Datenbank-Spektrum (2024) 24:5–20

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13222-024-00467-4

SCHWERPUNKTBEITRAG

Advancements in Quantum Computing—Viewpoint: Building

Adoption and Competency in Industry
Sieglinde M. -L. Pfaendler1 · Konstantin Konson1 · Franziska Greinert2

Received: 15 October 2023 / Accepted: 16 February 2024 / Published online: 11 March 2024
© The Author(s) 2024

Abstract
The narrative around quantum computing is evolving quickly. First reports of quantum computers able to solve certain
scientific problems on-par with the precision of High-Performance Computers are persuading end-users and industry leaders
to shift from passive observation to active exploration. Insights are provided here to enable organization and technology
leaders in the database and data science community an entry into the field of quantum computing. This article provides an
introduction of key concepts, insights into the rapid advancement of the state-of-the-art, an overview of how companies in
Germany are approaching the development of competency and adoption of quantum computing, including an overview of
European activities and learning materials in the German language.

Keywords Quantum Computing · Review · Competency · Germany · Applications · Introduction · Advancements ·

Competency Frameworks · Quantum Utility · Quantum Advantage · Data Science

1 Introduction cations in databases and data science are in an earlier stage

of development.
Quantum computing adoption maturity varies across indus- This article introduces key technologies and discussion
trial and technical domains. Industries dealing with great points revolving around the evaluation of quantum comput-
uncertainties and materials simulation have been the first ing technology readiness and adoption. Particularly, the no-
to seriously invest in the adoption of quantum computing tion that quantum computing seemed to be an unattainable
technology. Intractable problems with multiple variables, concept until recently, due to concerns that disturbances at
missing data, and unknowns, such as risk and demand pre- the macroscopic level would never allow for the concept of
diction in the finance and utilities industries, are difficult to entanglement to be implemented in a quantum computer.
solve using classical techniques. Manufacturing industries The logic and experimental observations of entanglement,
have reached the limits of current computational simula- which shifted critics’ rhetoric from “it will never happen”
tion capabilities and are looking to improve precision in to “it will never be commercially viable in my lifetime”,
simulations to move away from costly physical hardware were published around 2015 and were the subject of the
development cycles. In contrast, quantum computing appli- Nobel Prize for Physics in 2022.
In the coming sections, we provide an introduction of
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note The statements, opinions and data key concepts, insights into the rapid advancement of the
contained in all publications are solely those of the individual state-of-the-art, an overview of how companies in Germany
author(s) and contributor(s) and not of Springer and/or the are approaching the development of competency, and an
editor(s). Springer and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility
for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas,
overview of resources and networks to start exploring. The
methods, instructions, or products referred to in the content. paper is organized in following sections: Sect. 2) Funda-
mental concepts of Quantum Computing with more details
 Sieglinde M. -L. Pfaendler
sieglinde.pfaendler@ibm.com
on the data stages; Sect. 3) What to consider when se-
lecting a technology; Sect. 4) Latest Technology Advance-
1
IBM Quantum, IBM Deutschland Research & Development ments—with a focus on superconducting qubit technolo-
GmbH, Böblingen, Germany gies; 5) Use case areas; Sect. 6) The steps companies and
2
Institut für Fachdidaktik der Naturwissenschaften, Technische governments have implemented internally to start building
Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

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competency and learning references with a focus on mate- probabilities of the combinations of 000, 001, 010, 100,
rials for German speakers. 110, 101, 011, 111. Therefore, we can store all these 9 com-
In conjunction with the other articles in this edition of binations using only 3 physical locations. This exponential
Datenbank-Spektrum, we intend to provide inspiration for increase in storage and unique behavior of entangled qubits
new research and development topics in database engineer- opens a new realm of computational capability.
ing and science that could be augmented through quantum These are the concepts that differentiate gate-based com-
computing. A version of this article will be made available puting, currently the most versatile type of quantum com-
in German language on arxiv.org later. puting, and the focus of this paper.
The combination of these fundamentally different con-
cepts and their application to computation provides new
2 Fundamental Concepts of Quantum methods to view and interact with information. Assimila-
Computing tion of these skills can take anywhere from one to three
years and continuous learning is required due to the fast
Gate-based quantum computation relies on five key con- pace of developments. In the past year claims of “quantum
cepts—Programming Quantum Information using Gate utility” have been reported, where quantum computers are
Operations, Superposition, Measurement, Interference, and performing with comparable results to High Performance
Entanglement. Quantum gate operations, analogous to logic Computing (HPC) on simulations of specific physical mod-
gates in classical computers, are used to write information els. It is expected that the first quantum applications will
into the qubit, the quantum equivalent of a bit. A quantum be hybrid algorithms, also known as embedded algorithms,
gate operation enables the creation of superposition, where where a quantum computation is a subcomponent of a larger
instead of having a single piece of digital information, calculation with the remainder being calculated classically.
such as a 0 or 1, at the location, the information exists as Technology has advanced significantly in the past two
a combined probability of being 0 or 1. years. According to current roadmaps of multiple vendors,
The quantum information is collapsed into a readable it is optimistically expected that quantum computing hard-
value, such as a 0 or 1, when we measure and therefore ware that will be capable of computations with value for
quantum computation requires the calculation to be re- business within the next 5 years. Scenario planning by gov-
peated multiple times to build the statistics. This allows any ernments recognize risks to data encrypted with standard
value between 0 and 1 to be represented at that physical lo- algorithms, to be decipherable by quantum computers as
cation. (Somewhat analogous to a coin-toss with a weighted soon as 2030 and are pursuing new encryption algorithms
coin. It is both heads and tails in the air, and the coin-toss standards [1].
is repeated to identify the probability of it landing heads- Some problems will continue to be more suitable to
up). be run on classical computers. Post-quantum cryptography,
The loss of qubit information due to unwanted inter- also referred to as “Quantum Safe”, uses mathematical func-
actions, is known as decoherence, and is quantified by two tions which are difficult to map into a quantum computer in
lifetimes, T1 & T2: T1—the time in which the excited an efficient way to develop encryption algorithms to protect
state, used to represent, 1, relaxes into the ground state, 0; data on classical computers.
T2—the time for which a superposed state can last. The The quantum industry and society are also conscious of
calculations must be completed within these times. the ethics of the technology development and have adopted
The information exists in a wave-like state in the qubit, best practices, processes, and guidelines from Artificial In-
therefore we can engineer constructive and destructive in- telligence. The unimaginable potential applications, and po-
terference of information with gate operations, which is not tential benefit for society is a tremendous prospect.
possible in classical digital computers, and opens the possi-
bility of new algorithms, such as Grover’s search algorithm, 2.1 Insights on Data Workflows
where a query programmed into a computer relies on in-
terference to search all possible solutions and amplify the The data workflow in Quantum Computing bears resem-
correct solution simultaneously. blance to classical computing at the abstracted level. It also
A different type of quantum gate operation can be used consists of Data Acquisition and Preparation, Data Analysis
to create entanglement of information between qubits. This and Data Validation.
special kind of correlation, not available in classical com-
puters, results in a linear combination of all permutations of
the qubits readout values. Entangled qubits share a state that
cannot be decomposed into a product of individual states.
In other words, three entangled qubits can have weighted

