Helmut Katzgraber (55North): Why materials simulation beats optimization for near-term quantum

Yuval Boger interviews Helmut Katzgraber, general partner at 55North and former quantum leader at AWS. They discuss Helmut’s view that the most promising near- to mid-term quantum applications are in quantum simulation for materials, chemicals, and pharma, rather than optimization. They also explore European competitiveness, venture opportunities across the quantum stack, cloud and on-prem deployment models, and the workforce and product skills needed to turn quantum ideas into successful companies.

Transcript

Yuval: Hello, Helmut, and thank you for joining me today.

Helmut: Hi, Yuval. Nice talking to you again.

Yuval: So who are you and what do you do?

Helmut: My name is Helmut Katzgraber. I have had several different roles in the past, and now I’m general partner at 55North, which is a VC fund focused on quantum technologies out of Denmark and to the world.

Yuval: And I realized that I interviewed you two years ago when you were at AWS, and I guess I missed an interview when you were a professor at the University of Texas, right?

Helmut: Yeah, Texas A&M, but let’s not talk about that. That’s long in the past. Long in the past.

Yuval: So now that you’re no longer at AWS, what can you tell me about the quantum world? What have you learned about quantum in the past two years while you were making that transition?