This whitepaper surveys the current landscape and short- to mid-term prospects for quantum-enabled optimization and machine learning use cases in industrial settings. Grounded in the QCHALLenge program, it synthesizes hardware trajectories from different quantum architectures and providers, and assesses their maturity and potential for real-world use cases under a standardized traffic-light evaluation framework. We provide a concise summary of relevant hardware roadmaps, distinguishing superconducting and ion-trap technologies, their current states, modalities, and projected scaling trajectories. The core of the presented work are the use case evaluations in the domains of optimization problems and machine learning applications. For the conducted experiments, we apply a consistent set of evaluation criteria (model formulation, scalability, solution quality, runtime, and transferability) which are assessed in a shared system of three categories, ranging from optimistic (solutions produced by quantum computers are competitive with classical methods and/or a clear path to a quantum advantage is shown) to pessimistic (significant hurdles prevent practical application of quantum solutions now and potentially in the future). The resulting verdicts illuminate where quantum approaches currently offer promise, where hybrid classical-quantum strategies are most viable, and where classical methods are expected to remain superior.
This whitepaper surveys the current landscape and short- to mid-term prospects for quantum-enabled optimization and machine learning use cases in industrial settings. Grounded in the QCHALLenge program, it synthesizes hardware trajectories from different quantum architectures and providers, and assesses their maturity and potential for real-world use cases under a standardized traffic-light evaluation framework. We provide a concise summary of relevant hardware roadmaps, distinguishing superconducting and ion-trap technologies, their current states, modalities, and projected scaling trajectories. The core of the presented work are the use case evaluations in the domains of optimization problems and machine learning applications. For the conducted experiments, we apply a consistent set of evaluation criteria (model formulation, scalability, solution quality, runtime, and transferability) which are assessed in a shared system of three categories, ranging from optimistic (solutions produced by quantum computers are competitive with classical methods and/or a clear path to a quantum advantage is shown) to pessimistic (significant hurdles prevent practical application of quantum solutions now and potentially in the future). The resulting verdicts illuminate where quantum approaches currently offer promise, where hybrid classical-quantum strategies are most viable, and where classical methods are expected to remain superior.
Quantum Artificial Intelligence (QAI) has emerged at the nexus of quantum computing and AI, promising to redefine computational frontiers. This survey critically synthesizes the state-of-the- art through 2024, elucidating the profound bidirectional synergy between these fields. We analyze how classical machine learning is accelerating quantum hardware control, circuit optimization, and error correction. Conversely, we assess the potential quantum advantage of algorithms, including variational and kernel-based methods, across domains such as drug discovery, financial modeling, and cybersecurity. Our analysis reveals a critical trade-of between the utility of near-term Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices and the long-term promise of fault-tolerant architectures. We identify fundamental obstacles to QAI’s advancement, including hardware decoherence, algorithmic barren plateaus, and data-encoding bottlenecks. While QAI’s potential is transformative, achieving practical quantum advantage requires a concerted effort to overcome these core challenges at the hardware-software interface. This work provides a roadmap for navigating the current landscape and prioritizing future research in this rapidly evolving discipline. • We introduce a bi-directional Quantum-AI framework, AI-for-QC and QC-for-AI, and provide a practical roadmap for integrating both paradigms across the full stack. • We quantify AI-enabled gains: calibration time drops from 8 hours to 2 hours, circuit depth falls by up to 42%, and ML decoders cut logical error rates by about half. • We synthesize comparative guidance on VQAs, quantum kernels, and hybrid/quantum Transformers, clarifying trainability limits and criteria for credible quantum advantage. • We deliver a clinically grounded playbook for radiology, covering small-data use cases, plug-in hybrid modules, OOD validation, fairness assessments, and TRIPOD/CONSORT-AI reporting.
Quantum computing has emerged as a transformative computational paradigm capable of addressing limitations increasingly encountered by classical computing systems as Moore’s law approaches physical and economic constraints. By leveraging quantum mechanical principles such as superposition, entanglement, and interference, quantum systems offer the potential for significant computational advantages in solving complex problems that are currently infeasible for conventional architectures. This review critically synthesizes recent advances in quantum computing by examining foundational principles, major algorithmic breakthroughs, evolving hardware platforms, and interdisciplinary real-world applications. A structured narrative literature review was conducted using major scientific databases, including PubMed, IEEE Xplore, Nature, ScienceDirect, and arXiv, with emphasis on peer-reviewed studies, landmark foundational research, and major industry developments published between 2018 and 2026. Key findings indicate substantial progress in superconducting, trapped ion, photonic, and topological quantum systems, alongside innovations in algorithms such as Shor’s, Grover’s, variational quantum methods, and quantum machine learning. Despite these advancements, major challenges including decoherence, noise, scalability limitations, and fault-tolerant error correction remain substantial barriers to commercial maturity. Future implications suggest quantum computing may profoundly influence artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, optimization, molecular simulation, and scientific discovery, particularly through hybrid classical-quantum systems and cloud-based democratization. Although practical deployment remains transitional, quantum computing is positioned to become a foundational technology with broad scientific, industrial, and societal implications.
