the practical application of quantum computing and support for developing the technology but this is one hour 20 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning. again, i like to welcome you all to the subcommittee on consumer protection and energy and commerce. as i mentioned we have another subcommittee running right now so i members coming from the first four from one committee to the other. i thank you all for being here and i will recognize myself for my five minute opening statement. again, welcome to the subcommittee in today's hearing examining quantum computing. we continue our series as we

examine the emergent technology and supporting us innovation and jobs. the subcommittee this morning we are discussing the revolutionary technology known as quantum computing and this involves harnessing the power of physics at its most basic level. unlike the computers we are family with and we use today a quantum computer holds a potential to be faster and more powerful and this innovation is expected to change every industry and make problems that are impossible to solve today something that result in a matter of days or weeks. efforts to develop a commercially available and practical quantum computer being pursued around the world because of the tremendous cost involved in developing a suitable environment for quantum computer to operate many of these efforts involve government support, both european union and china have pledged or already has spent billions to develop a quantum computer. in the united states development of quantum computer is proceeding at the academic, governmental and private

sectors. in addition to larger and familiar technology companies smaller startups are also leading efforts in this area. we are fortunate to have one of these startups i on cue to testify today. although quantum computer holds a potential to solve non- computable problems there are skeptics who question whether it will be possible to ever develop such technology. we look forward to our witnesses giving us their thoughts on this question. on the other hand some fear that such a computer would pose [inaudible] when it comes to encryption and data security some fear that a quantum computer will make it nearly impossible to keep future computers secure and data security and consumer privacy are key concerns of this committee. we also look forward to our witnesses.

quantum computers hold tremendous potential to help solve problems involving discovery of new drugs, developing more efficient supply chain and logistics operations searching to find the data in developing artificial intelligence. whichever nation first developed the practical quantum computer we will have a tremendous advantage over its foreign peers. we hope our witnesses will help us examine the state of the race to develop a quantum computer and how the unite states is doing in the race. this is obviously a dense subject and we also understand there are several other areas under development leveraging the principle quantum mechanics. our goal today is simple. develop a better understanding of the potential of quantum computers and the options for developing this technology in what policymakers should do to make remove barriers and further innovation, competition and ensure a strong and prepared workforce. as we explore this topic today again i'd like to thank our witnesses coming to share their expertise on this very, gated and revolutionary technology and i appreciate you all be here

today. at this time i owe you back my time and recognize the gentle lady from illinois, the ranking member of the subcommittee for five minutes. >> i want to thank you, mr. chairman. we continue our disruptive series with quantum computing. i want to congratulate all of you for being so smart. [laughter] doctor franklin -- i was just told your mother and i graduated from the university of illinois about the same time and this was a time before we knew anything about computers, really. it was just the beginning and here you are today, the next generation, leading us into the future so i appreciate all of you being here today. this technology i understand is still in the research phase but the potential application are tremendous. from healthcare to energy efficiency and everything in between and given this potential global competitors from the european union to china are rushing to invest in quantum

computing in the us make strategic investments if he wants to stay ahead. those investments really start with stem education. it must encourage students including young women and students of color to pursue interest in computer science and physics fostering curiosity today and preparing young minds to become great innovators of tomorrow. as a former teacher myself i strongly believe that our future economic success depends on investing in our children's education. our research universities are leading the way on quantum computing and help investment is crucial to develop technology so it can be profitable and profitably deployed in the private sector it however, the federal government has so far failed to provide robust, reliable investment in quantum computing. the lack of investment in stem education and research speaks to

the misguided ironies of the public and congress while wealthy shareholders get most of the gain from a 2 trillion-dollar tax bill that congress is under investing in students and research institutions. we fund tax cuts for the rich at the expense of our future prosperity. now that congress has passed a budget agreement we have the chance to make some of the investments that our country so desperately needs. instead of embracing to advance bipartisan approbation bills the republican majority plans to bring up a rescission bill to call back funding for children's health insurance programs and other programs. today we will be voting on a bill to literally take food out

of the mouths of families. we need to get a priorities straight and the us can be a global leader in quantum computing and other groundbreaking technologies but only if we prioritize investment for our future over tax cuts for the wealthy. i look for it to hearing from our panel about the promise of quantum computing and outright my best to follow what you are telling me and the challenges that we face in developing this technology. i'm especially proud to welcome diana franklin from the university of chicago and it is one of the leaders in quantum computing research and i'm eager to hear more about this work. thank you and i yield back. >> the gentle lady yields back and the chairman of the committee has not made it yet but is anyone in the republican side want to make a -- at this time, that will conclude the members opening statements and get to the real meat of the issue that we want to hear about anyone tell you how long ago

