IoT Tribe has concluded its Space Endeavour programme with the European Commission. In order to showcase the cutting-edge technologies it has supported throughout the programme, IoT Tribe hosted the Galactic Futures summit in Madrid. Among a great array of speakers and panelists, a top-class panel discussed the use of quantum technologies in SpaceTech and beyond. Really insightful to hear about this cutting edge tech which has huge potential to come to the forefront of digital transformation in the coming years.
December 20th, 2021
IoT Tribe Space Endeavour programme
After 2 years of work, and participation from over 30 companies, IoT Tribe has concluded its Space Endeavour programme with the European Commission.
The development and deployment of European space technologies is a key priority for the European Commission and individual Member States, where the opening market of New Space, which is attracting increasing levels of investment, is enabling the access of non-traditional players to the exciting and dynamic market of space. At the same time, space itself is becoming more and more prominent and a critical infrastructure in the next generation of the human to cloud digital continuum advances and deployments.
To showcase the cutting-edge technologies IoT Tribe has supported throughout the Space Endeavour programme, it was hosted the Galactic Futures summit in Madrid on December 14th 2021, at Palacio Neptuno (Calle Cervantes 42).
Even with pandemic restrictions, IoT Tribe had a great array of speakers and panelists from across Europe to reflect on the future of space technologies and what it would mean for surrounding industries.
With over 100 attendees, both virtual and in-person, IoT Tribe is looking forward to witnessing the everchanging face of space tech and seeing how the Space Endeavour alumni play a part in it.
Why quantum technologies will change space and other sectors
IDC recently published its first forecast for the worldwide quantum computing market:
- Spend for quantum computing to grow from $412 million in 2020 to $8.6 billion in 2027
- 6-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50.9% over the 2021-2027 forecast period Most of the spend happening towards to the end of this period as quantum capabilities and use cases continue to develop and adoption grow.
- The forecast includes both core quantum computing as well as enabling and adjacent quantum computing as a service.
- Drivers include
- major breakthroughs in quantum computing technology
- a maturing quantum computing as a service infrastructure and platform market
- the growth of performance intensive computing workloads suitable for quantum technology
Investments will grow at a 6-year CAGR (2021-2027) of 11.3% and reach nearly $16.4 billion by the end of 2027 (includes internal R&D spend). Main technical challenges remain as qubit scaling and error correction.
Tanya Suárez, Founder and CEO at IoT Tribe and BluSpecs Co-Founder, moderated a panel which included Björn Pötter (IQM Computers), Martin Machin (Quantum-South) and Araceli Venegas-Gomez (Qureca). Quantum-South was part of the Cohort #1 in the Space Endeavour programme in 2020.
According to recent research by IDC “For many critical problems, classical computing will run out of steam in the next decade and we will see quantum computing take over as the next generation of performance-intensive computing”. The panel covered where the intersection between space and quantum technologies lies and why should the organizations participating in Galactic Futures pay attention to this space.
IQM is a leading quantum computing hardware company and a key player in Europe’s vibrant quantum ecosystem. As with any adoption of complex technologies, the development of basic infrastructure comes first, with complex applications and use cases developing in tandem over time. Björn commented about the degree customers already know what they want and how the organisations want to experiment.
For industrial customers, IQM delivers quantum advantage through unique application-specific co-design approach. Björn commented all aspects where quantum is present, from devices to software, including spacetech enabled applications.
Araceli founded QURECA, the first online platform for quantum training and resourcing, to support individuals and businesses to be part of the quantum revolution. In terms of businesses, security is one of the most critical issues that industries face. Araceli elaborated till what extent quantum computing is part of the problem or part of the solution.
Currently, one of the major challenges the space sector faces is related to space communication. Araceli provided her views on what could be the solutions to bring the quantum communications to space and how quantum technologies could increase the encryption within the space sector and which barriers it can overcome.
A recent report from Airbus mentioned that Cargo Management is one the key challenges the airlines are facing now. Martin elaborated about how the integration of quantum computing technologies can help business to overcome this issue. Quantum-South has been working in the air cargo load optimization problem since 2019 when they become finalists in the Airbus Quantum Computing Challenge and is planning to launch a product in 2022.
The organizations are increasingly getting ready to understand and prepare for the adoption of quantum/space technologies. Quantum-South solutions should be integrated in the digital transformation initiatives of air cargo companies, starting with business cases and proof of concepts that will help to realize the economic impact of the technology. In the case of air cargo load optimization, loading containers into an aircraft, in 2022 Quantum-South will be ready to deliver working solutions for freighters like Airbus A330-200F and Boeing 747-400 with quantum annealers. The return on companies’ operational expenditure will be related to the savings obtained by a better fleet usage, for example improving the cargo load factor.
The panel concluded talking about the industries and sectors that are likely to benefit from technologies that are born from the Quantum / Space intersection.
According to Tech Crunch, unlike in most other digital technologies, Europe is well positioned in the global quantum race. The panel argued how well Europe is positioned to become a serious challenger to the U.S. and China.