Quantum AI is a new way to think about the future of Artificial Intelligence through the merging of two technologies: quantum computing and advanced machine learning. Quantum AI has the potential to provide solutions to computationally difficult problems that traditional systems cannot solve. Quantum AI's continued success will rely on advancements in hybrid quantum-classical solutions, as well as the expansion of quantum hardware; hence, research remains necessary to conduct systematic benchmarks as well as performance analysis in order to determine both how well quantum AI algorithms perform practically, and where their limitations lie. In this chapter, detailed examinations of benchmarks that have been developed specifically for quantum AI are presented alongside evaluative metrics across various key areas of performance including algorithmic efficiency, scalability, noise immunity, and resource use for various types of quantum architectures. The chapter integrates dialogue between theory and practice to demonstrate ways in which performance metrics (i.e., quantum circuit depth, fidelity, convergence behaviour and computational complexity) can effectively compare Quantum AI algorithms to classical algorithms. Particular attention is given to hybrid variational algorithms, quantum-enhanced optimization algorithms, and quantum machine learning. Using benchmark datasets, simulation frameworks and new evaluation methods, there are several challenges in terms of reproducibility, hardware variability and algorithm/hardware co-design that emerge through analysis of the above metrics as well. Aside from focusing on a more broad view of how Performance Evaluation relates to developing more effective Quantum AI Solutions. In addition to viewing Benchmarking as a technical exercise solely, this chapter provides a more holistic view in relation to a human perspective of the situation. This paper outlines how performance evaluation practices can be used as a considerable and well-designed means of bridging the gap between the promise of Quantum Technology at an abstract level, and the ability of Quantum Technology to produce tangible outcomes in the real world by adopting a more comprehensive Governance-oriented approach to Benchmarking Quantum AI Systems. The purpose of this chapter is to assist the growing community of researchers, practitioners, and Strategic Technology Professionals by providing them with a clear and structured framework for Evaluation of Quantum AI Algorithms. There is a significant focus of the chapter on establishing important reference points that organizations can use to determine when an intelligent system has successfully achieved a true and validated quantum advantage. The ultimate goal is to assist in guiding the responsible development and implementation of Quantum AI to enable the Potential Benefits of Quantum AI to be realized, in ways that are meaningful and impactful.
Quantum computing offers a fundamentally new paradigm for solving complex optimisation and learning tasks by exploiting superposition, entanglement, and other quantum phenomena. Over the past decade, research has increasingly focused on quantum-enhanced approaches to optimisation and machine learning (ML), showing the potential to outperform classical methods in specific settings (Zaman, 2023; Peral-García, 2024). This paper presents a comprehensive review of quantum algorithms for optimisation (e.g., the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm and quantum annealing) and quantum machine learning frameworks (such as quantum support vector machines and quantum neural networks), analysing their theoretical underpinnings, implementation status, and applicability to real-world tasks. Key challenges including hardware noise, limited qubit counts, and algorithmic scalability are examined (Chen, 2024). We also explore hybrid quantum-classical architectures as a near-term route to quantum advantage and propose future research directions aimed at bridging the current gap between quantum algorithm theory and large-scale deployment. Through this synthesis, we aim to provide both academic and practitioner audiences with a clear roadmap for leveraging quantum algorithms in optimisation and ML workflows
The integration of quantum computing and artificial intelligence (AI) constitutes a bidirectional synergy that is reshaping both disciplines. This review investigates the reciprocal relationship in which AI addresses foundational challenges in quantum computing, while quantum computing offers the potential to advance machine learning beyond classical constraints. Recent advancements exemplify this interaction: Google DeepMind’s AlphaQubit neural network decoder has achieved state-of-the-art quantum error correction, improving performance by 6% over tensor networks and 30% over correlated matching methods. Additionally, quantum neural networks have demonstrated exponential improvements in sample complexity for specific learning tasks. This review systematically examines the current landscape of quantum-AI integration across three primary dimensions. First, it addresses AI-enhanced quantum systems, such as transformer-based error correction, reinforcement learning for circuit optimization, and AI-driven hardware calibration. Second, it explores quantum-accelerated machine learning algorithms, including variational quantum neural networks, quantum generative adversarial networks, and quantum reinforcement