madame rager when i took computer science and i probably shouldn't say this but we used to use punchcards. it was a bad saturday morning when i went back to the science department any you expected this much and you came back with that much and he made a mistake. what do you think our witnesses for being with us today and we look for it to your testimony today. our witnesses will have an opportunity to make five-minute opening statements in our witnesses today are doctor matthew putnam, founder and ceo of nano tronics, doctor christopher munro, i on cue and professor of physics at the university of maryland. doctor diana franklin, professor and director computer science and the university of chicago. mr. michael bret, ceo of [inaudible].

we appreciate you being here today and doctor apartment, you are recognized for five minutes. if you would press the microphone and polygamist you and we will get started. >> thank you. nano medtronics does not make want him computers but were the enablers of technology and companies that with us strive to revolutionize the way information can be transformed. we provided some of the world largest companies and smaller entrepreneurial innovators with the tools of modern computation in imaging. we work with those two but the most advanced materials in microelectronics. nano tronics have achieved this and the only way we see feasible for the technology which is to artificially intelligent factories. quantum computing not only promises to break the barriers of encryption but also breaks

fundamental barriers to human progress. many of our greatest achievements have been characterized in terms of competition and races. often a technological race appears to be a war of ideologies or a business dominance. quantum computing there is an even greater battle, the fight against physical scarcity. there are three areas that we must work together on to win, not only for our nation but for humanity. agriculture, new fertilizers can feed the increasing population of the world while maintaining diversity of crops. the discovery, by being able to simulate a produce molecules faster and with greater decision than our possible by traditional means. this will not only lead to cures for diseases but reduce the often financially restrictive experimentation and trials that are required to make even

incremental investments in treatments. materials for power devices from batteries to solar cells. these have been studied for decades but in many respects the united states is still early on in this journey and companies are moving speed and national support and it is possible that quantum computing consumed reached an inflection point. the race to achieve a workable quantum computer that can reduce scarcity to this level requires greater national attention than is currently been realized by either the vast majority of companies or of the country as a whole. the steps to enabling quantum computing will need to involve an effort that funds the creation of factories for new quantum chips. a semi conductor tab for

classical computers can cost as much as $20 billion and to a large extent these fabs are not being built in the united states. we have an opportunity to acknowledge and to change this trend by leading the way in the construction of factories for this next generation of powerful computing. artificial intelligence: while quantum computing itself will increase the capabilities of artificial intelligence the ability to design materials and software for quantum computers themselves will come to the interaction of human computer agents. understanding such key elements as component design and fabrication conditions and the number of qubits needed required collaboration of human and machines. the number of qubits and a quantum computer is directly related to the calculation and the 10 cubic quantum computer can produce a thousand decorations and a third can

produce 1 billion and millions of qubits required to achieve the full potential of quantum computing. this exponential growth in cupid calculations is beyond the reach of factories as they are. without the advanced of ai controlling factories usually useful quantum computer may not be possible. three, education. we need to develop the expertise required for the multi- nature of quantum computer science. it's six, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, application curiosity and expertise are all necessary. we cannot work in isolation. we need to embrace immigration and welcome strong talent from around the world with expertise in these areas. when we look at the future we can see it is a battle of ideologies of resources or of technology. computers encompass all of these, to some extent. quantum mechanics is the basis of universal behavior at the

smallest scale that affects the largest of matter. therefore not surprising that harnessing the physical pretty has a such far-reaching indication. because of this it is important that we view it powerful association that it warrants. with the weight of risk and a fractured world or a great reward in the unified one. as we move forward we see how quantum computing lessens the scale in ways that meets not only the needs of industry but other country in the world. thank you very much. >> thank you for your testimony this morning. doctor monroe, you are recognized for five minutes. thank you. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify, mr. chairman. i am honored to be here for this committee. i am a quantum physicist at the

university of maryland and also cofounder and chief scientist at imq which is the company that aims to build and manufacture small quantum computers? the national plutonic's initiative which is a collaborative alliance among industry academic and academics within the interest in developing quantum technology. the national initiative we added the idea of a national quantum initiative and there is pending legislation in the house science that is coming up. i have about one minute to define what quantum computers are and i think i can get to some of the basics. we know that information is stored in bits, zeros and ones in the fundamental difference in quantum information is it stored in quantum bits or qubits and these can be zero in one at the same time. as long as you do not look in at the end of the day you look and it reasonably assumes one of the values but as long as you don't look there's potential for massive parallelism as you add

