Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer Predicts Quantum Will Blossom in 2021

Quantum is poised to blossom in 2021, according to Werner Vogels, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Amazon.com. He added that just how much quantum tech blossoms depends a lot on making the technology accessible and affordable.

In a recent booklet on his tech predictions for 2021, Vogels writes that the need for quantum along with the power of democratized technology is creating a powerful wave of tech transformation.

“Something we have seen again and again in the past is if you can democratize the most advanced, most complex technology and make it affordable, available, and understandable to as many people as possible, great things happen,” writes Vogels.

“With Amazon Braket, anyone can now use quantum machines for as little as $0.30.”

He added that the company’s own foray into the quantum world, Amazon Braket, is a fully managed quantum computing service that is aimed at just that — bringing the power of quantum computing to new clients and customers. Braket is helping researchers and developers accelerate research and discovery — and doing so affordably.

“Before Amazon Braket, you needed to be one of the world’s most advanced research institutes or one of the world’s richest companies to have access to quantum computing hardware,” writes Vogels. “With Amazon Braket, anyone can now use quantum machines for as little as $0.30.”

While quantum can be complex and counterintuitive, Vogels said the point of Braket is to recognize that, but take the intimidation out of exploration.

“It’s especially important in this exploratory time that we let as many people as possible get their hands dirty and their brains wrapped around quantum computing,” writes Vogels. “As companies and institutions begin to experiment with quantum for the first time, and as that expertise starts to move beyond the academic world, we’ll see business plans and the early seeds of products and services that center around a quantum future.”

He expects quantum exploration to track the same path as new tech, such as machine learning.

“That is where experimentation with Braket comes into play,” writes Vogels. “As we have seen with ML, when the software ecosystem can truly leverage the hardware, we will see thousands of applications take shape.”

Vogels predicts that quantum computing will transform areas such as chemical engineering, material science, drug discovery, financial portfolio optimization, and machine learning.

During the next decade or so, Vogels predicts that quantum computing will transform areas such as chemical engineering, material science, drug discovery, financial portfolio optimization, and machine learning.

“It only does that if a growing diversity of people start to imagine a way forward. Based on our experience with making advanced cloud technologies affordable, available, and understandable to everyone, 2021 will be the year the quantum computer starts to bloom,” concludes Vogels.

You can read more about Vogels predictions in other areas of technology here.

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