Toward a quantum future for South Africa

Quantum mechanics is a theory that has been in existence for about a century and has given birth to disruptive technologies such as the laser and the transistor. Recent advances in the engineering of quantum states have given hope for a “second quantum revolution” to realize new quantum-inspired technologies for enhanced medical imaging, efficient light-harvesting, secure optical communication networks, exponentially faster computers, and more precise measurement systems. Quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum metrology and sensing are core technologies of the fourth industrial revolution and closely related to groundbreaking developments in fields such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The potential economic benefits and the jostling for an advantage have encouraged countries and regions to establish strategic quantum initiatives,¹ including in the United Kingdom,² Europe,^3,4 the United States,^5,6 Japan,⁷ and Canada⁸ to name but a few. In the so-called BRICS countries (Brazil–Russia–India–China–South Africa), China was an early adopter⁹ with active programs now running in Russia,¹⁰ India,¹¹ and Brazil.¹² 

The budget of many of these programs exceeds the billion US Dollar (USD) mark, covering topics that include quantum information processing, quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum metrology and sensing. The largest spent investment is arguably that of China,⁹ placing them at the forefront of the global quantum network with investments dating back to 1998 and already totaling close to a billion USD, key to realizing the Micius satellite quantum link between two Earth locations separated by approximately 1200 km,¹³ while commercial investment in quantum computing has seen the quantum advantage demonstrated.¹⁴ The United Kingdom's significant investment has seen substantial university-industry collaborations, primarily with a photonics slant, a key driver of the second quantum revolution.^15,16

Quantum research in South Africa had a brief tenure in the 1920s when Sir Basil Schonland worked on the atomic structure while at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and steadily gained traction until firmly established at least as far back as the 1970s, initially focused on nuclear physics. For decades, this status quo held sway with quantum research a niche topic within the broader theoretical physics community. It was only in this century, from the early 2000s, that quantum research expanded exponentially; the first paper in the spirit of the second quantum revolution broadened the traditional scope to include computer algorithms¹⁷ and later experimental research followed too, including the first tests with weak coherent states for quantum key distribution,¹⁸ quickly followed by the first experimental demonstration in Africa of entangled states.¹⁹ The situation is visualized in Fig. 1, where one notes the surge in the number of publications per year after the year 2000 with a clear trend for future growth. The current research output is just under 200 publications per year.

The explosion in activity from the early 2000s can be traced to the establishment of a quantum center at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) with a focus on quantum information processing and communications. Activities quickly expanded to other centers across the country, shown in Fig. 2, mostly from 2010 onwards. Today, the landscape is sparse but stable with three major centers at UKZN, Stellenbosch University (SU), and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) with emerging centers at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Nelson Mandela University (NMU), the University of Zululand (UZulu), the University of Pretoria (UP), and the National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA). The activities can be grouped into three broad technology categories: (1) quantum metrology and sensors, (2) quantum communication, and (3) quantum computing.

Quantum communication research began in earnest after the quantum stadium demonstration at the 2010 FIFA World Cup²⁰ with activities across four main centers (UKZN, CPUT, Wits, and SU), theoretical-only research at a further three (NMISA, CSIR, and UP), and classical-only work at a further two (University of Johannesburg and NMU). The community is small with nine active researchers. Despite this, there have been pioneering work with structured light for quantum information processing^21–23 that include the first high-dimensional entanglement with spatial modes for communications²⁴ and self-healing quantum states.²⁵ Seminal contributions to quantum tools include quantum channel analysis,^26–28 high-dimensional state engineering,²⁹ and measurement of high-dimensional states.^30–32 Advances toward a quantum network have included network verification,³³ on-chip plasmonic solutions,^34,35 and entanglement swapping³⁶ as well as the state-of-the-art in number of dimensions and nodes in a quantum secret sharing network.³⁷ 

The quantum computing community (UKZN, Wits, SU, UP, UJ, UCT) is the largest of the three and received a further boost in 2019 with Wits becoming the first African institute to join the IBM Q Network, providing access to the 20-qubit IBM Q to all South African and African universities. Today, the community has approximately 13 full time researchers actively working in the field and has produced noteworthy advances in quantum random walks,^38,39 quantum control,⁴⁰ open quantum systems,⁴¹ and pioneering work on quantum neural networks,⁴² quantum machine learning,⁴³ and quantum processes in the brain.⁴⁴ The popularity in quantum computing can be seen through the number of completed jobs through the IBM Q access: $≈ 100$ per month in 2019, rising to $≈ 4000$ per month in 2020, and on track to more than double this in 2021.

