Page 8 - EE Times Europe Magazine | February 2020

6 EE|Times EUROPE

OPINION

Slowly But Surely, France

Moves into Quantum

By Anne-Françoise Pelé

Technological revolution after technological revolution, France
steps back to identify opportunities, assess risks, and defi ne a strat-
egy for growth. Does too much thinking lead to failure? Not always.
In January, French Member of Parliament Paula Forteza presented
a report on France’s quantum strategy. Its title, “ uantum the tech-
nological shift that France will not miss,” outlines clear ambitions Image: Roland Berger/France Digitale
but implies that France has missed out on other technological shifts.
Objectively, France has not been among the fi rst countries to lead In this frenetic race for innovation, France is
the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It came late to the internet and is working out the details of its quantum plan. No
lagging in robotics and automation. The scenario has been the same in big data, data centers, concrete action is announced for the moment.
and cloud computing. And now, France’s 5G spectrum auction will be delayed until at least A detailed roadmap is expected this quarter,
March 2020, three months later than originally scheduled. According to Reuters, the 5G delay but at press time, it had yet to be released.
originates in a disagreement between the French fi nance ministry and France’s telecom author- As I read the government’s 6 -page
ity, Arcep, over the exact size of the spectrum to be auctioned and the auction fl oor price. quantum-computing report and listened to
When it comes to never-ending debates and disagreements, France is the champion in all the two-hour-and- -minute ceremony that
categories. It shouldn’t, however, admit defeat so early. France has a strong institutional, presented its fi ndings, a couple of questions
regulatory, and policy environment, and the excellence of French research in physics and struck me: France acknowledges it is anxious
mathematics is undisputed: On the list of Fields Medal winners by country, France ranks a to invest in quantum technologies, but isn’t
close second to the United States. it entering the ring too late? Won’t it be
French efforts in artifi cial intelligence (AI), initially plagued by a lack of strategic focus, have knocked out in the fi rst round
gained momentum and made signifi cant progress in recent years. Indeed, AI is a good example ric Mounier, fellow analyst at Yole D vel-
of France’s capacity to react and act before it’s too late. oppement (Lyon, France), helped me achieve
the necessary distance to analyze the situation.
THE AI RESURGENCE “We believe it is not too late,” he declared.
“I want France to be a startup nation,” declared French President Emmanuel Macron soon after “Quantum is a complex technology, and it
taking offi ce in 201 — “a nation that thinks and moves like a startup.” Is it there yet Maybe not, requires time for industrialization. Today, we
but successive announcements have moved the country from stagnation to renewal. After spear- are entering a second quantum revolution,
heading a billion plan in 201 to support French-based tech startups over three years, Macron when engineering is needed to develop future
recently raised the bar to €6 billion. quantum systems based on photons, electrons,
Macron also vowed in 201 that France would be a world leader in AI research and innovation. atoms, or molecules. But it will take time.”
To achieve that goal, the government unveiled a 1. billion plan, including 00 million on There are defi nitely grounds for hope, given
competitive calls for proposal and 100 million to help launch AI startups. that, as Mounier noted, “we are strong in R&D,
Sometimes, money and good intentions are not enough. So where does Macron’s “startup especially for quantum technologies, with
nation” stand, two years into his AI initiative A new report, co-authored by consulting fi rm quantum computers being on the roadmap of
Roland Berger and trade association France Digitale, has identifi ed 2 AI-related startups in some French industrial players.” Those include
France, up from 12 in 201 and 1 0 in 2016. Atos, an IT services and consulting company,
The number of startups that have attracted funding is another good indicator of the and Pasqal, a startup building a full-stack
dynamism of France’s AI ecosystem. For the fi rst six months of 201 , French AI startups raised computer running on neutral atoms in D.
US$6 million, compared with US$621 million for the United Kingdom and US$ 2 million for Moreover, Mounier noted, France has numer-
Israel, according to the report, “The Road to AI,” which the pair released last month. ous potential users of quantum computing in
“For the fi rst time, our data show a signifi cant leadership change,” the authors wrote. “Follow- the banking, insurance, fi nance, and aero-
ing its regular average growth of per year, France is expected to score the highest absolute nautics markets. He cited AXA, Thales, BNP
growth, with US$1.2 billion by the end of 201 (projected results for the second half of the year) Paribas, and Airbus, among others.
due to booming investments in Series C during the fi rst half of 201 with ContentSquare, Wynd, France is a solid competitor in the AI race.
Shift Technology, and record fundraising of US$2 0 million for Meero.” If it fulfi lls its promise, the country has a
Figures speak for themselves. It took some time and effort, but France is back in the AI picture. chance to catch up with its international
rivals and be a front-runner in the quantum
IN OR OUT OF THE QUANTUM RACE? race as well.
Not a day goes by without the announcement of further global developments in quantum tech- In technology and other industries, France
nologies. New milestones are reached. New frontiers are opened. In October, Google announced it is indisputably a long-distance runner, not a
had achieved quantum supremacy, claiming its -qubit Sycamore processor was able to perform a sprinter. ■
calculation in 200 seconds that would have taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000
years. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, IBM announced that its newest Anne-Françoise Pelé is editor-in-chief of
2 -qubit quantum computer, Raleigh, had reached a quantum volume of 2, up from 16 in 201 . eetimes.eu.

FEBRUARY 2020 | www.eetimes.eu