What will quantum computing do to industries in the next 10 years

Disrupting 21st-century Drug Discovery and Healthcare.

The field of pharmaceutical research is one of the fundamental areas that quantum computing will completely transform because it is difficult to simulate molecular interactions on an atomic scale on a classical computer because of the computational complexity of these systems. Corporations such as IBM and Google already collaborate with pharmaceutical giants to make the process of drug discovery that is typically a 10-15 year process reduced to only 2-3 years. To illustrate, quantum algorithms would be able to simulate the interaction of millions of combinations of protein folds with the possible drug compounds in parallel, which would have transformed the way we have reacted to pandemics such as the COVID-19. This technology will also allow personalized medicine, in which therapies are customized to individual genetic profiles, and this is possible because with this kind of technology, it only takes a few minutes, as compared to months to process large volumes of genetic data.

Intrusion into Financial Services and Cybersecurity

Quantum computing offers both enormous opportunities and existential threats to the financial sector. On the one hand, quantum algorithms will help optimize trading systems, risk evaluation and fraud detection to unprecedented precision-JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are already spending a lot of money to develop quantum research to optimize their portfolios. Conversely, quantum computers have the potential to crack the existing encryption algorithms (RSA, ECC) that safeguard our banking systems, cryptocurrencies, and other sensitive information. It is this quantum threat that is causing organizations such as NSA to frantically come up with post-quantum cryptography standards. The industries, which process sensitive data, such as banking, defense, healthcare, need to start switching to quantum-resistant encryption today because today malicious actors are already collecting encrypted data to decrypt it after quantum computers become powerful enough.

Changing Supply Chain and Climate Modeling
Global supply chains and logistics will transform because quantum computers will be able to solve complex optimization issues that cannot be solved by their classical counterparts. Firms such as Volkswagen are experimenting with quantum algorithms to optimise traffic flow in real-time over city-wide scales and DHL and Airbus are also experimenting with quantum optimisation of routes potentially saving billions of dollars in fuel costs and cutting carbon emissions by a significant margin. Perhaps most importantly, quantum computers will revolutionize climate science by simulating complex models of the Earth system, which considers millions of variables at once, to predict weather conditions, model the circulation of ocean currents, and simulate climate change scenarios with precision that can be used to make critical decisions. The industries reliant on logistics, manufacturing, and environmental planning ought to begin construction of quantum literacy on their teams immediately to remain competitive in this quantum-powered future.