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2.1.1 Data Acquisition, Preparation, and the Need for quired. International, EU and national bodies are developing
Application Knowledge a taxonomy and common vocabulary1 in order to establish
a shared baseline from which all can build.
Data is acquired in a classical form; the quantum properties
are then applied to the data in the quantum computer. Data 2.1.4 Data Preparation, Processing and Storage
that will be used in subsequent quantum computations has
a limited lifetime; the information degrades with time. The Classical data is stored in bits. Only one bit of information
current state of quantum computing is referred to as the either—0 or 1—can be stored in a location. A quantum
noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era. These pro- computer’s equivalent of a qubit can store the linear su-
cessors are sensitive to their environment, prone to quantum perposition of both 0 and 1; an ensemble of qubits can
decoherence, and not yet capable of continuous quantum hold even more information: 2^n, where n is the number of
error correction. This is improving significantly with ad- qubits.
vancements in materials, and there are techniques that can Present-day systems have serial data inputs. The in-
be applied to refresh the information, such as, “Dynamical creased data capacity of a qubit does not result into an
Decoupling”. ability to process Big Data in short amounts of time be-
Data encoding is the process of mapping classical data cause of these input restrictions.
to quantum states that can be manipulated in the qubits. Real world data needs to be encoded into qubit logic,
Various encoding schemes exist, such as amplitude encod- analogous to the way words are converted into binary
ing, phase encoding, and quantum support vector machine strings in a classical computer. The “state preparation”
(QSVM) encoding. of an entangled state to represent the initial conditions of
a simulation, can either exactly or approximately represent
Example Take the example of the simulation of the ground the initial state. State preparation is a popular research
state energy of a molecule or spins in a simple diatomic field, as advancements could reduce processor resource
molecule. How do you map this problem into qubits? For requirements [5–7].
example, spin orbitals have different shapes, how do you de- Quantum Machine learning (QML) is one of the most
cide how many qubits are needed to represent these? There popular areas for data scientists to enter quantum comput-
are different rules for doing this. These are called trans- ing. Structured examples for data preparation to proceed on
formations or mapping and are typically named after their a quantum computer bear similarities with classical meth-
inventors. The two common methods are Jordan-Wigner ods where, feature selection and normalization, and dimen-
mapping to map a fermionic system into a spin system and sionality reduction are also applied. The way the data is
Bravei-Kitaev mapping [2, 3]. prepared [8] significantly affects the effectiveness of the
In the original experiments performed in 2017 [4], the QML algorithm [9–11]. For example, the data encoding af-
experts were able to simplify the algorithm by under- fects the expressivity of quantum machine learning models
standing symmetries in the molecule and applying domain expressed as partial Fourier series [12]. Examples of data
knowledge. prepared for a use case of QML to aid in antibiotic drug
discovery [13], and publicly available sonar and diabetes
2.1.2 Data Validation sets [14] are available.
An advantage of QML is the ability to map the data into
Data validation is an essential step in any data preparation other dimensions [15]. A reduction of effective dimension-
process. It involves checking the quality, consistency, and ality allows data classification that would not have been
integrity of the data to ensure that it is suitable for subse- possible in a classical arrangement [16]. Methods to train
quent computations. Many of the methods used to validate a quantum model are under development [17, 18]. It is sug-
data are not implementable in a quantum computer because gested to have the future potential to speedup of training
quantum information cannot be copied since reading the models [19], which would reduce the carbon footprint of
qubit collapses the quantum state. the initial training of models.
An additional challenge is that a full quantum state can-
2.1.3 Interoperability and Standards not be cloned, making copying information for random
access memory difficult or impossible. Quantum informa-
The technology and standards required for hybrid calcula- tion can be transported and temporarily stored in another
tions where the HPC and quantum computer need to share
data resources is a topic with much potential for develop- 1 https://www.iso.org/news/new-joint-committee-quantum-technolog
ment. It may be too early to set standards for architectures ies, https://www.cencenelec.eu/areas-of-work/cen-cenelec-topics/qua
and technologies as this may stifle the flexibility that is re- ntum-technologies/.

