Here's how quantum computing will revolutionize the world

Frontier technologies in the insurance industry can be summarized in the acronym DARQ: Distributed ledger technology (D), Artificial intelligence (AI), extended Reality (XR) and Quantum computing (Q). All of these, except quantum computing, are already seeing a fair amount of use in the insurance field, albeit experimental applications. According to Accenture, individual DARQ technologies are already making a difference in all market sectors. 89 percent of companies (93 percent in insurance), are currently experimenting with one or more DARQ technologies, believing them to be key drivers of competitiveness and productivity. Artificial intelligence plays a very important role in optimizing processes and influencing strategic decision-making; XR is an immersive technology that can create new ways for people to experience and interact; Distributed Ledger, better known as blockchain, is expanding networks and functionality by eliminating the need for trusted third parties. And then we come to the currently most extreme frontier: Quantum Computing, the most experimental of the DARQ technologies that will likely in the future enable new ways to address and solve the most challenging computational problems.

Quantum computing to combat fraud

Computer science experts agree on one point: quantum technologies may have epochal significance. These are studies in their infancy, but with the potential to break through the barriers of classical computing, introducing new ways to tackle and solve highly complex computational problems. Quantum Computing applies Quantum Theory and Quantum Mechanics to create next-generation computers, hundreds of millions of times more powerful than the computers in use today, which are still assembled from chips and silicon. It exploits the laws of Quantum Mechanics to provide exponential performance improvement in data analysis applications, and to potentially enable entirely new computing contexts. Quantum computers can process massive and complex data sets much more efficiently, enabling, for example, insurance companies to improve and expand predictive and risk modeling.

​The main advantages

The main areas of application of quantum computing are:

Optimization: the search for the optimal solution among several possibilities, useful for example in logistics.

Simulation of scenarios and behavior of complex systems, such as the structure of new molecules for the pharmaceutical industry.

Recognition and classification, for example in anti-fraud activities.

Because of these applications, the main industries that have begun to invest in quantum computing are banking and insurance, pharmaceutical companies, automotive, energy, and aerospace.

For example, quantum computers could revolutionize the financial sector through complex scenario simulation capabilities for market forecasting, portfolio optimization, and risk management. In Pharma, quantum computing could enable a superior understanding of molecular structures, and thus have a major impact on new drug research and efficacy. In Automotive, interesting applications are expected in R&D, management of particularly complex supply chains.

A turnover of 106 billion

Also according to a McKinsey study, an important place in the chessboard of innovation processes that will mark the course of the decade belongs to quantum technologies. The potential turnover of this sector is expected to reach $106 billion in 2040, up from about ten consolidated at the end of 2022, while the economic value that quantum computing could go on to generate (in the four industries most susceptible to take up its benefits, namely automotive, chemical, financial services, and life sciences) is calculated, at its best projection, at $1.270 billion by 2035.