Earlier this spring, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego laid out a new goal in her State of the City address.
"Now is the time to get ready for the next frontier of advanced tech, quantum computing, communications and sensing," said Gallego.
And Gallego has tapped Sethuraman Panchanathan to lead the effort to build the quantum computing sector in Phoenix.
Panchanathan is university professor of technology and innovation at Arizona State University and a former director of the National Science Foundation. He joined The Show to talk about it.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Panch, let’s start by defining our terms here. What exactly is quantum computing?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: So quantum computing — imagine for example, you’re all familiar with digital computing. And it is about 1s and 0s. It’s very defined states of 1s and 0.
In the case of quantum, it’s not just only 1s and 0s, but a continuum of states that exists, right? So it is a lot more possibilities, if you may, between 1 and 0. Which means it portends the possibilities of doing computations in parallel many, many, many times over than just this digital way of doing 1 and 0, yes and no, yes and no kind of a processing.
MARK BRODIE: Well, I’ve seen it described as potentially being able to do things in a matter of, say, minutes or maybe even an hour that the supercomputers that we have now would take years if not longer to do.
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: That’s a very good way of saying it, Mark. Let me characterize it the following way.
Let us say we have a million items that we are searching for something. One item out of a million items, right? Normally, what you would do is you would do 500,000 matches, right? You will compare one against the other. This is no, this is yes, no, and so on, right? And then finally, you will come up with the answer. So it’s 500,000 times, or we say N is 1 million, N/2 times that you will do to be able to compare, right?
In a quantum, it’s square root of N. It’s 1,000 times. So you can see as things get bigger and bigger and bigger, the amount of computational time with quantum is far less than what it would be with a classical computer, right? So that’s the inherent advantage of quantum.
But let’s be very clear. There are certain kinds of problems that lend themselves to this kind of computation.
MARK BRODIE: Yeah. Like what kinds of things that maybe people who are not in the field of quantum computing, like how would they see sort of on a practical day-to-day level some of the things that could come out of this?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: Imagine you’re searching in a large database for something, right? So there’s a large database of, you know, what you have as data sets that you search and try to find what you need. So it’s very valuable in those situations, right?
Now if you’re trying to simulate molecules and materials and so on, again, you’re dealing with large data sets. Same would be true of genomic data, right? Or if you’re looking at cryptography, right? You’re doing very complex, complex ways of searching and finding the answers or the keys. So in these kinds of situations, quantum computing naturally lends itself for those kinds of computations to be done most efficiently, effectively, and really fast.
MARK BRODIE: It sounds like one of the big areas where we could see advantages to this is in healthcare. Am I hearing that correctly?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: Healthcare definitely is one of those areas, right? It is, it has got broad applications.
MARK BRODIE: Why do you think that Phoenix is a good place to try to really build up this sector?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: So there are some inherent advantages here, right? Any ecosystem, if you look at it, first of all, you need good talent, good ideas, good support of the government wanting this. You know ... I term this, Mark, as intentionality and intensity, OK? So once you have that, then what you do is you start to hyperpartner, right? And that’s what is happening right now.
With the mayor making this announcement, what we are trying to do is to say, OK, there is an intentionality and there is an intense approach to this. Now, let’s see how we can bring the relevant partners to the core here and start to build the uniqueness of this ecosystem, OK?
So what are the uniqueness of the ecosystem, to address your question? So at one level, it is the large talent base that we have. That’s the first point. And a subtle point to that is, that talent can be sort of shaped and modulated to what we need to have our region excel in.
Now, take that approach and now you say, if we prepare ourselves well, there are enough elements of the quantum expertise that is here. You know, between the research universities, there is excellent research expertise that is ... building up here. But now you build an intentionality of building a quantum-specific talent sort of modulation. So that’s one very important thing, ideas and talent.
As I said, second thing is the intentionality, intensity of the ecosystem wanting this to happen. Third, you know, in a quantum future, quantum manufacturing is very, very important. And we have a strong semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. There is a lot of synergy that is there.
MARK BRODIE: With TSMC and Intel and others.
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: With TSMC and others. So which means that we can take advantage of that.
MARK BRODIE: So, what does Phoenix have to do to really make this work? I mean, it sounds like you’re saying all the potential elements are here or could be here, but ... what has to happen to make this a reality?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: Again, I go back to the intentionality and intensity, right? First, what we need to do is to make sure that we get to understand the assets. Developing any strategy, Mark, which is what the mayor had requested that we get done first, right? So what that requires first is, what do we have here? Then you look at it, what are the gaps? What are the uniqueness of Arizona that makes it attractive to build out even bigger of an ecosystem here?
Then you say, what might be the investments that we need to attract from the federal government? What can the state investments be pointed to? What can venture investments and others be attracted to come here and look at what is going on here? These are things that are not new to our ecosystem. These have been tried out in other areas. We are now focusing them on quantum also.
MARK BRODIE: I’m curious about the money aspect of it. I would imagine that what you want to do will cost something, right? I mean, is this an area where there is money available to do the kind of research and do the kind of recruitment that you might need to do? And also, assuming you’re successful, is this the kind of industry that could have an economic boost to this area?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: The answer to the first thing is, Mark, in my so many years of doing this, right, I have never found good ideas suffer for resources. OK, let's be very clear about that, OK. And then good companies that are birthed here have always attracted venture capital.
MARK BRODIE: What kind of timeline do you think is realistic to get Phoenix to where — from where we are now, to where I imagine you see it in your head?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: I see it as a five- to 10-year kind of a build up, right? That doesn’t mean that we will not have early wins like next year or the year after. In any such ecosystem approach, you will always find that you start in a place, you build a strategy, you start to work towards implementing the strategy. And you have early adopters and winners and people who are already here who are already existing and, you know, now they feel empowered, they feel supported, they feel like they are able to express their ideas and talent, and their companies that are already here. So you do that, and then it starts to build.
And typically good ecosystems, what they do is they start to build and the torpedo effect happens, right? ... It starts to build one on top of the other, one on top of the other, one on top of the other, and quickly you find within a decade, you have got this very, very vibrant ecosystem.
MARK BRODIE: What other benefits do you think, not just to Phoenix, but for anybody who’s looking to sort of build up this particular industry. What is it about quantum computing that might make it appealing for a region to try to build up?
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: See, the, as I said, where the puck is going to be. The future, Mark, is about large data. It’s about complex applications. It’s about trying to do things as quickly and as fast as possible. Speed is the strategy, right?
... If you keep those parameters in mind and scale is very important. So if you look at speed and scale as an objective as we advance into the future, quantum is the technology that provides you both speed and scale at the same time.
MARK BRODIE: All right. That is Sethuraman Panchanathan, a former director of the National Science Foundation, currently a university professor of technology and innovation at ASU. ... Thanks so much. I appreciate it.
SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN: Thank you, Mark.
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