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physical location in certain quantum computing technolo- 3 Choosing a Technology—Metrics and

gies, for example in ion-based computers, as a form of Features
Quantum Random Access Memory. A realization of a fast
RW-QRAM would allow calculations to be made with less When the first quantum computers became available on the
qubits. Current concepts and challenges are illustrated here: cloud, around 2015, there was a race for manufacturers to
[20]. lead in the number of Qubits. There is much more to a quan-
tum computing chip than the number of qubits. How they
2.2 Types of Quantum Computing Technologies are addressed and connected, can be equally as important
for successful implementation.
There are many different technologies for quantum com-
puting hardware. Quantum Computers can be made of 3.1 Metrics—Benchmarking
many different materials, such as superconductors, ions,
cold atoms, silicon dots, topological materials, photonic The challenge of comparing disparate systems through
crystals, nitrogen vacancies, nuclear magnetic resonance. benchmarking is known from the High-Performance-Com-
The two most advanced are superconducting and ion-based puting domain. The comparison of systems with different
systems [21]. architectures and accelerators becomes challenging as cer-
They all fundamentally have qubits—two-level energy tain techniques are specific for certain architectures and
systems—that can have superposition and entanglement. may not necessarily measure the qualities that are most rel-
Multiple energy levels called qutrits [22–24] and qudits evant to the problem you are trying to solve. For example,
[25–27] for three or four energy levels respectively are be- do you need accuracy, or speed?
ing investigated in some material systems. Quantum Com- Application benchmarking is particularly difficult across
puters can roughly be categorized into four types according machines as an in-depth knowledge of the layers of the
to the way they reach the final solution: stack and special methods suited to the qubit technology.
Consortia, such as the Quantum Economic Development
1. Gate-Based Quantum Computing uses in discrete gate
Consortium (QED-C), are exploring ways to benchmark
operations and measurements to calculate a logical so-
fundamental subroutines and functions and qualify the la-
lution of a quantum algorithm;
cunae in current benchmarks [34]. Business leads are of the
2. Analog Quantum Computing [28, 29]—the quantum
opinion that the cost and effort of going into benchmarking
state is physically represented using continuous vari-
for applications only is of interest when use cases that can
ables and continuous transformations, e.g., fermionic
generate higher revenue are found, and that efforts would
atoms are physically trapped in a physical lattice to be-
be more wisely invested in developing new algorithms, con-
have like electrons;
ceiving new applications for use cases.
3. Measurement Based Quantum Computing is a more
nascent technology. A popular implementation consists
3.2 Metrics—for the Era of Utility
of a large, entangled state is created in a photonic lattice,
and the extraction of photons from the lattice behave as
Quantum Volume was developed to reflect that a qubit en-
a gate [18, 30];
semble maintains its state for long enough to complete
4. Quantum Annealers—that are restricted to solve specific
a computation program without being disturbed. The defi-
types of optimization problems which are describable by
nition of quantum volume has evolved over time [35].
Ising Hamiltonians [31–33].
It is a function of the number of qubits and circuit depth.
When entering the field of quantum computing for the Circuit depth is a measure of effective computation layer,
first time, it can be daunting to understand which technolo- or in other words a quantum program length that can be
gies to use and which areas to focus on. Different quantum computed before the error becomes too large due to the
computers arriving at the solution using different mecha- corruption of data [36, 37].
nisms. For example, ion-based computers use ions as qubits The challenge with such a metric is that a machine with
and can physically be moved from one location to another, a few qubits of great quality can have the same quantum
whereas in a superconducting qubit the information trav- volume as a system with many qubits and a short circuit
els between static qubits along resonators. Each of these depth. Consequently, this metric would not help you find
technologies come with their own advantages and they are which of the two computers is best for your problem. This
also at varying degrees of maturity. In the next section, we metric has most value when applied to a single machine
discuss the main metrics and features to consider. with a constant number of qubits, it can be a way of mea-
suring progress on the quality of the system with respect to
itself. New metrics, such as Error per Layerd Gate (EPLG),

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and extensions of metrics such as Circuit Layer Operations,

have been recently announced to improve their scalability
and coverage (video: [38]).
In the last two years, experts have been looking at a com-
bination of metrics in addition to quantum value to select
the quantum computer. These are generalized as perfor-
mance metrics and can be grouped into three categories:
 Scale—number of qubits;
 Quality—decoherence times, circuit fidelity, stability;
 and Speed—circuit execution speed.
There is typically a trade-off between quality and speed.
A qubit that interacts less with its environment, and there-
fore has a longer decay time, also typically takes longer to
read-write information. Refer to the manufacturer’s web-
sites for the latest metrics values, e.g., [39].
Additional features to consider when selecting a system
are “capability” and “frictionless experience”.