learning. Third, it evaluates industry deployments in sectors such as life sciences, financial services, climate modeling, and pharmaceutical development. Notable examples include IonQ’s quantum chemistry simulations, which achieved 40% efficiency improvements in carbon capture material design; St. Jude’s identification of KRAS protein inhibitors using quantum machine learning with experimental validation; and JP Morgan Chase’s implementation of quantum portfolio optimization. The analysis indicates that the field has advanced from preliminary demonstrations to production-grade applications, especially in drug discovery and molecular simulation, where quantum computing offers measurable benefits. Nevertheless, several challenges remain, including barren plateaus in variational algorithms, scalability constraints in current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices, requirements for real-time decoding speed, and the necessity for fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC) systems. IBM’s 2029 roadmap, which targets 200 logical qubits capable of executing 100 million gates, together with progress in high-rate quantum low-density parity-check codes, outlines a trajectory toward practical fault tolerance. This review makes two principal research contributions: Comprehensive Evaluation Framework for Quantum Advantage Assessment: We establish the first systematic, integrated methodology for determining quantum computing feasibility that combines problem characterization, resource estimation, quantum advantage assessment, and quantum algorithm paradigm selection. This framework consolidates criteria scattered across academic literature and industry practice into a unified decision-making tool applicable across chemistry, optimization, machine learning, and simulation domains. The framework addresses a critical industry need: enabling non-expert practitioners (chemists, financial analysts, materials scientists) to objectively assess quantum computing suitability without requiring deep quantum expertise. Novel Quantum Resource Optimization Algorithms: We present three concrete algorithmic contributions advancing quantum-AI integration: • Data Encoding Efficiency Algorithm that automatically selects optimal qubit encoding strategies (amplitude vs. angle encoding) minimizing total quantum resource consumption • Error Budget Optimization Algorithm that iteratively determines optimal quantum error correction code distance balancing logical error rate targets against physical qubit overhead • Real-time Hardware Specification Aggregation from multiple quantum cloud platforms (IBM Quantum, Amazon Braket, Google, IonQ) enabling dynamic feasibility assessment as hardware capabilities evolve Combined, these contributions establish quantum computing advantage assessment as a rigorous, data-driven discipline rather than ad-hoc expert judgment. The framework enables strategic quantum computing investment decisions, accelerates problem identification for early quantum utility, and provides a reference methodology for standardizing quantum advantage evaluation across academia and industry. This review synthesizes insights from recent academic literature, industry implementations, and expert perspectives to deliver a comprehensive assessment of quantum-AI synergies grounded in this evaluation framework. The mathematical foundations, ranging from quantum Fourier transforms to Gaussian processes, are examined. Best practices for researchers and practitioners are also outlined. The findings suggest that, although universal quantum advantage has not yet been realized, domain-specific quantum-AI applications in chemistry, optimization, and sensing are achieving practical utility in 2024-2025. This development marks a significant transition from theoretical potential to commercial realization, informed by rigorous evaluation methodologies.
Quantum computing is rapidly emerging as a new computing paradigm with the potential to improve decision-making, optimization, and simulation across industries. For industrial engineering (IE) and operations research (OR), this shift introduces both unprecedented opportunities and substantial challenges. The learning curve is high, and to help researchers navigate the emerging field of quantum operations research, we provide a road map of the current field of quantum operations research. We introduce the foundational principles of quantum computing, outline the current hardware and software landscape, and survey major algorithmic advances relevant to IE/OR, including quantum approaches to linear algebra, optimization, machine learning, and stochastic simulation. We then highlight applied research directions, including the importance of problem domains for driving long-term value of quantum computers and how existing classical OR models can be reformulated for quantum hardware. Recognizing the steep learning curve, we propose pathways for IE/OR researchers to develop technical fluency and engage in this interdisciplinary domain. By bridging theory with application, and emphasizing the interplay between hardware and research development, we argue that industrial engineers are uniquely positioned to shape the trajectory of quantum computing for practical problem-solving. Ultimately, we aim to lower the barrier to entry into quantum computing, motivate new collaborations, and chart future directions where quantum technologies may deliver tangible impact for industry and academia.