qubits you exponential storage capacity. because quantum computers only work while you are not looking involves quite revolutionary and even exotic hardware to license individual atoms and that's the technology we use it imq with the soup conducting circuits that are kept at low temperatures and other competing platforms involve that type of technology and its exotic stuff. i think in the next several years we are going to see small quantum computers with up to about 100 quantum bits it sounds small but even with a hundred mbits it can in a sensitive information that clips is that of all the hard drives in the world. on our way to the million kids will begin to that conventional qubits could never tackle need

to purpose phones first. in terms of quantum applications i will say if i was roughly in the categories and their strong overlap in the short term, quantum sensors can enhance sensitivity to certain measurements that could impact navigation and maybe in the gps environment to promote something in the medium-term quantum mitigation networks may allow the transmission of information that can be probably secure because if you member quantum's information only exists is a public setting. if you look at it changes and i can make medication inherently secure. in the long term the most disruptive technology are quantum computers. computers are not just more powerful computers but radically different and they may allow us to solve problems that could never ever be solved using computers these involve optimization routines that could affect logistics and economic and financial modeling and also

the design of new materials and molecular function that could impact the health sciences and drug delivery and even longer-term hundred meters could be used to decryption and breaking of popular coats. there is a security aspect to everything that quantum information touches. the challenge are pronounced in this field and there are a few issues and one involves a workforce and one of marketplace. first issue is that universities are chock-full of students and faculty that are comfortable quantum physics and we do research in the area but without the things that can be used by someone that doesn't want to or need to know the details whereas industry makes those things

don't have a quantum engineering workforce the market price is also a challenge discount know exactly what the app for quantum computers in particular will be. what did the idea of a national quantum initiative that would establish several large and focused hubcaps of the country and other commitments as well including a user access ramp for existing quantum computers. it is important that the us retain its leadership in this technological frontier as we heard from the chairman there is concerted effort in europe and particularly in china that is spending lots of very focused investments in this field. in conclusion, quantum technology is coming and the us lead in this generation of sensors medication errors with the national quantum initiative provides a framework for --

thank you, mr. chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity to speak and the need for nationally focused effort to advance quantum information science technology in the us. >> thank you very much by doctor brickley, you are recognized five minutes. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify. i am honored to be here before you and the committee for testimony on the mess of quantum technology and the "universities was plagiarized commercialization the biggest challenges we are facing in doing so. in my role in research associate professor in the department of computer science at the university of chicago and research emerging technologies and computing science education as lead investor for the quantum education for the epic quantum committee project and the program is my mission to design and implement educational initiatives that k-12, university of professional venues can build a quantum workforce. it could be a game changer in food and drug perfection.

critical federal court research and dollars saved along with the quality of life. unlocking the secrets of nitrogen fixation to quantum simulation to vastly reduce the energy cost of fertilizer production and thus food production brought the world. while the university has historically been on the forefront to computer science and emerging technologies lapses in academic funding allow global competitors to make great strides. if the us back ten years market event in research output and workforce development. in the past 17 years since the inception of quantum computer science distinguished from quantum physics and out with them developing under development, academic funding has only been available for eight of these years leading to only ten ph do students being trained rather than a potential of 200 students and no meaningful education programs aimed at this area. as the church groups came and went with the funding docs were

laid off and students transition to conventional computer fields comedies work individually and compete against each other to use proprietary tools academics' results and that all companies can use and improve upon as well as train experts who can work at companies. they're both necessary for the commercialization of quantum computing. the challenge of paying quantum computers to the interviews one is cannot be underestimated for the building reliable machines and writing software for monroe talks and knows extensive expertise in the former and i'm here to talk about the increased sleep did all of the computer science must take the funding and the rigor has created a chasm the software which assumes large the carpenter and that is unreliable at the speed and this has recently recognized this issue supplementing where initiative quantum leaps with the effect from that requires an interdisciplinary team that works to just get. one gap is for development. there's different quantum algorithm and software they can

solve a particular problem. gene this gap requires a team and deep expertise is necessary to figure out how to modify software that works in one specific context to another. much more so in computing than in traditional committee. if this furniture contractual we have is piles of wood, screws and nails and an expertise figure out how to use these to create useful furniture but instead will want in the future is for nonexperts people to go to quantum and get a prefab kit and easily modify it for the application. another gap that is between software and hardware current algorithms are written for perfect hardware but hardware on we are on a journey to that perfect hardware but we're not there yet. it's like if you meticulously planned for your inquiry meal for ten but when you arrive

