Quantum technology becomes a “new outlet” Baidu makes “quantum available to everyone”

At the end of last year, Baidu Research Institute released the top ten technology trend forecasts for 2020, which mentioned that quantum computing will explode, but they did not expect their predictions to come true so quickly.

On October 16, Chinese leaders emphasized in the twenty-fourth collective study on quantum science and technology research and application prospects: “We must fully understand the importance and urgency of promoting the development of quantum science and technology, and strengthen the strategic planning and systematic development of quantum science and technology. Layout, grasp the general trend, and make good first moves.”

Quantum computing has been elevated to a national strategic level.

At the Baidu World 2020 conference just a month ago, Baidu also released a new Yifu platform, which is the first cloud-native quantum computing platform in China. A quantum computer can greatly reduce the cost of developers using quantum technology.

At the same time, Baidu has also comprehensively upgraded the quantum pulse computing service Quantum, the first quantum machine learning development tool in China. By building a quantum ecology with the Baidu quantum platform as the core, it has knocked on the door of the quantum era.

On September 26, Duan Runyao also conducted a unique live broadcast on the Baidu APP with Wang Zhenxing, a graduate student from the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wang Zhenxing, a well-known popular science UP master at station B, which attracted more than 153,000 viewers. It can be seen that the public is also very interested in understanding quantum computing.

Quantum computing has become the focus of attention in terms of national strategy, corporate layout, and the interests of ordinary users. How far is it from us? Where is the quantum computing level of our country?

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The future has come, we have already entered the quantum age

From the emergence of quantum mechanics in 1900 to the gradual implementation of quantum computing, 120 years have passed.

In the past 30 years, we have experienced the rapid development of the global Internet, which can actually be regarded as the era of the first quantum technology revolution. With the advent of computers, in this information age, we have achieved global interconnection through the Internet. Based on the Internet, a series of applications such as content, games, communities, and e-commerce have also been formed, which have greatly enriched our work and life. .

But with the further development of quantum computing technology, we will also usher in the second wave of quantum computing revolution.

Quantum computers have stronger computing power than ordinary computers. For example, the existing quantum computer can complete the computing volume of the world’s first supercomputer IBM Summit in less than 4 minutes for about 10,000 years.

Quantum computer at the Quantum Computing Laboratory in Santa Barbara, California

Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, also mentioned that the most secure password in the world, if you use a supercomputer to decipher it, it will take hundreds of thousands of years to crack, but if you use a quantum computer to crack it, it will be successful in seconds.

Such excellent computing power, when applied to all walks of life, can not only greatly shorten the research and development time, but also may lead to subversive innovation.

On October 27th, in the popular science class event “Baidu Unlimited Quantity, Big Coffee Talks Quantum” held by Baidu, Professor Duan Runyao, director of the Institute of Quantum Computing of Baidu Research Institute, also mentioned that the most popular application of quantum computing is Quantum? The system simulates the real world, and uses the super computing power of quantum computers to predict the development trend of the real world in advance, thereby improving work efficiency.

The US “Times” once predicted that quantum computing will change our world in 9 major aspects, including safer flight experience, exploration of farther cosmic planets, automatic driving of cars, improving the accuracy of weather forecasts, and improving the accuracy of cancer screening. And the efficiency of research and development of therapeutic drugs, etc.

In this way, quantum computing is not far from us, and will be closely related to our lives.

Of course, technology is a double-edged sword. If quantum computing technology is used for evil, it will also have great destructive power. Therefore, various countries and enterprises attach great importance to the research and development and correct application of this technology.

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Great power strategy, quantum computing is a must

At present, countries around the world have fully realized the importance of quantum computing, and have invested real money in this technology:

In 2013, Japan established a quantum science and technology research and development institution, and plans to invest 375 million US dollars in quantum technology research within 10 years;

In 2016, the European Union announced to invest 1.1 billion US dollars to start the “Quantum Flagship” program;

In 2019, Germany invested 650 million euros to start the national quantum plan, and also announced that it will have its first quantum computer in 2021;

In 2019, Russia also proposed a national quantum plan, which will invest $790 million to build a quantum computer within five years;

Since 2019, many countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and India have invested heavily in the field of quantum technology to engage in R&D and talent training;

The United States is also increasing its investment in quantum computing year by year, and their investment in quantum information science in the fiscal year 2021 budget proposal will increase by 50% compared to fiscal year 2020.

Quantum computing has become a necessary scientific research strategy for major countries around the world, and its importance is increasing day by day.

In China, quantum technology is also highly valued. As early as 2001, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established the Quantum Physics and Quantum Information Research Department. In 2011, Tsinghua University also established the Quantum Information Center. In 2016, my country launched the first quantum satellite in human history. “Mozi”, in 2020, quantum computing will be upgraded to a national strategy.

