Connecting quantum computing with UN Sustainable Development Goals
© 2024 EPFL
On June 17, QSE Center Academic Director Prof. Vincenzo Savona addressed the GESDA Quantum Diplomacy Symposium of 70 diplomats, policymakers, and experts about the potential, opportunities, and social, geopolitical, and economic implications of using quantum computing to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, looking at the issue of food production and security.
Savona began his talk by explaining what quantum computing is, how it can solve some computational tasks with significant advantages over conventional computers, and how these tasks are omnipresent in many real-world societal problems. He then highlighted three vast areas of application for quantum computing:
- Simulation of molecules and materials, with applications in drug discovery and material science.
- Optimization, with applications in industrial processes, agriculture, transportation, water, and electric power networks.
- Artificial intelligence.
He then introduced for the audience a use case he is working on for the Open Quantum Institute (OQI) in collaboration with Francesco Petruccione from NITheCS and food scientists from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) about applying quantum computing to food production. This use case focuses on optimizing food systems in disadvantaged countries to increase the nutritional value of produced food, minimize waste and environmental impact, and maximize affordability and societal benefits.
The food system is extremely complex, requiring the optimization of hundreds of thousands of variables, which represents a very difficult computational task where a quantum computer, or a hybrid solution of quantum and classical computing, could progress on this optimization much faster.
“We are now exploring the feasibility of this approach and hope to soon produce a proof of principle of the increased effectiveness and computational advantage of quantum and quantum-inspired approaches to large-scale optimization. Yet, the true potential of this approach will only be expressed once large-scale quantum computers operating closer to the fault-tolerant regime are available – a development for which it is very hard to set a reliable timeline,” says Savona.
“This is a first step, and we hope we can inspire more people, including students, to join us and to dedicate some of their time to work on projects directly tied to sustainable human development.”