3.3 Features—Capability Fig. 1 Independent analyst assessment of quantum computing manu-

facturers with quantum services and networks—Mapped on a Graph of
Quantum computing is currently in its infancy with certain Capabilities vs. Strategies. Reproduced with permission of IDC. IDC
MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview
respects of software engineering practices. Validation and of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market. The re-
verification concepts need to be redesigned due the collapse search methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on
of the quantum state holding the information upon measure- both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graph-
ment. Capabilities of a quantum computer not only require ical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The
Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business
advancements in quantum technology, they have signifi- execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of
cantly increased in the past two years due to improvements vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3–5-year timeframe.
in the classical components across the system, such as re- Vendor market share is represented by the size of the icons (IDC Mar-
designing the software stack architecture, introduction of ketScape:Worldwide QuantumComputing Systems 2023 Vendor As-
sessment, doc #US49607923, August 2023)
new assembly languages [40], and improvements on the
control and system electronics, as well as significant devel-
opments and innovation in the technologies used to connect 3.4 Features—Frictionless
qubits.
Capabilities that we take for granted, such as conditional Frictionless refers to the ease of use and programing the
statements—“if this, then that”, are not implemented in all system, and the ability to integrate it into other computing
types of quantum computer. For example, the ability to systems, such as “serverless”2 cloud services and the con-
change the course of a program based on intermediary re- cept of open-sourced software concept. Open-source move-
sults was introduced in 2022 in IBM’s computers [41] and ment, such as Red Hat and Openshift on Linux, dramat-
was used to create a large entangled Greenberger-Horne- ically accelerated software development and capabilities,
Zeilinger (GHZ) state with a significantly shorter circuit and demonstrated opportunity to monetize on the services
length of fixed circuit length (without dynamic circuits, provided on open source systems. Customers do not wish to
GHZ creation in a gate-based quantum computer requires be locked into technologies, and this is why many vendors
circuit length to increase with number of qubits) [42]. prefer opensource frameworks, such as Qiskit, a python-
Figure 1 is an evaluation made by an independent mar- based programming framework for quantum computers. It
ket analyst of the quantum computing vendors which offer provides an easy entry point for data scientists by being
access to their system over cloud services to the public based in python language, can be used as an interface for
and arranges the vendors along a scale of capabilities and
strategies. This assessment also includes their roadmap and
2 Quantum Serverless are self-defining cloud services, “Serverless is
ability to deliver on it, as well as ecosystem and services
a cloud computing application development and execution model that
and that they provide, such as learning materials.
enables developers to build and run application code without provi-
sioning or managing servers or backend infrastructure.” https://www.
ibm.com/topics/serverless.

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all types of quantum computer [43, 44], as well as having 4 Advancements

extensive functionalities [45]. Qiskit is used by various ven-
dors for frictionless integration with other systems. For ex- 4.1 Advancements in Quantum Computing
ample, you can program and call quantum computers from Technologies
numeric computing environments such as MATLAB [46,
47]. For a more in-depth review of languages, frameworks, Recent advancements of enabling technologies over the past
and tools consult [48–50]. two years are advancing the timeline expected for signifi-
Frictionless also refers to the ease of entry, ease of use, cant quantum advantage for various end-users.
support, predictability, and availability. As systems become To put the advancements into context, we take the ex-
frictionless, more libraries and packages will make new ample of the simulation of the ground state energy or spins
software functions available that people can apply to solve in a simple diatomic molecule. In the original experiments
problems, without needing intimate knowledge about how performed in 2017, the experts were able to simplify the
the system works nor processing data in its rawest form. problem by understanding symmetries in the molecule (i.e.,
Previously one had to download all the binary outputs of expert insight with domain knowledge) to simplify the al-
the calculation and then analyze them to convert them into gorithm. The results are easy to calculate analytically on
eigenvalues. Now primitives, such as estimator and sam- a classical computer and through chemical experiment, this
pler, allow people can receive results in a more meaningful allows us to verify the precision of the quantum computer.
form where the binary outputs are returned in an evalu- The answers correlated well, though were not as accurate
ated form of probabilities instead of binary outputs which [4].
require post-processing. This reference provides a walk- In 2021, advancements in algorithms, error mitigation
through of the coding steps [51]. techniques [57] and hardware lead to a x120 speed up in
the calculation and improvement in accuracy [58].
3.5 Choosing a Technology—Industry Choices In June, 2023, a further milestone was reached, where
IBM Corporation in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley
When choosing a technology & research area, it ultimately National Lab’s National Energy Research Scientific Com-
depends on a mixture of parameters that depend on situ- puting Center (NERSC) and Purdue University has demon-
ation, specialization, resources and priorities. In the past strated for the first time that quantum computers can pro-
year we have seen increased availability of ion-based com- duce accurate results at a scale of 100+ qubits reaching
puters. These also have demonstrated two-qubits with fault comparable or even in friendly competition with High-Per-
tolerance [52–54] and are used of simulation of quantum formance Computer (HPC) simulations of certain material
dynamics [55]. One of the challenges for ion-based com- properties [59–61]. These results also inspired new clas-
puters are the gate-speeds and scalability of the lasers used sical algorithms for HPC simulation of materials, that also
to control the qubits [21]. lead to an increase in precision in classical simulations. It is
Rapid advancements have been made possible based on important that the HPC field advances together with Quan-
lessons learned from previous generations of computing tum computation as many material simulations require both
paradigms, not only have we adopted concepts such as technologies.
opensource and fabrication and development of enabling
hardware and fabrication techniques. Several companies 4.2 Error Mitigation and Correction
such as IBM, Google, Rigetti, and D-Wave are investing in
superconducting qubit technologies because they are based Ubiquity of conventional classical computers came with
on fabrication techniques and technologies that overlap the scaled ability to store and process information reliably.
greatly with the traditional semiconductor industry and Small fluctuations of an electric charge or current in a mi-
they can accelerate advancement leveraging their expertise crochip are tolerated due to a highly redundant representa-
in the field. Here the main challenge is the reduction of tion of logical 0 and 1 states by a collective state of many
error per gate layer. In the near term, they are seeing the electrons. Current quantum hardware is subject to various
potential to find the first wave of utility from this technol- sources of noise, the most well-known being the following:
ogy. Many companies are exploring potential application qubit decoherence, individual gate errors, measurement er-
of these technologies and making initial findings available rors and many techniques previously used in semiconductor
publicly, a database of over 1000 publications is available systems are not implementable due to the fundamentally
online [56]. different nature of computation. Error mitigation and cor-
rection are methods to address this [62].
Quantum error mitigation is a technique that compen-
sates for the noise generated during a quantum computation.

