State of Quantum 2022 Report

Key highlights

• This inaugural State of Quantum report has made one thing clear: quantum computing is becoming an increasing reality for business leaders around the world. With investment in quantum rising across the board, there is now a thriving and growing ecosystem of industry customers.
• As boardrooms consider the multiple opportunities with quantum computing, many will start to turn to a dedicated quantum leadership position. Indeed, our research found that 64% of business leaders we surveyed said that the CQO will become almost as or equally as important as the CIO.
• This focused leadership will put businesses in a strong position to tackle some of the challenges slowing investment and adoption of the technology. The skills crisis in quantum remains a major problem for our industry: 76% of respondents agreed that the skills crisis is causing a deceleration in innovation.
• A hybrid model with on-premise systems combined with QaaS could be instrumental to quantum’s future utility for business. This model will also address the business leaders’ concerns on quantum hardware costs.
• When it comes to practical arrangements for quantum hardware, the most common set-ups (used by 49% of businesses) are hybrid ones with a mixture of on-premise and cloud-based infrastructures. Being entirely on the cloud is the second most common arrangement (26% of businesses), while just 18% use an entirely on-premise infrastructure.

Quantum use cases are driven by a range of benefits business leaders most expect to see from quantum:

• 56% expect the ability to solve completely new types of problems
• 53% business leaders expect greater efficiency of operations
• 52% predict improved speed and resolutions of highly complex problems
• 43% anticipate reduced time for processing data

The Big Picture

There are a range of issues highlighted by business leaders, believed to impact the adoption of quantum. These include:

• Cost efficiency
• Hardware issues
• Investments
• Talent

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Key insights

• 64% of respondents said that the CQO (Chief Quantum Officer) will become almost as or equally as important as the CIO.
• Businesses understand the limits of quantum computing, and there remains a significant cohort (33%) of respondents that see an application-specific future to reach for quantum advantage.‍
• 10% of respondents are cautious on there ever being functional use cases of quantum computing.‍
• 63% of respondents believe that commercialized quantum computing will hit the market in 5 years.‍
• 90% believe that by 2030, their company’s operations will have been transformed by quantum computing.‍
• 83% predict that commercialized quantum computing will hit the market in 10 years.‍
• 76% of business leaders surveyed agree that the skills crisis is causing a deceleration in innovation.‍
• 68% of respondents are using or planning to use quantum software applications.‍
• 49% of respondents are using or planning to use superconducting quantum computers.‍
• 39% of respondents are using or planning to use quantum-inspired computers.

Survey methodology

• The total respondents (“N”) was 174 and included respondents from across industry sectors and geographies.
• Respondents were incentivized to complete the survey through a combination of raffle prizes and pay-per-response. The quality of answers was confirmed through including targeted screening questions, the anonymised demographic information of the respondent, time taken to complete the survey, weak text answers and through contextual review amongst other techniques.
• The survey was conducted between September to November 2022 through a combination of The Quantum Insider’s proprietary channels and its partners. Working with a sector specialist allowed for broader distribution and ensured a set of robust, insightful answers from business leaders who are already following quantum discussions.
  

• Contributors:
  
  • IQM Quantum Computers - Michael Bruce, Henrikki Mäkynen, and Raghunath Koduvayur, with design credits to Hoang-Mai Nguyen.
    
  • OpenOcean - Karolina Miller & their agency partners at Resonance: Alex Izza, William Day, Daniel Harrington, Daniel Lewis, and Emily Golding.
  • Terra Quantum – Victoria Jodl. QMware – Mira Dechant.
  • The Quantum Insider - Alex Challans and Evan Kubes.
  • Lakestar - Christina Franzeskides, Ninja Struye & their agency partners at Kekst CNC: Tom Climie, and Marissa Wagner.