The international journal Electronic Markets recently published an interview with Heike Riel from IBM Research Zurich. Dr. Riel is a Fellow at IBM Research and a leading researcher in the field of quantum computing. She holds a Ph.D. in physics, a MBA, a honorate doctorate and received the IEEE Andrew S. Grove award in 2022. In the interview with Rainer Alt, she first explains how IBM's approach regarding universal quantum computers differs from more specialized and limited quantum annealers. In a second steps, she reports how the performance of these quantums computers has increased and is expected to further grow in the forthcoming years. While she mentions current challenges and possible limitations, the interview also points at the numerous application potentials, which are linked with quantum computers. Among the examples are optimization and simulation problems being present in many industries from the natural sciences to the production and finance industry. The interview concludes with a reflection on possible risks (e.g., regarding encryption algorithms) and expectations for the future.
The article is freely available via this link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-022-00616-1