So why did my country choose to propose a strategy of accelerating quantum technology now? Duan Runyao said in the live broadcast that this is due to a combination of factors. In recent years, quantum technology has made great breakthroughs in software, hardware and algorithms. The improvement of the overall understanding level has promoted the progress of the field of quantum research. At the same time, quantum computing has become a new choice in the face of some technological bottlenecks. Under the background of the rise of quantum technology, major developed countries have already launched their layout. In this case, it is inevitable to do a good job in the strategic planning and system layout of quantum technology.

According to statistics from Japanese research institutions, from 2014 to 2018, the United States ranked first in the world with 1,948 research papers in the field of quantum computers; China ranked second with 1,495 papers.

At present, China and the United States also have their own advantages and disadvantages in quantum technology. China is a global leader in quantum communication, and the United States is a leader in quantum computing.

CICC’s report shows that quantum technology is currently in a critical period from scientific research to application. As a member of the first echelon of quantum technology, China’s quantum computing industry is bound to accelerate its development.

The enterprise registration data of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau also confirms this judgment. At present, there are nearly 4,200 enterprises with “quantum” in the business scope in my country, and 87% of the enterprises were established within the past five years.

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Advance layout, Baidu allows “everyone can be quantum”

Quantum computing has entered the fast lane in China. But at the same time, we must also recognize the shortcomings in the development of this field. Xue Qikun, vice president of Tsinghua University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in a recent interview that there are challenges in supporting equipment, key components and talent reserves.

In foreign countries, technology giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all made gains in the field of quantum computing.

Google has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing capabilities in 2019, that is, in the world’s first supercomputing Summit, which takes 10,000 years to calculate, the Google quantum computer only took 3 minutes and 20 seconds; Microsoft also launched a quantum network in 2019. And quantum computing cloud services, the commercialization of quantum computing is also gradually accelerating.

In China, Alibaba and Baidu successively established quantum computing R&D institutions in 2017 and 2018 to promote the development of domestic quantum computing in terms of technology exploration, application implementation and personnel training.

Regarding the future development trend of quantum computing in China, Baidu CTO Wang Haifeng believes: “On the one hand, artificial intelligence technology represented by deep learning framework and cloud computing is expected to play a role in the research and development process of quantum computing software and hardware, such as Baidu Flying Paddle Depth The learning platform includes the quantum machine learning tool set ‘quantum paddle’, which can support developers and researchers to develop quantum artificial intelligence applications more easily; on the other hand, with the development of quantum technology, quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum precision Advanced achievements in measurement and other aspects will also be gradually integrated into the technological development and application of artificial intelligence.”

In the two years since its establishment, the Quantum Research Institute of Baidu Research Institute has achieved three major leaps:

In 2019, the world’s leading quantum pulse system “Quantum Pulse” on the cloud was released. As a bridge connecting quantum software and hardware, the performance indicators of the quantum pulse are very excellent;

In May 2020, the quantum machine learning development tool “Quant Paddle” was released, making Baidu Paddle the first and currently the only deep learning platform supporting quantum machine learning in China;

In September, Yifu, the first cloud-native quantum computing platform in China, was launched to accelerate the pace of commercial applications of quantum computing.

In this popular science class of “Baidu Unlimited Quantum, Big Coffee Talks Quantum”, astrophysics doctor Ma Zhibo also attended the participation, and expressed his appreciation for Baidu’s layout logic in the field of quantum computing. He believes that Baidu’s quantum computing platform is very important. It is a good series of software and hardware and front and back ends in this field.

Quantum Yifu, Quantum Pulse, and Quantity Paddle build a quantum ecology with Baidu Quantum Platform as the core

In just two years, Baidu has become a world-class technology company in the field of quantum computing.
At the beginning of this year, Baidu was included in the list of the top ten quantum computing companies in the world in 2020 selected by the “Analytics Insight” magazine; in addition, the well-known investment consulting company Investor place selected seven quantum computing stocks worth buying in the next ten years, Baidu also cooperated with Alphabet , IBM, Microsoft and other technology companies entered the list together.

In order to tap talents in quantum computing in China, the 2020 Baidu Star Competition also set up a quantum computing competition for the first time, so that the ability of quantum computing can be cultivated from the post-00s generation.

At the Baidu World 2020 Conference, Professor Duan Runyao, director of the Institute of Quantum Computing of Baidu Research Institute, called out the vision of “quantum for everyone”. He hopes that people can have equal access to the cutting-edge technology of “quantum technology”.

On September 26th and October 27th, Professor Duan Runyao participated in Baidu’s two quantum computing science classes. Through live broadcasts and offline salons, he shared the knowledge and cases of quantum computing in simple terms, as well as Baidu Quantum’s current The development status, the latest technological progress and application achievements make more young people feel the changes that quantum technology will bring.

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summary

Although the concept of quantum technology sounds unfathomable, it is not far from us. When we are enjoying the precise navigation of Beidou satellites, when we use more accurate weather forecasts to achieve a bumper harvest, when we use When medicine conquers rare diseases, there will be quantum computing behind it.

On the road of China becoming a quantum computing power, Baidu, as a high-tech enterprise, is also expected to use its technical strength and influence to help China seize the commanding heights of science and technology. We also look forward to the early arrival of the era when everyone can quantum!