Quantum Tech’s Promising Growth Post Govt Initiative

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement last year turned the heads of researchers and developers working in this area. Sitharaman sat forth an outlay of Rs 8,000 Cr over a period of five years for the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Application. Quantum computing, which is a high interdisciplinary technology cutting across physics, quantum mechanics, electronics, computer science, and instrumentation, gathers researchers working in silos in these diverse areas. The technology, which is fledgling in its cocoon, has shown tremendous growth and interest of academicians, scientists, and start-ups, who are trying to become prime movers in this tech industry.

DST’s secretary, Ashutosh Sharma shared how the government has undertaken the mapping of the people, groups, and resources in the country that could work in quantum technology. Sharma believes we already have the good capability and more have to be cultivated. “We launched a modest program with 200 crore rupees over three years with the idea of cultivating capabilities in the system to be ready for bigger things.” The ministries like Meity, ISRO, DRDO have been working towards quantum technologies in different capacities. A total of 25 hubs of cyber-physical systems across the country have been set up under the announced initiative. "The architecture, structure, and processes of which is radically different from the way we have been doing things in the past and best practices and learning of which will be duplicated in the quantum mission,” added Sharma.

Quantum Becoming A Game Changer

Dr B Krishna Murthy, Sr Director (R&D in IT), Ministry of Electronic & Information Technology, Govt of India contemplated on how the technology will become a game-changer especially in strategic areas like data security, defence, medical, and communications. “As the technology is nascent, everyone is trying to capture it. As and when this technology is ready for deployment it becomes a high-value national asset with geopolitical consequences. Hence, it is envisioned as a transferable technology,” Murthy added. He also believes, importing or purchasing the technology is not a sustainable solution in the long term. India needs to develop the capabilities for this technology internally. Hence, significant efforts are required in our country to compete with the world. “We need to have significant efforts by the stakeholders especially the academia and research labs. The European countries are already spending a lot in research for quantum technologies,” he concluded.

Momentum Of Quantum Technology in India

R. Umamaheswaran, Scientific Secretary, ISRO also shared his views on quantum technology and its ongoing pace in India. He said, “India is not new to the fundamental research of quantum mechanics and has gifted many eminent quantum scientists to the world. The beauty of quantum science is its speed and security. The Indian government has taken timely action and quantum technologies is one of the nine verticals identified by the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s science, technology, and innovation advisory council. The govt also launched the national mission motivation for quantum technologies and application where ministries, industries, institutes, and academia have joined hands to enable a quantum enabled nation by unlocking the quantum potential of the country.”

From an academician’s point of view, Dr Urbasi Sinha, Professor, Raman Research Institute thinks the momentum in quantum technologies have increased through active participation of increased active participation of different sectors and skill set. One of the major components of the country’s consideration should be human resources at various levels. Sinha opinionated on the need to revamp our coursework so that quantum sensitization happens at the bottom. “And, the young students participate in the excitement of possibilities through the inclusion of such topics in under as well as grad programs more uniformly than what we have,” she further said.

From a scientist’s perspective, Sinha thinks there should be components that appeal to the scientists as well as engineers to diversify the coursework. “I would like to emphasize that quantum science and technology is still an emerging field with a lot of potentials. We are now working on being quantum prepared. We are not quantum ready yet. In order to proceed with the development, we need investment and resources, basic R&D as well as applied technology,” she said.

Role Of Quantum Tech In Challenges To Come 

The quantum technology market provides a foundation for improving all digital communications, applications, content, and commerce. The global quantum technology market which is expected to reach $21.6 billion by 2025 provides tremendous growth opportunities for the Indian Market too, stated Deepak Sood, secretary-general at Assocham. India is ideally placed today to become a global research partner in this field, as is evident through the work of several research groups on quantum science and technologies across the country. “We need to work together with multiple stakeholders, whether it is start-ups, research institutions or developers or Government to put Quantum in the right direction.”

Dr Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer, Microsoft India spoke, “Quantum as a set of technologies is broader than computing including communications and sensing among others. The kind of problems we are facing today like climate change, pandemics, optimising our national resources, energy needs for the growing economies around the world, these are planet-scale problems and are different in nature and scientist and technologists are looking at quantum computing to solve some of these exponentially complex problems. The need for developers, students, and companies to get involved in the quantum journey is now.”

The cost of ownership however is high as the technology is still evolving. Therefore, it is suited for mega organizations, government, and defence institutions. In the near term, the adoption of this technology will lead to building a robust backbone of networks, which can be used for security, telecommunications, banking, and financial transactions. The impact of quantum technology on cybersecurity the experts believe is profound and game-changing.

*The speakers’ comments have been taken from a recent industry forum