there only supplies for six you can only use the kitchen for two hours prior to the meal. you need to adjust your plan. current quantum computers that are on the rise and can only sustain competition for limited time and they are small. some modifications can be moderated but the plan needs to be rethought. some of the specific hardware limitations linked to specific ways in which different technologies tend to introduce heirs need to be communicated to the river sling. how to adjust their applications. in order to lies quantum computing federal funding needs to be first and foremost consistent and needs direct directed not just building algorithms but interdisciplinary teams that include application developers, computer scientists. spread across a range of agencies different missions like nsf, dod directed not just a technology development but to force development and there are

more people available to write applications from the engineering work at these companies and above all indicate health stem partly to train the next generation. with the significant investment i'm confident the united states can maintain its dominance in computing and this concludes our remarks. i perceive the opportunity to speak with the committee and i'm happy to answer any questions you might have. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i am to be here today to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by quantum company. i'm the ceo of a company called q plants will [inaudible] teams in australia and the uk. we design algorithms for telling data problems and with the cutting age of the fund ends and detect anomalies and uncover the help reduce the costs better and

data analytics are already rapidly advancing technology delivering benefits to all over the world and are particularly excited about what computing can do my business. they are not just a faster computer but enable an entirely different approach to forming calculations. in the realm of quantum physics there are incredible and surprising phenomena that is harnessed to allow us to solve interesting and magically unsolvable problems. problems like simulating the interaction between molecules as these molecules grow in size the constitutional cost grows exponentially larger. they're in the process of cleaning machines that take advantage of these phenomenon and you heard a great example from christopher monroe and they allow us to suffer developers to solve this with a different kind of mathematics, quantum math it's much more efficiently than we ever could on classical

computers. our mission is simple quantum computers allowed us to solve some of the most valuable competition the problems that exist today. these new quantum solutions benefit new americans in ways we might not ever be aware of. globally the race is on to by quantum computing health science and pharmacology in finance and insurance, defense and national security we want our applications to the first apps in the quantum app store. looking forward to the quantum computers that are likely to be commercially available over the next decade there are three classes of application that become possible in the near term. the first are optimization problems like logistics and transport routing, financial portfolios and second is machine learning can accelerate most computational -- to detect patterns and data sets. the first is an comical simulation we can use a quantum computer to simulate the behavior of molecules and materials and design new

processes around them. across these three applications potential value to everyday citizens is immense and let me give you a concrete example. recently completed a study with work, the pharmaceutical company. we work together to develop a quantum out of them and tested on hardware available today to look at an approach that optimizes production of a particular drug. the particular drug they're interested in has an extremely challenging production optimization process involved in quantum the give us that were said to look at the manufacturing process and an entirely different way they could radically change the efficiency in developing and delivering it to the consumer. breakthroughs are any work by new up in computing that allow us to change the way we think about business and manufacturing process. there are challenges ahead and realizing this technology in the federal government can help create the environment for industry to lead.

the three biggest challenges i like to highlight today our first the skills and workforce as have heard her to be successful at paying quantum pleading to market we need a highly skilled, multidiscipline wars with skills in some information, science, science, data analytics, she learning and ai combined with the main expertise in finance, pharmaceuticals, energy and other industries we need american universities to send us graduates the schools the second is international cooperation. as compete in the ecosystem achieve our fullest success through international cooperation. the valuable scientific research that is being made elsewhere in key allies such as canada, singapore, australia we need to access the talent and the scenes partnering. this will be national security considerations for this technology but if restrictions are applied prematurely stifle

innovation. finally we need to maximize and leverage private sector investment into this technology in over 80 months have seen an incredible acceleration in r&d and venture capitalist it's an exciting time but i must stress the word just at the beginning of this technology development the government can maximize and leverage this investment through targeted federal funding and coronation is the gaps and help accelerate the technology. in closing i like to reiterate my appreciation for the opportunity to join you today and share a little about what we're doing at qxbranch the subcommittee addresses the issues that will bring valuable software. >> thank you for your testimony. i appreciate all your testimony this morning and that will conclude eyewitness testimony this morning and we will begin our questioning from the members. i will open with questions for

five minutes and pardon my allergies. it's this time of the year in washington. i appreciate reading your testimony last night and a lot of questions in five minutes but if i could start with you if i may because i was interested when you said what impact it would have on the impact in the united states because in my district we have 60000 manufacturing jobs and also have the largest farming incoming districts in ohio and he talked about with drugs in agriculture and energy and this and committee deals a lot with all that and not only the agricultural side but i'm interested and i'd like to know especially with the iacmanufactd create new opportunities while