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It is an essential ingredient for scalable quantum computing 4.3 Mid-Circuit Measurements and Dynamic Circuits
and is the path that gets quantum computing to usefulness.
A common technique involves modeling the device noise A quantum circuit is a sequence of quantum operations, in-
at the time of execution and using software to compen- cluding gates, measurements, and resets, acting on qubits.
sate for errors in the raw results. Techniques such as zero In static circuits, none of those operations depend on data
noise extrapolation (ZNE) and Probabilistic noise cancela- produced during running of the program. Static circuits
tion (PNE) are two that were recently implemented in the might only contain measurement operations at the end of
quantum utility paper.3 the circuit. Dynamic circuits [72], on the other hand, in-
Error Mitigation reduces the error of the final result, of- corporate classical processing within the coherence time of
ten through postprocessing. Quantum error correction guar- the qubits. This means that dynamic circuits can make use
antees the data stays at the value required or is automatically of mid-circuit measurements [73, 74] and perform feed-
corrected back to the value it should be at that moment. To forward operations, using the values produced by measure-
achieve a computational advantage in larger scale systems, ments to determine what gates to apply next. This tech-
the qubits will require to have fault tolerance, through quan- nology has enabled several of the newest error correction
tum error correction mechanisms. There are hardware and codes, as well as reduced the circuit length for algorithms.
software solutions under development for error correction.
The concept of error correction Is not new [63] and many 4.4 Circuit-Knitting
advances have been made in the last 25 years [64]. The
challenge with the error correction is a high number of the Circuit knitting [75] is a technique that partitions large
correcting (physical) qubits n comparing to the productive quantum circuits into subcircuits that fit on smaller devices.
(logical) qubits k. There are various methods attempting to It incorporates classical simulation to “knit” together the
improve the rate k/n. A promising class of quantum codes results and achieve the target answer. This method is par-
used for quantum error correction is known as Quantum ticularly useful when we want to run a circuit consisting
low-density parity-check (LDPC). The LDPC codes are de- of more qubits than the number of qubits available on the
signed to correct errors that occur during the transmission device. By dividing the circuit into smaller subcircuits, we
of quantum information. Recent codes are able to function can execute them on multiple smaller quantum processors
with 10 times fewer qubits; [65, 66] preserve more data by
introducing mid-circuit measurements [67, 68] or improve
the fidelity of state preparation [69].
There are many approaches under development and scal-
able methods are an urgent requirement, that in time will
be automatically and intelligently implemented by the sys-
tems, “mitiq” [70] and “Quantum Error Correction Zoo”
[71] are comprehensive repositories of the state of the art.
Quantum error mitigation and correction are a collection
of techniques and technological developments that will take
us from today’s quantum hardware to tomorrow’s large-
scale fault-tolerant quantum computers needed for quantum
advantage on scale.

3 ZNE repeats an experiment with increasing deliberate introduction Fig. 2 A program illustrating the advancements and simplification
of noise into the experiment, and then the expected value is obtained of programing a quantum computer in a muti-cloud environment.
from the intercept of the graph of the results vs noise. PNE requires The Qiskit runtime service automatically using three difference cloud
a known set of circuits to be performed to characterize the noise, and providers of the user’s choice. In this code, a quantum circuit designed
expressed as gate-operation. Then an inverse of this is applied during for more qubits than are available on the chip is decomposed using
the desired calculation. Somewhat similar to the concept of noise-can- classical resources on an Azure backend, the results are sent to the
celling headphones, with the difference that it is not dynamic, so it IBM Quantum computing providers and the IBM providers return the
reduces the probability of the effect of noise, it does not eliminate it. results to an aws cloud to recompose the results. This is a solution
The following link is a blog article introducing the utility paper https:// one may implement to optimize cost and services offered by different
research.ibm.com/blog/utility-toward-useful-quantum. providers

