Quantum physics vs. quantum information in quantum tech
Towards a decision-making framework for assessing quantum tech companies
Quantum computing isn't the only technology being developed that takes advantage of quantum mechanics. You've probably come across some others as well, like quantum sensing, quantum cryptography, and the quantum internet.
It's useful to have some map of how all of these technologies fit together. I've tried to make one in the past, but I was never entirely satisfied with it. I've seen others do it as well, and I think there are some great infographics out there (see e.g. here), but somehow they don't achieve what I'm trying to get at.
A common approach, which I also initially adopted, was to break things into quantum sensing/imaging, quantum communication, quantum computing, and post-quantum crypto.
My problem with this is that I'm not sure what insight is supposed to be gained from this categorization. It presupposes some kind of lens, but that lens is not explicit. And various things within each category are there with caveats.
I want to try a different approach, which may be more rudimentary, but might be more flexible. The approach is to categorize the technologies along different dimensions (or axes). These axes might take on a binary classification or a spectrum. For each axis, one would also need to identify some correlated factors, to help with gaining new insights and decision making.
The ultimate goal is to have a set of mental models, a decision-making framework of sorts, that is appropriate for your lens (investor, government official, job-seeker, etc.) and for your goals.
A tall order indeed! But let's see how we go.
For simplicity, we can start with two axes. The two I find most natural to start with are: does the technology use quantum physics, and does it need quantum information?