disrupting those existing industries that are out there today -- >> thank you. my fellow ohio and. this is, of course, extremely personal to me, as well, being from ohio and being from and creating and trying to enable manufacturing work. what is important, i think, about your question is that these are brand-new industries. it is not just about disrupting current industries but creating jobs that are for the next generation of technology. this is building, i think, interesting jobs as well for technologists of the future and that goes to entire large factories. i mentioned the cost of a fab. it is not just the cost of building a fat but would like to bring down the cost to build bad but the opportunity for workers to be working with the latest technologies. i think the midwest and the country as a whole can only benefit from this.

>> thank you. doctor monroe, what changes would be needed to ensure america has a workforce that is ready for quantum computing revolution? we have to have that workforce out there in the training so how do we get to that point? what about the educational side or university levels and we need a university to specialize in the field or what do we need to do? >> thank you for the question, chairman latta. there are a number of things we can do as a country to foster this gap, this connection between the university and government laboratory research and, as i said, industrial production. at the university side i am sorry to say that most engineering and computer science departments have not embraced this field as doctor franklin mentioned. >> why not? >> well, i have my own thoughts on that and i think actually my

daughter is a computer science major at the university of maryland and computer science department, the students are keen to get a high-paying job right after they graduate quantum computing, not that it's not a high-paying job, but it's a speculative field and it's hard to identify exactly what the marketplace is and, i think, computer science department and engineering departments i think they have not embraced this field as much as the sciences half. i think that is changing and in some places -- my university is one of several across the country but it's not widespread. many of these departments won't hire faculty that are doing research in this field and i think doctor franklin mentioned the national science foundation and take an active role in china to change that but instituting new grant programs that foster the development of quantum computer sciences is. on the industry side is a tough

not to crack because this new technology, as i mentioned, engulfs exotic hardware that industry does not have so much experience with and it revised the history of the 50s when devices were being developed and scaled for people who did this over the many decades that they wrote the moore's law, including gordon moore founded intel and they were two engineers who instituted the computers. it takes time and risk and it takes funding from these corporations to do that. >> thank you very much. my time is about to expire. i will you back and recognize the gentle lady from illinois for five minutes. >> i'm starting to understand the much used phrase hitting the

quantum leap because really what you're talking about is all the things i think we've heard about the most disruptive in a good way and in a challenging way to the future. i want to talk to doctor franklin and i think i know more about what is education and i want to hear about more about epic and the things that you are doing but first i want to hear about your efforts with younger students in a minute but i want to first hear about what is happening at the graduate and undergraduate level. what i am hearing from all of you is that workforce capacity is really a challenging issue and if you're going to be competitive and going to be keeping up with countries that are making the eu and also china then we need to get serious about making these public investments but i am wondering

if you can talk to me a little about the urgent need. >> yes, so, i think doctor monroe mentioned that computer science has not had as much quantum in it and it comes back to the funding lessons because our group and other groups started in the way does get created is graduate students get trained in a field to go out and become professors agree classes and train more students. the students need to be able to have jobs in order to make it worth it for them to take those courses. if no federal funding -- if the program gets canceled and all of the federal funding goes away and graduate students get in other fields you will not have an education program and that is what has happened. the federal funding went completely away from the computer science portion of quantum computing and groups that were active in getting into the field left the field.

now with this new stack funding and new epic program we have we are planning educational initiatives at all levels including tutorials for professionals and we have a tutorial in june and a tutorial in october for professors and graduate students who are already in the field and want to transition to quantum computing. ...

>> given the potential that we have to have the moon shot mentality you are so right about all kinds of research that is not that he can be either have a drain to go elsewhere for nonresearch but tell me about the things you are working on at the primary and high school level. >> at the elementary and middle school level not quantum computing per se that computer science in general because in order to have a quantum computer scientist you need a scientist first so that is good -- critical to get in early because in science they are not thinking of becoming a scientist by six grade then statistically they are

unlikely that could be true with computer science. specifically what are the assets of quantum computing? one is the idea of measurement are the operations look fine until you look at them and those measurement for example with matchbox cars to see how fast they are going you can see how hard it hits your hand but that stops the clock so your choice of measurement affect the system and with quantum computing you have no choices to calculate which was faster but we have that opportunity with quantum computing. >> i am out of time i yield back. >> now the vice chairman of the committee.