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and then combine the results. Figure 2 contains an example nomial quantum speedup and advancing theory to design
of code demonstrating the advancement of runtime services algorithms based on intermediate depth circuits that can
and provision of multi-cloud environments for circuit-knit- outperform state-of-the-art classical methods.
ting. Broadly these are categorized into three areas:
1. Problems looking to simulate nature at the microscopic
4.5 Advancements Coming
dimension-scale level where it follows quantum-behav-
ior,
In the longer-term horizon, academics are investigating
2. Linear algebra (e.g., Machine-learning & Artificial Intel-
ways of inputting quantum information into qubits di-
ligence)
rectly from quantum sensors and sources, opening further
3. Certain types of optimization problems [77] but not all
applications of quantum computing.
[78].
In the mid-term, the creation of a computer with tens
of thousands of qubits and enough error correction would
progress us beyond the NISQ era into the fault tolerant era. 5.1 Emerging Research Fields in Quantum
Such devices would be capable of implementing algorithms Computing for Data Bases
like Shor’s algorithm at a scale can tackle a larger set of
problems such as break RSA encryption. An introductory Optimization, simulation of systems with innate quantum
course was recently launched here [76]. effects, and the solution of liner systems of equations are
In the near-term, the estimated timeline of the advent of technological areas that are expected to benefit from quan-
significant quantum advantage4 has been accelerated by the tum computers; resulting in the ability to solve problems
implementation of the advancements in this section. A fi- considered to be NP-hard, improvements in accuracy or
delity of Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) to 99.99% or speed depending on the application. Industrial analyses of
higher is the target for early 2025 to provide a chip suitable companies have heretofore focused on product oriented use-
breakdown larger problem statement into smaller solvable cases. These are also beginning to expand their experience
subcomponents of the order of 100 qubits. The creation to prepare their business and data workflows.
and implementation of novel modular architectures designs Three reviews prepared specifically for data base en-
that allow parallelization (with classical communication) of gineers are: this 20 min video [79] introducing quantum
circuit execution; novel error correction methods combined computing, and illustrating a use for join order optimiza-
with the latest advancements of circuit knitting would allow tion with coded example; and this review on opportuni-
the implementation of use cases that can be implemented ties for optimization of queries and transaction schedules
on superconducting quantum processors that are 100 qubits which includes a table comparing 7 approaches for op-
in size with a circuit depth of 100 layers. The community timization of databases and the current estimates for re-
is focusing on exploring applications of quantum comput- source sizes and types required to solve the problem [80],
ing that will be possible on systems with these enhanced and this review that summarizes literature in the fields of
systems by late 2024–2025. Database search, Database Manipulation, Database Query
Optimization, Transaction Management with Quantum Ma-
chines [81].
5 Applications Recent advancements after this review have occurred in
the areas of optimization for join reordering [82–84]; multi-
Which brings us to the key question industry leaders are query optimization [85, 86]; index tuning [87]; database
racing to answer: When will we reach quantum advantage transactions [88]; and schema matching [89]. The impor-
in different application domains? This will occur gradually tance of data mapping formulations is illustrated in refer-
for different domains, and that certain areas are attracting ence [86], where a method to directly map from the math-
more focus as they lend themselves well to current quantum ematical formulation to the quantum implementation lead
computing paradigms. to an algorithm on a gate-based quantum computer that
They are looking to gain experience in how to integrate is more efficient than solutions previously suggested on
these technologies safely into their workflows. They are quantum annealer computers for multi-query optimization.
also driven to identify problems that admit a super-poly- It shows promise that can be verified once the quantum
computing technology improves to allow larger sized prob-
4 Quantum Advantage is used here to mean: the ability to solve some-
lems to be solved.
Quantum Machine Learning (QML) [90] features heav-
thing using a quantum computer that is not feasible or possible on
a classical computer, or of significant business advantage (significantly ily in data base research. A comprehensive review on QML
faster ore more precise). [91] identifies and classifies algorithms and applications

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presented in 94 papers, from a pool of over 5000 publi- 4. Material Science and Quantum-Centric-Supercomputing
cations. QML faces challenges in outperforming classical [105].
machine learning algorithms, areas. Current debates and
theoretical proofs probe the question whether it is possi- They are defining the potential areas of interest and value
ble for quantum computers to outperform classical state- that will be possible to solve with the enhanced capabili-
of-the art machine learning methods [92]. The scalability ties of the systems expected in the next two years and have
of variational quantum algorithms (VQAs), a type of opti- published these open innovation topics in white papers ref-
mization algorithm that incorporates QML, appears to be erenced in the list above. There is a subset of topics that lend
impeded by barren plateaus in the data, however recent ad- themselves to open innovation, such as to solve regulatory
vancements propose paths to address the challenge of baren necessities and to share cost burdens, such as sustainability
plateaus [93, 94] the possibility of super-polynomial advan- and the replacement of toxic materials.
tages [95] and identify a subset of problems that may have In Germany, the National Ministry for Economy and
the potential to be learned faster on a quantum system [96]. Climate protection (BMWK) is centralizing the results of
I/O bottlenecks and circuit length restrictions are the usecase research and accelerating the economic develop-
main hardware bottlenecks. Alternative data representa- ment through a sponsored project “PlanQK”5 through the
tions, such as vector distance representations, would enable creation a platform and ecosystem activities. The BMWK
more data ingestion, and current solutions will focus on invested 740 million Euros into the “Quantum Computing
hybrid architectures where the activity being resolved by Initiative” (QCi) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)6
the quantum computer can be returned in a few minutes or to accelerate development through new research and en-
hours. Integration of research advancements in qubit device gineering teams and partnerships with Industry, Startup
materials, quantum processor architecture, and mitigation and Academia. The Ministry for Education and Research
into production will increase total expected gate counts to (BMBF) has invested significantly in usecases and enabling
5000 gates possible per calculation by the end of 2024; technologies [106]. As well as a Quantum Computing User
7500 gates in 2026, 10,000 gates in 2027; 15,000 gates Network (QuCUN) [107], with a total investment of 1.1 bil-
in 2028, an estimated 100M gates when error correction lion Euros planned by the end of 2025.
is fully implemented (planned 2030); and one billion by Collaborative research centers have come together in the
2033. “Quantum Alliance” [108], and various regional hubs and
networks have also been established, e.g., Q-Lab at Uni-
5.2 Partnerships and Networks Exploring Use Cases versität Bunderwehr Quantum [109], Competence Center
Quantum Computing Baden-Württemberg [110], Center for
Industry pioneers have been developing partnerships with Quantum Technology and Applications (CQTA)—DESY,
quantum computing service providers and industrial consor- Zeuthen [111] “Munich Quantum Valley” [112], “Quan-
tia to pool resources and to jointly explore the value and po- tumBW” [113], Quantum Technology Brandenburg [114],
tential of these new techniques and algorithms. The modes Quantum Valley Lower Saxony [115], and Berlin Quantum
of collaboration are influenced by the industry. An industry Alliance [116].
insights report by McKinsey [97] provides an overview of
common industries.
QUTAC, the German Industry Consortium, has been 6 Getting Started
looking at applications [98] on 1) material science 2) engi-
neering & design 3) production & logistic 4) post-quantum 6.1 How to Start—Technology Adoption Journey
security.
Use cases in finance and logistics [97, 99–101] may also We can draw parallels to the adoption journey of companies
overlap with use-cases in data science and management, introducing quantum technologies with that of the adoption
such as looking for better ways to deal with incomplete of data science and machine learning, to help the reader
data or reducing the complexity of models. interested in introducing quantum computing in their or-
Over 200 industrial and academic End-users of IBM ganization.
Quantum Partner Network have created four expert focus In certain industries, being the first adopter of a technol-
groups to identify area of most immediate potential and ogy can create a significant advantage over competitors, for
value, and have published these in four white papers: example how internet service and content streaming com-
panies embraced machine learning for their analytics trans-
1. Healthcare and Life Sciences [102]
2. High Energy Physics [103] 5 https://planqk.de/.
3. Optimization [104] 6 https://qci.dlr.de/en/start/.

