“CUCO, within the CDTI Missions Program, is contributing to the creation of a collaborative platform of leading capabilities in quantum computing that serves to accelerate the deployment of applications with sustainable impact in strategic industries in Spain”
TECNALIA participates in the first major project of quantum computing in business in Spain: CUCO
CUCO; Quantum Computing in Strategic Industries seeks to advance the state-of-the-art of quantum algorithms, and to apply that knowledge to a series of proofs of concept in various strategic sectors of the Spanish economy such as energy, financial, space, defence and logistics. In this context, various use cases will be investigated: Earth observation; the fight against climate change and the environment; traceability of information throughout the supply chain; optimisation and simulation of complex financial calculations; and signals intelligence, to name a few.
CUCO is led by GMV and made up of a consortium of seven companies: Amatech, BBVA, DAS Photonics, Multiverse computing, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech and Repsol; five research centres: BSC, CSIC,DIPC, ICFO and TECNALIA, together with the Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia.
TECNALIA has unique capabilities and expert teams in the disciplines of quantum engineering, computing, optimisation, simulation, development environments and quantum infrastructure for their successful application to problems and needs in business processes. TECNALIA also seeks to harness the potential of this technology for supremacy in Artificial Intelligence, in ultra-secure communications and in high performance sensors.
Artificial intelligence is the key technology of digital transformation
The so-called second quantum revolution is aimed at exploiting the enormous advances that have been made in recent years in the ability to manipulate matter on a quantum level. These advances are boosting rapid developments in the field of quantum computing and will have an enormous impact on Artificial Intelligence, which comprises computer technologies to solve problems of all kinds related to perception, interaction, understanding, simulation, prediction, recommendation, optimisation, etc.
Artificial intelligence is the key technology in digital transformation. The ability of AI to model, infer, decide and act will allow efficient orchestration of autonomous mobility, precise adjustment of energy production to instant consumption, perfect synchronisation of logistics chains to production and supply needs, adaptation of food production to demand, and optimisation of other processes with social, economic and environmental impact.
In order to be prepared when all these technologies are fully deployed, capability building must be done now. Organisations will have to develop a combination of singular and unique talent and create applications with impact. The combination of knowledge and application disciplines required in this new field is difficult to generate and copy and sustained consolidation is needed.
Collaborative platform of leading capabilities in quantum computing
CUCO, within the CDTI Missions Programme, is contributing to the creation of a collaborative platform of leading capabilities in quantum computing that serves to accelerate the deployment of applications with sustainable impact in strategic industries in Spain.
To achieve this overall objective, the project revolves around four key elements:
- Focus on creating a portfolio of complementary and meaningful business cases. The current limitations of quantum computing platforms condition the generation of commercially practical solutions. For this reason, complementary and relevant business cases have been selected that address issues from multiple industries that can be scaled in complexity. So, as hardware evolves, native algorithmic solutions in quantum technologies developed in the project can easily be scaled and respond to the full complexity of the problems addressed.
- Development of native quantum computing technology for each type of business case problem. This will address the generation of proprietary technology in data and algorithmic coding approaches to business case problems: optimisation, machine learning and simulation, both quantum native and hybrid and quantum inspired.
- Strengthening of a specialised and open community in the conceptualisation, identification and development of integral solutions. The strong interaction of the teams of participating companies and public research bodies, and collaboration with other entities in an open scheme, is a way of accelerating learning and strengthening an ecosystem geared towards quantum applications with an impact on the industrial fabric.
- Contribution to closing the market gap. The success in the market of applications, products and services derived from quantum computing technologies requires the creation of compact ecosystems that help to forge the supply and demand of specific solutions in these technologies. The project is precisely geared towards domains where the potential demand for this type of solution has strengths: more compact value chains, greater number of agents in the value chain of application, better competitive position, direct access to global stakeholders that act as a driving force, influence on regulatory aspects and standardisation, associated policies, etc. The aim of all this is to contribute to closing the market gap from the earliest stages.
Strategically, at the end of the project, the first critical mass capabilities for the development of quantum computing solutions will have been developed, contributing to the generation of a unique ecosystem in this field in Spain.
This article is part of a series of three articles devoted to explaining several of the use cases that have been selected by the project partners and will be investigated over the next three years.
Authors of the articles
- Esther Villar Rodríguez, Team Leader: Quantum Technologies / DIGITAL at TECNALIA
- Guillermo Gil Aguirrebeitia, Impact Development: Quantum Technologies / DIGITAL at TECNALIA
- Antón Makarov Samusev, Data Scientist at GMV
- Rosalia Esquivel Méndez, Project Manager at GMV
- Jorge Luis Hita, Quantum computing researcher at BBVA
- Carlos Garcia Meca, Director of Research at DAS Photonics
**This project is funded under the CDTI Missions Programme and backed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