>> thank you for being here about 50% what is quantum computers will allow us to solve those computational problems that exist can you explain how doing so benefits everyday american there are some problems with computer science as we add more variables to become exponentially more difficult to solve. so the time that is required to solve the problem doubles every time we have a new variable. reaching that computational capacity even with cloud computing so problems like how do we apply the financial portfolio to the f1 -- 401(k)

that can work that is required to do that is already in but you get that most efficiency at scale of computational challenge increases exponentially so we can take on more complex problem and in a much shorter time. >> i really don't know what i will say here so i will say and hopefully you understand the question. when you measure the cubit changes the value to a solid one or zero to manipulate a quantum computer the operator needs to make measurements without a cubit. how do you do that and how does that match the capabilities processors with transistors? >> i feel like i should have a expert type of answer.

this is something that occurs in physics and has been measured for many years. and there are several different ways to do that. generally you want to be in a situation where you control the atmosphere. while it is observable in nature it is not as controllable as information with a string of zeros that adds up and if anybody else can explain that technology? be my first i would like to add you are in good company because albert einstein never accepted quantum of panic on --dash mechanic. >> i am basically albert

einstein. [laughter] genetic analogies do wonders especially not those analogies can teach the concept to young children here is the analogy for the cubit which is a coin if we that it is the indefinite state it is both head until the time it is heads and tails at the same time but to flip that fit his way to 90% and 10% tail me and you this from the outside world by just turning the box around.

we don't know the state we didn't measure it we don't know how to fix arctic hardware because we have to do now. though the is so well i don't get the information out so far quantum education can be much more complicated one state without another it is possible to do that with a small set of technologies at the end of the day you open a box to measure only one state it could be lots of the and that one answer can can have the inputs in the device and this could be used for real world

problems images sticks. >> nice work. i yield back. >> there is a large statue down the street from the state department. >> i'm trying to understand have a nephew of the physics department is in a differently than i am and the computer in the financial industry was hard to understand the maintenance of the real world so what is your company doing

a financial services area with the algorithms? but how quantum computing in this space? what difference does this make? what is your firm doing from what is currently there are already a huge of cloud computing technology like those filed by pws or microsoft and it is important to understand quantum computers will not replace classical computers they are just side-by-side in the cloud they will read some of the l so in a mixed computer environment cable run daily operations and understanding risk with those algorithms

that are to be most efficiently run. >> so it can allow us to solve an algorithm that cannot be solved in a classical machine. we could solve it over many years or decades but what if we need the answer today? you can give us that the intent. >> what would you replace that?

>> there are some things they cannot do they are not good at addition or subtraction. we the those two plastic leaders want to specialize in the problem. >> that something can't be mad but they can do other than. i'm just happy addition and subtraction level. [laughter] i got an einstein and my friend so in your testimony with that problem of scarcity held that resource is distributed in the back. >> thank you, there is an warmest amount of weight in the way we currently produce anything that is not due to human polar way store a problem in general that due to the inability to comprehend and simulate and to build. the more precise we are on the -- molecular level that we are to do that and he used

such as to have how to build something and what is going on molecular leave but the we are able to do that the more we can explore possibilities for that space and understand the chance to meet this is just not alone or with the classic computing systems this applies to many areas we could with manufacturing when we are precise. >> we are doing both and i will let him explain it to me it is just a concept people not to understand i know you mentioned about cubit what is

that ratio like how many do they need and how many is performing regulation? be my thank you for the question i want answer to your liking. [laughter] lead you to the third needed for something useful that can play conventional computers however a relatively small number is enough to show very esoteric and not useful problems to be solved that cannot be solved using conventional computers. then the question after that and then to find something useful so the only way is to put these devices if they

don't know and to build these devices i use the word exotic it is exotic hardware takes a new generation of engineers and it may be we need hundreds of thousands or more of these qubits for something small. >> i yield back. >> the gentleman from massachusetts to make thank you for calling hearing all of you clearly believe that the future quantum computing that is great but there are people out there for skeptical it will ever become a practical reality that they are too unstable for real-world problem-solving, to respond to those skeptics and what is the big hurdle of real-world application?

