Quantum Computing Meetup with the Austin Forum on Technology & Society
Oct
3
2024
Oct
3
2024
Description
Quantum computing promises the potential to solve tremendously challenging real-world problems that are unaddressable by traditional, or classical, computing machines today, tomorrow, and maybe forever. However, while the principles of quantum mechanics are well understood, building reliable, large-scale quantum computing presents tremendous engineering challenges. Furthermore, discovering optimal quantum computing algorithms and developing effective quantum computing applications is also important if quantum supremacy—or quantum advantage, or quantum value—compared to classical computing is to be achieved. Still, while we are in the early days of quantum computing, there are exciting developments and tantalizing results almost weekly that provide reasons for great optimism (and, unfortunately, hype) that quantum computing systems from one or more vendors will achieve quantum value on useful problems in the very new future—and that more widespread quantum advantage may be achievable in years, not decades. So, the excitement is high and the time is now to learn about this transformational technology and understand how you can best evaluate it for your business, or contribute to its advancement and adoption.
Quantum computing professionals from several quantum computing companies and labs will explain their companies' approaches, results, and directions, and which domains, verticals, and companies/organizations are aggressively pursuing quantum computing for new solutions. Then, participants will be able to mix and mingle with quantum computing experts and enthusiasts to learn more and make relationships that will help you and/or your company track this technology and be among the first to use it for innovation and competitive advantages.
This event will include a number of panelists. Learn about them here.
The discussion will be moderated by Scott Aaronson, Schlumberger Chair of Computer Science, at The University of Texas at Austin, and founding director of its Quantum Information Center. He received his bachelor's from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Before coming to UT Austin, he spent nine years as a professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Aaronson's research in theoretical computer science has focused mainly on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers. His first book, Quantum Computing Since Democritus, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. He received the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, the United States PECASE Award, the Tomassoni-Chisesi Prize in Physics, and the ACM Prize in Computing, and is a Fellow of the ACM and the AAAS.