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formed the way we purchase and consume services. It takes provision in place for continuous technical development of
several years before the technology is fully introduced. The employees.
process typically follows: Widespread adoption—The tools and technology ma-
Socialization—where the leadership and/or members of ture so that non-specialists can produce a result of value
the organization are made aware of the technology and po- without intimate knowledge of the system. In data sci-
tential capabilities and colleagues or leadership need to be ence and machine learning we are beginning to see this
convinced of the value of investing time and resources now. in some organizations that started their adoption journey
This can typically involve advanced business development, several years ago.
technology and engineering teams and the internal IT ser- A detailed technology and application roadmap accel-
vice providers. A senior executive sponsor with a long- erates innovation by helping identify skills gaps, prepar-
term view which can remove procedural and organizational ing expectations and seeding invention of new capabili-
barriers in introducing a new technology and new business ties. national advisory committees have released roadmaps
stress such as a CTO, CIO or CEO of an organization is vital for Quantum Computing and Enabling technologies, e.g.
for a serious exploration. Gaining their support is done by UK [117, 118], Netherlands [119], Germany [120], France
communicating how current investments would help gain [121], Spain [122]. IBM’s recently updated and detailed
competitive advantage in the market when quantum advan- roadmap available is available here: [123], it is the most
tage arrives. comprehensive to date, with detailed expected gate and
Exploration—A small team explores maturity and po- qubit count of devices until 2033+. It separates research
tential applications part-time or through external consul- and development roadmaps to clearly communicate the re-
tants, partnerships with quantum computing manufacturers search that feeds into the development roadmap of produc-
or startups. Tools and technology are still in a graded-mat- tion features in hardware, software libraries and middleware
uration process. The final section of this document refers to [124]. Experts and leadership in organizations consuming
open-source learning materials that would be of value. Fur- quantum computing services monitor these roadmaps and
ther support in the organization is enabled through practical internalize this knowledge to identify unique value propo-
exemplary use cases published by competitors. sition and areas to apply quantum computing. In the next
Pioneer/Expert Onboarding—The small team is ex- sections we provide an overview of resources to help orga-
panded into a larger team of technical experts in the organi- nizations start their quantum journey.
zation identified for cross-skilling. The organization sets
aside resources to build internal competence. These ob- 6.2 Getting Started—Areas that do not Need an
tain induction courses in the technologies to skill them to Advanced Degree in Quantum Science
identify potential use cases in their daily work. The cross-
skilling of internal domain experts and business veterans There are many opportunities to contribute to this era of
to gain quantum competence is invaluable in the identify- quantum computing with little or no-training in quantum
ing technical problems that may be capable to address with computing.
quantum computers soon and prioritize those of significant A significant improvement in speed and capabilities in
value to the business. the machines has come from improvements in classical con-
Dedicated team/Partial adoption—The organization’s trol electronics, software engineering and business process.
leadership finds enough value or recognizes that the time-
frame required to have a skilled workforce that can integrate 6.3 Getting Started—Building a Competency
into their organization. These may still need to create their Framwork
own tools and are experimental. They enable adoption in
parts of their organization. Technical expertise and internal The introduction of a new technology requires the devel-
technical acumen are vital for effective algorithm develop- opment of a competency framework, change management
ment. and learning resources. A successful framework will reflect
Change-management—The organization’s processes corporate values and should also include consideration to
that are streamlined to focus efforts on existing business ethical technical development, and an overview of soft skills
may impede progress. A sponsor within the organization as well as technical competencies and the levels of compe-
needs to provide systems, modifications to assessment cri- tency that are required within the different layers of the
teria and resources to create space for employees to be able organization.
to progress. Often this is supported by Human Resources In addition to a range of classical engineering disciplines,
or a senior director in the company with budget decision technical production and support roles are an increasing ne-
authority, in some companies there is also a culture or cessity for reliable system design, product design and man-

