From quantum FOMO to LoveNuts: a day at RISE

I spent yesterday at the startup event RISE which, according to the organisers, attracted 8,000 to the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre. I didn't see 8,000 people, but that could’ve been because they were nursing hangovers. What the brochures don’t tell you is it’s 24-hour party event.

I never found the conference schedule in the RISE app but it gave a lot of advice on which bars to hit. This is an excellent idea,  especially in Hong Kong where people rack up far too much office time. It understands that the most important element in innovation is collaboration. That doesn’t mean necessarily poring over lab notes together; it's about people connecting to share ideas and build personal and knowledge networks. 

My task was to moderate possibly the only session that didn't mention the word 'unicorn'. The topic was quantum tech, led by two impressively-credentialled experts: Serguei Beloussov, whose day job is running Acronis but who has also founded a VC fund and is a member of government-backed quantum industry bodies in Singapore and Russia. The other was Tomasso Calarco, who rejoices in the title of director of the centre for integrated quantum science and technology at the University of Ulm and Stugggart. He asked to be introduced as the man who had just received a billion-euro grant from the EU to research quantum.

With talent like those, it was an easy session to chair, helped by the fact that by the time they'd completed their presentations we had just ten minutes for discussion.

Tomasso reminded us that quantum mechanics already is put to use in daily applications like GPS, atomic clocks and even the humble transistor – in other words, every electronic device.

But what was interesting was his explanation for the EU's willingness to tip in so much cash. In a word,  FOMO.  Europeans invented the web and GSM cellular, to name a couple, but it’s fair to say it dominates neither technology. They don’t want quantum to get away.

Serguei says it will be maybe 20 years before quantum computing goes mainstream, though some are saying it could be much quicker. Data security is probably the best-known application, and Serguei’s fund, Quantum Capital, is invested in Swiss firm IDQ that provides quantum crypto.

Concealed carry railgun

What I didn’t know is that quantum’s biggest trick looks to be its ability to model new materials. That sounds bland but it means it brings such enormous computing power to bear on a problem that it will massively speed up the modelling of new molecules. New, stronger, lighter materials will emerge.

“You can make a parachute pen or a semiconductor hoverboard,” Serguei told me in our pre-panel briefing. “It’s more dramatic than an A-bomb.”

And almost as scary. Being human beings, we will also put quantum to work making new ways of killing each other – a concealed carry railgun pistol, for example.

That’s one reason why everyone is researching it. The US, Russia, China and the EU all have quantum FOMO. One of the investors in quantum computing pioneer Dwave is the CIA venture arm In-Q-Tel.  Inevitably a good deal of the work is taking place below the radar, so it’s difficult to know just exactly what progress is taking place.

The biggest cheers came for Serguei’s political burns: an AI quantum computer could do a better job than Hillary or Donald, and that governments are an outdated concept.

Back in my reporter role afterwards, I chatted with Matt Dalio, the CEO of Endless OS, which is producing low-cost computers for the “3 billion people not living in poverty but who can’t afford one.” The smartphone is all very well, but there’s so much that can be done on a PC platform that can’t be done on a mobile device - in the classroom for example.  Dalio says the PC user draws typically 20 times more data per month than the smartphone. For that reason he’s finding telcos as willing partners.

The best moment of the day was probably the encounter with LoveNuts, "a smart sex toy designed to help women keep their privacy and avoid embarrassment."

The LoveNut is also a torch, so if anyone wonders what it is you can say "that's a torch and totally not anything I use to pleasure myself."

Genius.