Harvard researchers announced on May 1 that advances in quantum computing are occurring at a faster pace than previously expected, with several startups emerging from academic research. The development has surprised experts who believed the technology would take longer to reach commercial viability.
The topic is significant because quantum computers could revolutionize fields such as drug discovery, finance, materials science, cryptography, and high-energy physics by leveraging the unique properties of quantum mechanics. Researchers say these advances may lead to new applications not yet anticipated.
Evelyn Hu, Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and of Electrical Engineering at Harvard, said: “I have never seen a science that is so ‘blue sky’ go out into the commercial sphere so quickly. Where are we now compared to where we thought we’d be in 2018? We are so much farther ahead than I think any of us could have imagined.” Three startups—LightsynQ, QuEra, and CavilinQ—have been formed from Harvard-affiliated labs. LightsynQ was co-founded by Mihir Bhaskar based on his doctoral research in quantum networking and was acquired by IonQ last year. QuEra shipped its second commercial quantum computer to Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. CavilinQ recently announced $8.8 million in seed funding for its own networking technology.
Brandon Grinkemeyer, a postdoctoral fellow and one of CavilinQ’s founders, explained that connecting processors through quantum networking increases computational power similarly to classical supercomputers but also enables fundamentally new capabilities like secure computation: “Connecting processors can offer fundamentally new functionality beyond just scaling up,” Grinkemeyer said.
Mikhail Lukin, co-director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative (HQI), pointed out that recent improvements in fault tolerance—reducing errors caused by quantum effects—have pushed the field forward more rapidly than expected: “People initially thought that this sort of fault-tolerant, large-scale, quantum computers would be coming some time by the end of the next decade… it’s quite likely that actually they will be here — at least in some form — by the end of this decade,” Lukin said.
Industry support has played a key role according to Bhaskar: “I couldn’t have predicted this…the pace of innovation…and capital going into the technology has far exceeded what I could have possibly imagined or dreamt of.” Sam Liss, Harvard Chief Technology Development Officer, described Boston as a “quantum hub” supporting both research partnerships with industry leaders like Amazon Web Services and startup formation through initiatives such as the Harvard Grid Accelerator.
Researchers note historical parallels with earlier technologies like transistors; initial uses were unclear but eventually led to transformative changes across society. Hu reflected: “The transistor was invented in 1947 and initially nobody knew what major application would benefit from its use… They knew it was important… The initial applications were for hearing aids and then later transistor radios.” Lukin concluded: “This is completely new technology. A quantum computer is different from any kind of classical computer that’s ever been built…for the first time building useful quantum machines is in our direct line of sight.”