>> if we make decisions based on that something will make the legal not build a quantum computer if we are on the stakes are too high because other countries will make one they could print all of the messages. there are so many vintages that could be realized want to be the ones who decide early that we are making great strides right now they are very small and prone to errors so if this is dr. munroe is working on making them larger and longer running. that used to be classical computers were very large in size but very few bits and could not do much but we can do in the 80s with the supercomputer is now on your

smartphone. we need to put those resources. >> i would add to that the same technology to build quantum computers is also used for quantum communication is a real-world application and the sensors with those optical technique where you are to navigate your oil that only we can those seemingly fundamental limit that same type of technology is used in

computers so i do believe they are the most instructive of all technologies but with that there will be others and quantum communication is optics also with single particles of light approach and then to send data they cannot intercept it. what do with quantum computing? and with those little modules and all this hardware or none of this really exist today i

would hang my hat on quantum computing being the most other those technologies. >> and a potential letter to better exception of the lien? >> encryption is all based on the idea that one operation is harder to undo that it is harder to multiply and to divide or factor a number so that algorithm takes a lot of bit that makes it to factor those very numbers that are too required to be encrypted can be broken down very easily if we get that side we can

figure out the encryption hold function at the theater cannot do. >> is that i write that? the mac though the problem is the hardest out there using thousands of millions of operations but you do need to know you want a quantum computer just to break the message you want to know when it is a little old nine years could impact how you encrypt things now based on when that

will that is arching what technology chair i will be as brief as he had to get everybody in. testimony you identified the application the term and i know you talked about these earlier soaking briefly explain why you expect those to be the most possible in the near term? be my thank you for the question congressman. with the early quantum computers the first version as

a correction so that kind of application we can bill to accommodate errors with the potential imprecision comes along with that so those that are the best those are the most tolerant or resilient to error like optimization problems and i algorithm that we run are based on probabilities so we already get a probabilistic to match what best matches so at the early stage application that are more probable or resilient to air it does computers become more capable we can take on a harder type of problems requiring problems

requiring correction. >> will quantum computers be anything anyone can use or will require in the operating environment? >> thank you. it has to be something with that interface to be relevant. and the hardware behind it with the physics behind everything else we do has a lot of specialists but it is important for us that this is something in the hands of anybody it doesn't require additional training? >> only that that requires

some amount of training and that it becomes so commonplace that it is natural. >> i will be very brief so that used to program in certain language it takes a different type of language but the fact there are individual atoms he lost on the user and should be they need to know the rules. i think that is affirmative there are three levels of hardware with a quantum cloud computation maybe you will buy one if it's in your pocket and as a user you may not even know that you are using it those services will have

programmers who have made those accommodations and send computation to the cloud when you do a google search 100 programs are spawned off on that one search is it an airliner all the different things so in terms of the ability to program that is for the most work has to come in so right now the amount needed to execute is insane it is a high level but that is how it was when the first women programmers were given a stack to say program this. they didn't from the hardware that is essentially where we are we are tied to the hardware to figure out what are those extractions that are still useful but also understandable to those or at the current level of computer scientist or an application developer. >> thank you for the question i only agree with my fellow panelists that we believe you

don't need to have a degree in quantum physics to have quantum computing so we are building this off where that allows regular computer scientists to create applications without needing to know those intricacies of what is happening at the molecular scale. but quantum computing is already accessible in the cloud today ibm has released what we can access we can go there this afternoon to do a short course on programming and build up that knowledge as an understanding of what is possible and build those skills for the future. >> i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from west virginia for five. >> and thank you for continuing to give us a very provocative thoughts of what

we have dealt with over the past two years i am very curious as one of two engineers in congress this is exciting where we could go with this i am fascinated but also i'm sorry the other side of the isle did not show up today but i was curious to hear more what kennedy was talking about with the skepticism because looking into that, there is some skepticism and in one of the articles i was reading had to do with reliability of the results. i know from my own engineering calculations at the end of the day we know that the result makes sense but what happens with quantum computing?

i thank you may have said they are error-prone so do we rely on the results? how do we? if we rely on our computers to give us the answer and then we get the answer how do we know it's wrong or right? because of all of the variables that you have talked about. >> thank you for the question it is very good. it speaks so far to the limited reach of what it is useful for there is the factoring problem you can check it 15 is equal five times three as a huge number you cannot do it using regular computers but you can multiply your answer. >> what about encryption? if you can factor large

numbers you can break those algorithms if you thank you have a code breaker you can check it quickly so almost all applications are checkable against a standard or could be better than any classical approach or a logistics problem with the cost function and try to minimize the cost with constraints and configurations. if the computer comes up with a potential result then you found a different solution. >> so just a couple quick point points. i can see there is a lot more and with this whole idea to do more research but to talk

about the timetables yes there are elementary and what is the metric? how do we know whether we are there? what is the role of congress is this just more money into research or if you talk about building plant or facilities or the cubit is that what this is? what is the role of government ? >> thank you for the question i mentioned the idea of a national quantum initiative that is to establish a small number of laboratories of those quantum innovation laboratories it could be existing university or department of defense or collaboration of defense where students and players are all on the same sandpit each have