Quantum metrology and sensors is an emerging field in South Africa with six researchers distributed across several centers (SU, Wits, UCT, NMISA, UZulu, CPUT), focusing on quantum metrology standards, nano-technology, quantum plasmonics, and quantum imaging. Work in collaboration with the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has seen seminal advances in ion-trapping^45,46 as a quantum simulator and for precise measurements.

Despite the successes, South Africa has no commercial companies that are directly involved in the development and commercialization of quantum technology, and lack of critical mass means the existing groups are fragile, in many instances reliant on a single key person. In the recent decade, approximately 100 post-graduate students have graduated with a quantum technology theme with about 70 presently in the system (in 2021).

Quantum activity in Africa is at an equally low level but has the potential to catch up quickly if the large youth numbers can be mobilized toward our quantum future. In this regard, South Africa is driving several educational and outreach activities, including Quantum Africa, a continental workshop hosted by South African (2010, 2012, and 2019), Morocco (2014), and Tunisia (2017) with Rwanda planned for 2022. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) has launched “Quantum Leap Africa,” funded by the government of Rwanda and by private donors, with the vision to place Africa on the leading edge of quantum science and technologies for the future. The Quantum Leap Africa facility at the AIMS Rwanda center already hosts approximately 20 researchers and 60 post-graduate students. OneQuantum, an on-line quantum forum has opened an African Chapter to foster continental networking, while the IBM Q network node at Wits provides quantum computer access to all African institutes. Thus, although small and fledgling, there is strong evidence that a vibrant quantum technologies community is emerging on the continent.

In March 2021, the executive of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) approved the South African Quantum Technologies Initiative, SA QuTI. The proposal document suggests a budget on the order of USD 5 million per annum, modest in relation to other national strategies but significant when compared to existing funding for quantum research in the country. A small spend means a tighter focus with SA QuTI to concentrate efforts in quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum sensing, working toward a national quantum network, novel quantum imaging systems, and quantum software development (“apps”) rather than hardware development. SA QuTI will initially be co-ordinated through a consortium of five Universities, three main centers and two emerging centers, as well as the Center of High Performance Computing (CHPC) as the provider of the quantum computing infrastructure. SA QuTI seeks to “create the conditions for a globally competitive research environment in quantum technology and to grow a local quantum technology industry in South Africa,” doing so through a set of nine key recommendations that speak to education and training, capacity building for critical mass at existing centers and the establishment of new quantum centers, flagship projects to create a common goal for the community, and technology transfer and development, aided by legislation and validation. Although the recommendations appear to follow a traditional development path, they have been constructed to have maximum impact when delivered together. The hope is that they will see the rapid growth of a quantum community in South Africa, addressing critical mass at existing nodes, succession planning at all major nodes through emerging chairs, and the establishment of new centers at previous disadvantaged institutes through the placement of new chairs and emerging chairs. For example, well trained post-graduates from existing centers could become the next generation of emerging chairs at previously disadvantaged institutes, thus transferring and building capacity across the country. Importantly, the recommendations speak to lobbying government for legislative changes, working closely with standard institutes to drive quantum validation and certification, and establishing industry clusters in quantum technology, to give a voice to industry through self-organized representation. The close involvement of government ministries is key to the strategy's vision to create an environment for the deployment of quantum technologies, e.g., that encryption should become quantum by some agreed trigger point, that an economic zone is created for quantum technologies to encourage local production, and that NMISA becomes the driver for quantum standards in Africa. The challenge going forward for SA QuTI is to create this quantum ecosystem, where science leads to innovation, and innovation to economic benefit.

SA QuTI has attracted seed funding for 2021 with full implementation to start in 2023. The vision is to prepare South Africa for the rise in quantum technology, for example, to be both intelligent buyers and users of technology, as well as to both develop and deploy home grown technology. SA QuTI, therefore, seeks to grow a national quantum industry—secure communication networks for our mature financial services, quantum apps to lower the barrier to quantum computing for our industry, and modern quantum metrology underpinning standards and validation. With our high youth and unemployment numbers (both among the highest in the world), we hope to train a quantum workforce that will see us into the future. Using South African as a platform, SA QuTI would endeavor to influence and advance quantum science across the continent, accelerating South Africa and Africa into the quantum future.

The authors have no conflicts to disclose.

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.