If writer Dan Brown were to visit the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) again, the setting of one of the passages in his novel Origin , where he invented the existence of a quantum computer one floor above the chapel of the Torre Girona – which hosted the first four versions of the MareNostrum supercomputer – he would be surprised to see that they have taken his idea seriously. On Thursday, the third quantum computer of the facilities was inaugurated. All created by a Barcelona startup, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, led by Marta Estarellas.
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Sovereignty
“How do I dare to compete with Google and IBM? The answer is that everything is yet to be done”
What is this new machine you have launched?
The project we have carried out with the BSC over the years has been something truly unique, not only in Spain and Europe but worldwide. This integration of quantum machines in a supercomputing center like the BSC, which is a reference center, is a unique and not easy task because these are machines that are not yet in advanced stages of commercialization.
What are the first machines like, which you started installing in 2022, and how do they differ from the new one?
The first two are digital quantum computers. That nuance is important because it determines how we control the algorithm. After all, it is a calculation process that consists of going from point A to point B. Point A is the input data to be processed, and point B is the result, the solution to the problem.
Is it necessary to have both digital and analog versions?
The future of supercomputing and our vision is what we call multimodality, the coexistence of the digital and analog paradigms. Each of them is more powerful in certain applications.
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What have the BSC quantum computers done so far?
They have logged more than 40,000 hours of computation and over 45 research projects. The first scientific articles on the use of these machines have already been published, such as how to better prune software layers. Also applications, for example, in marketing, which we would never have thought of.
How are tasks divided between digital and analog?
Digital quantum computing is very useful for structured problems, mathematical problems, and cryptography, for example. While analog quantum computing is very useful for emulating how nature behaves.
Should the idea that analog is inferior be discarded?
Although sometimes we think that analog has a connotation of something old, obsolete, and out of fashion, that is not the case; digital and analog coexist.
Will Qilimanjaro specialize in analogs?
It was founded in 2019 to build analog quantum computers because everyone was working with digital ones, IBM, Google, Microsoft… and no one was exploring this path. It is our big bet because it is a complementary route that can offer great advantages and also has a particular characteristic: it is much more resistant to errors.
Investment
“At the BSC, a unique milestone is made towards open science, an essential part of our DNA”
If you could, what dream of yours could be solved with quantum computing?
The development of new molecules for pharmaceutical treatments. That is why I am here. I worked as a chemical researcher in the development of new molecules to inhibit reactions associated with certain types of cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s, and the frustration of that first phase, which is computational modularization, led me to explore other ways of doing computing.
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What did you do then?
I went to the United States and Japan until I could come back here, to build everything, to contribute my grain of sand to the dissemination of this technology. The impact it could have on understanding nature, the world around us, would be enormous.
Are AI and quantum computing combined?
100%. AI has burst strongly into all areas of our lives, both in business and personal spheres. All these models have to be trained on data center systems, supercomputers that have an energy cost that is increasingly higher and higher.
And the solution to that is quantum technology?
Of course. Quantum computing is expected to consume much less because it is expected to be much more efficient.
It is such a new science that a startup can be at the forefront of research like big companies.
I have been asked many times: ‘How do you dare to compete with Google and IBM?’, and you answer: ‘everything is still to be done, everything to be decided’. The potential is so great that, fortunately, we have the interest and support of institutions, governments, and the European Commission.
Can Europe gain technological sovereignty?
In Europe, we have a unique opportunity to be pioneers because many of the great ideas behind this technology were born in European universities and startups.
How do you rate what you have created with the BSC?
It is a unique milestone on the path towards open science, something that is part of our DNA, which is fundamental from our point of view if we want to advance as a society and as a technological ecosystem.
It was almost unthinkable to use this machine for marketing.
That is the magic of making it available to the public, in projects where the user does not have to pay a fortune to be able to use a machine that is still in development.
Will they consolidate?
As we can open up more and spin-off companies and startups emerge, it will be better for the ecosystem and for the technology. Standards will be created that will allow us to have more robust, advanced, and mature systems. The potential of this is that it will be an accelerator of this very innovation. And we will learn a lot.
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