one -- humble focus on a particular aspect of computing may be a particular brand of cubit and the point is to foster a new generation of engineers with that technology and industry can connect more vitally with the university and the workforce. >> what about a standard cubit? >> it is too early to do that we have very different technologies now with the cpu and memory there are different components in different hardware good for different things we will see that with quantum as well. >> what is the timetable? >> it depends on the application you could be 30 years so we have 50 cubit

machines now that are growing so the near-term applications are on the horizon. maybe five years the hardware comes along very quickly and some software but this is the first i have heard of a software company and i am very excited but if that needs to be created to assume perfect hardware could be modified to use the near-term hardware so we don't have to wait as long and can help close the gap between the software and the reality of the hardware. >> i yield back to the chair recognizes the gentleman from indiana. >> thank you for being here a fascinating subject i am interested in this my daughter is a sophomore at cornell in computer science. i will take a little different path to stay away from the technical stuff that go

towards research funding i was on the committee that had jurisdiction of the national science foundation went to all the universities talking to the funded researchers and i found first of all i support that in the big supporter of research that i found if i said tell me why what you are doing should continue to get funding from the national science foundation 90% of the people could not in a tight way explained that. for me in a complex way and i get it but people like me have to explain this to the 700,000 people we represent to justify federal taxpayer dollars we have to give the elevator speech this was for five years

ago it was in the press was a funded researcher, not a criticism was having seniors play video games people said why would you find that? but as it turns that it was alzheimer's research. and very valid and important research but to explain that government funds video games that doesn't play very well so people like me have a hard time explaining that. so what i'm getting at what is your pitch for more funding for quantum computing? you have already explained it to me and i get it but to

explain it to the broader numbers of congress and constituents, how do we explain why we should do that? >> yes it does make sense thank you i did speak at length about the very targeted it should be self-evident they are developing technologies they are technology centers but there must be an undercurrent of foundational research this is something the national science foundation a very special agency it is very inefficient we can never tell what is around the corner. you can never predict what will hit. >> you don't know what you don't know the national science foundation takes all comers and they have to play an important role because quantum technologies that we

could be surprised with some material that may behave is a wonderful cubit so it's too bad it is inefficient that the homeruns are far-reaching and we will probably rely on those in the coming decades. >> yes. it depends on how long you are in the elevator the pitch for quantum computer starts with design for alzheimer's projecting 40% of the medicaid budget will go towards alzheimer's by 2040 so if we could model those molecules to figure out how nitrogen is put into fertilizer we could have much lower energy food production. that's a big deal. it can't be done with classical computing that tied the researchers to those

problems sometimes they are not good at conveying that but that is why we are at the cusp of commercialization it could be appropriate time even for nsf funding to look at the broader impact so if we are making tools that everyone can use that is something we can hang on to technology transfer obviously as you know is a huge problem not only in this area but across the research field and what percentage of research that goes into a black hole? i know i'm short on time but how can we do better on technology transfer? it is a big problem. >> we agree as a small business looking to commercialize these innovations how do we have access what is done at these

universities? >> it is proprietary? >> they put the research out there but they are worried somebody will steal it. >> and we have found parts that have been successful for us is universities with research grants and those that also participate in collaboration of that research to contribute to science and the publication around that on a joint project in the cross between the commercial sector and research sector on common proposals enables that technology transfer. >> i yield back. >> first thanks) for being here today one of the great things about this committee and jurisdiction looking over the horizon five or ten years

we heard at first we want to make sure that our nation is on the cutting edge and for those who were asking questions as a former air force pilot and engineer and cardiothoracic surgeon we are not limited in knowledge but what you gave us today was very informative because we have to make sure as we go forward as a committee we are making the right decisions. >> and the gentlelady would also like to make a comment so thank you all that i will finish the ending bible defer to the gentlelady. >> china is building a 10 billion-dollar quantum lab right now and they expect to be finished by 2020 du is is

investing $2 billion in advance quantum technology. one of the answers in terms of why we should be areas about making investments may be encryption is decades away but from a national security perspective. there are a lot of reasons we should take this seriously with these investments of course all the practical things agriculture and pharmaceuticals is very important and disease cures but it seems to me that despite some skepticism there is enough evidence right now this ought to be an important priority so i want to thank you very much you did and lighten me. thank you. >> if we have no further members you have ten business

days to submit additional questions for the record and then upon receipt of questions without objection we are adjourned thank you for attending. [inaudible conversations]

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