Researchers made a potentially major breakthrough in quantum computing last week, nudging the technology ever-so-gradually toward the concrete from the conceptual. A team of scientists announced a major advancement in the development of “error correction,” the process of fighting the subatomic deterioration that makes most quantum computers today unhelpful for more than research purposes. The commercial quantum company QuEra Computing said it achieved a “significant leap,” in cooperation with Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a joint program between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland. The wider quantum community met the results with cautious excitement: “Assuming the result stands, I think it’s plausibly the top experimental quantum computing advance of 2023,” Scott Aaronson, a computer scientist and director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Quantum Information Center, wrote on his blog. The researchers’ technical achievement is very, very wonky, so I’ll leave it to their manuscript in Nature (or Aaronson’s helpful blog entry) to explain further details to the interested reader. Suffice to say, it seems to be a big deal — and one that comes just as Congress weighs the reauthorization of the National Quantum Initiative Act, which partially funded this very experiment and is currently up for its first five-year extension since former President Donald Trump signed the original bill into law in 2018. As we noted amid last week’s big push from IBM, this is exactly the kind of news researchers love to show Washington as proof of concept for continued funding and support. “For that legislation to pass, the goal is for it to be as uncontroversial and as proven as possible, and a recent breakthrough certainly provides a useful talking point,” said Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of the Chamber of Progress, a center-left tech industry coalition. But that doesn’t mean it’s a lock for future funding. At the end of November the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology passed the bill, but the House of Representatives did not attach it to the National Defense Authorization Act just passed this afternoon. (The next opportunity to tack quantum to a major spending bill will come next month, when Congress must approve the federal appropriations bill it partially punted on in November.) Partisan rancor could threaten the otherwise good vibes surrounding quantum and other tech innovations in Washington — not to mention another oxygen-thirsty topic you might have heard of called “artificial intelligence.” “Garnering attention for quantum in the current tech policy landscape dominated by AI remains an uphill battle, and navigating this environment to secure sufficient recognition and resources for quantum is proving a difficult task,” Hodan Omaar, a senior policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a tech-friendly think tank, told me. Omaar wrote a report in October on the past, present and future of American quantum policy and told POLITICO the NQIA will not be assured until it crosses the Resolute Desk. Still, she added, “These sorts of breakthroughs don't hurt.” | 
