are only a few projects, which do show the perspective of getting out of the playground. First, the research program by the Volkswagen group, which has become famous for their traffic flow optimization experiments [22]. Secondly, there is an interesting research group at Covestro, which aims at using quantum computing for R&D in the chemical industry [23]. Even though, little is known about this project, it at least targets one of the most promising applications of quantum computing, the simulation of chemicals and materials (e.g. in the context of Ammonia-based fertilizers [24]).

There are some German quantum computing startups [25, 26, 27, 28, 29]. However, at the moment, only HQS Quantum Simulations appears to have an elaborated business concept. As Covestro, it aims at developing and applying quantum algorithms for the simulation of material properties. Just recently, it closed a 2.3 million funding round, and it has some running collaborations with BASF, Bosch und Merck [30]. Notably, following the international trend, almost all startups are founded by physicists.

Conclusion

Germany’s current approach to quantum computing is rather conservative. In the hardware sector, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre has established itself as a central figure in Germany by providing benchmark calculations on classical computers as well as by building a central research laboratory. In the software sector, several PoC have been carried out by various companies. However, at the moment, only the projects by the Datalab@Volkswagen and HQS Quantum Simulations do show some long-term perspective.

Overall, Germany is rather a follower and not an innovation leader in the field of quantum computing. Most notably, the necessary entrepreneurial spirit as well as venture capital seems to be missing. This is a pity, since the next couple of years may hold exciting opportunities in emerging topics such as quantum games [31, 32, 33], quantum error correction [34], continuous-variable quantum computation [35, 36] and quantum-inspired algorithms [37] (to name a few).

References
[1] https://ai.googleblog.com/2019/10/quantum-supremacy-using-programmable.html
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02935-4
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_quantum_computing_or_communication
[4] https://quantumzeitgeist.com/interactive-map-of-quantum-computing-companies-from-around-the-globe/
[5] https://opensuperq.eu/project
[6] https://qutech.nl
[7] https://www.aqt.eu
[8] https://quantumcomputingreport.com/players/privatestartup/
[9] https://www.tum.de/nc/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/details/35765/
[10] https://www.dwavesys.com/press-releases/d-wave-announces-first-european-leap-quantum-cloud-site
[11] https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/press/research-news/2019/september/ibm-and-fraunhofer-team-up-to-promote-quantum-computing-in-europe.html
[12] https://www.fujitsu.com/global/digitalannealer/
[13] https://atos.net/en/insights-and-innovation/quantumcomputing/atos-quantum
[14] https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.03243
[15] https://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/UK/EN/2019/2019-10-23-quantum-Supremacy.html?nn=2409938
[16] https://www.quantaneo.com/Forschungszentrum-Jülich-Establishes-Technology-Laboratory-for-Quantum-Computers_a410.html
[17] https://netsys2019.org/program/monday/qtop-workshop/
[18] https://www.dwavesys.com/qubits-europe-2019
[19] https://www.dwavesys.com/applications
[20] https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2020/01/next-gen-lithium-sulfur-batteries/
[21] https://planqk.de
[22] https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/press-releases/volkswagen-optimizes-traffic-flow-with-quantum-computers-5507
[23] https://de.linkedin.com/in/cgogolin
[24] https://quantumcomputingreport.com/our-take/ammonia-based-fertilizer-the-11-billion-problem-seeking-a-solution/
[25] https://quantum-factory.de
[26] https://jos-quantum.de
[27] https://www.quantumfd.com
[28] https://quantumsimulations.de
[29] https://thequantumdaily.com/2020/02/20/german-startup-avanetix-applies-qc-to-develop-supply-chain-solutions/
[30] https://gruender.wiwo.de/hqs-software-fuer-die-welt-der-quantencomputer/
[31] https://itch.io/jam/quantum-game-jam
[32] https://medium.com/@decodoku/the-history-of-games-for-quantum-computers-a1de98859b5a
[33] https://quarksinteractive.com/
[34] https://quantumbenchmark.com/
[35] https://www.xanadu.ai
[36] https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.07634
[37] https://medium.com/xanaduai/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-quantum-inspired-algorithms-38ee1a0e30ef