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agement, quality control, security, hybrid cloud and com- the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the na-
pute, to name a few. tional metrology institute of Germany.
More importantly we need to be more flexible in our For Germany, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und
hiring and role definition. We are still thinking in silos and Forschung (BMBF) started the initiative Quantum Futur
layers in terms of competency and expertise. Whereas there Education [133] with nine projects to develop and imple-
is a need for people with one specialization that can aug- ment quantum educational strategy.
ment it with a second. For example, we require mathemati- One big challenge for all these initiatives is to understand
cians with the skill to develop efficient code, to make algo- the concrete skilling needs from the industry: identify the
rithms that can make the most of limited resources—on the different roles and training needs. In contrast to existing
boundary between middleware and circuits. We also need university courses, the aim is not necessary on understand-
skilled assembly language level programmers and control ing the mathematics and physics or even on understanding
automation experts with an ability to understand the physics any details. Currently the industry focus is on enabling two
of a qubit and optimize its performance for efficacy—on main tracks: business and technical. Technical leads seek
the boundary between circuits and hardware. People with help from consultants and industry consortia to find ways
a technical background and industry knowledge are also re- to communicate the value of such an unfamiliar und un-
quired, this requires years of experience and is best solved relatable technology to the leadership, and the urgency to
by training experienced employees in collaboration with upskill existing employees to ensure that the workforce has
fresh graduates. For example, a machine learning expert the domain and organizational knowledge to successfully
with knowledge in finance or working on a production line, introduce a high technology into the organization. There is
and the interest to upskill to be able to apply quantum ma- a particular interest in upskilling existing technical experts
chine learning. in corporations with the competency and methodology for
identifying suitable applications and quantum technologies.
6.4 German and European Activities for Quantum technologies9 span beyond quantum computing
Competency Building and Frameworks to include sensing and communication. Advances in these
technologies complement each other.
How to build the future quantum workforce has become
a research interest in several groups in the last years, in Eu- 6.5 Getting Started—Resources
rope [125–128] as well as in the United States [129–131].
The coordination of European quantum activities is in the Academia, enthusiasts, professional bodies, and compa-
responsibility of the Quantum Flagship Coordination Ac- nies that are developing quantum computing have created
tion and Support (QUCATS). Educating the workforce is a wealth of content. Massive Online Courses have been
one important aspect, with activities in supporting the de- made available for different levels of expertise on popular
velopment of programs and the establishment of best prac- learning platforms such as Coursera, Edx.org, MITxPRo.
tices. Therefore, the European Quantum Readiness Center7 There are even courses for highschool level entry through
is in the making, currently providing, e.g., a playlist of se- the QubitXQubit coding school with over 10,000 learners.
lected videos on quantum technology topics. Contents are Hackathons and challenges are a playful and hands-on
structured using the European Competence Framework for way to start. These offer the opportunity to work with oth-
Quantum Technologies [132]. This framework is thought ers on interesting problems and learn. Various other com-
as providing a common language for quantum technology panies invite participants to solve interesting challenges.
education, to enable planning, mapping and comparison of IBM publishes previous summer school content online for
trainings, study programs or similar. It will also be the basis people to learn through videos and exercises. It created the
for developing a certification scheme within the QUCATS largest opensource textbook through the Qiskit.org and has
project to support standardization of quantum technology replaced it with a new interactive learning platform learn-
training. ing.quantum.ibm.com, to improve the learning experience
Other projects focus on providing courses for the indus- into its platform and documentation. The learning platform
try, like QTIndu8 In the EU-founded project, modularized has newly created courses and tutorials by renowned quan-
courses to “make the European industry quantum-ready” tum experts and ability to earn digital badges [135].
are developed by different content creator partners, for Ger- There are also efforts based on research originally from
many this are the Technical University Braunschweig and the University of Oxford in making the methods for sim-
plifying circuits more intuitive through formally proven

7 https://quantumready.eu/#/. 9 For an introduction to quantum technologies we refer the reader to

8 https://qtindu.eu/. a book by one of the authors [134]

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16 Datenbank-Spektrum (2024) 24:5–20

pictographic formalism. Effectively you can perform com- Author Contribution writing—original draft preparation, SMLP &
KK; writing—section on German Competency Projects—SMLP, KK
plicated linear algebra and tensor mathematics using pic- & FG writing—review and editing, All. All authors have read and
togram to simplify circuits [136]. agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Authorship must
For a comprehensive directory of algorithms visit the be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work
Quantum Algorithm Zoo [137] and other tips of where you reported.
can get started are referenced here: [138, 139]. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons At-
A few good places to start for introductory information tribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta-
in German language are: tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as
you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, pro-
 The open lectures by the Hasso Platner Institute [140] vide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes
were made. The images or other third party material in this article are
 An introduction to quantum computing for security ex-
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
perts [141] otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included
 The introductory book on Quantum computing by Matthias in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not
Homeister [142] permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will
need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view
 The German government page on Quantum Technologies
a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.
[143] 0/.
The public can access to real quantum computers on the
cloud since 2015, recently there has been an upgrade to the References
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