What Happens When A Country Treats Quantum Like Infrastructure

Quantum computing is moving from lab experiments to scalable machines. This episode explores the "unglamorous" ingredients of this transition: infrastructure, specialized engineering, and the national strategies turning breakthroughs into products.

Guests in this episode:

• Mikko Möttönen (QMill)
• George Schwartz (Global Quantum Intelligence)
• Katri Raevuori (Business Finland)
• Sirpa Salmi (Kvanttinova)
• Santeri Ojala (Business Finland)

Key topics:

• The Technical Stack: From superconducting qubits to autonomous processing units—mapping the direction of hardware in plain language.
• Manufacturing Capacity: How pilot lines and shared clean rooms allow startups to prototype faster without massive capital investment.
• Ecosystem Density: Why collaboration across semiconductors and quantum technologies is creating a unique national advantage.
• The Talent Pipeline: Addressing the workforce shortage and how to build pathways for the next generation of engineers.
• Cybersecurity: A sober look at "harvest now, decrypt later" risks and the urgent need for post-quantum cryptography.

Whether you're building in the space or curious about the future of deep tech, this is your guide to the quantum ecosystem.

Transcript

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Intro 0:01

Welcome to Global Edge Talk, where we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future of global business and innovation. Quantum computing isn't just a buzzword anymore. It's an industry being built, pieced by piece, by people like today's guest. From hardware and biogenics to talent, culture, and the future of automation. This one's packed. Let's get into it.

Alex Romanovich 0:26

Hi, everybody. With us we have Miko. Miko, please introduce yourself.

Mikko Möttönen 0:29

Yeah, hi, I'm Mikko Möttönen, a professor of quantum technology and academy professor and co-founder of two companies, QM and QMill. Exactly.

Alex Romanovich 0:39

Can you please tell us about the kind of work in quantum computing in quantum engineering you're doing at ALTO? Maybe in just general terms.

Mikko Möttönen 0:48

At ALTO, we are focused on quantum hardware, so superconducting qubits to begin with, and then milkelin electronics. We're actually now building something we call an autonomous quantum processing unit or the technology for that, which we think is important for the future quantum computers. Well, we're getting all the time closer and closer to the point where the hardware and algorithms meet, which means that then we can have actually applications in other businesses than quantum. That point of time is extremely close, and I think that's why the amount of noise and amount of news is increasing all the time. Well, I think it's it's both. So the quantum industry is, of course, doing products. They are developing useful quantum computers for the future, but it is also very research-heavy because you need to do something that no one has done before. The next product that you will have probably has features that features that nobody had put them one year ago in their product. So, in that sense, it is a lot of research, but it is very industrial in the companies. At the university, on the other hand, it's even more exploratory. So we are looking into problems that the companies would face in five to ten years from now. That's our job.

Alex Romanovich 2:02

Yes, absolutely. What is the role of talent, global talent that is being played in in quantum computing?

Mikko Möttönen 2:09

The talent is extremely important. Now, when the industry starts to pick up on the big time, yeah, there will be a shortage of talent. And I think we need to educate more people. It's not that people would not want to come to this field, but it's just that there's not enough starting spots at the bachelor's level. You need to get already at the bachelor's level people in who have specific uh study paths. And that's what actually we have done in Finland. So for six years we have been taking in quantum technology bachelor's students into the university.

Alex Romanovich 2:42

You try to diversify the talent and bring different aspects from different geographies, different experiences.

Mikko Möttönen 2:48

Definitely we try to get the talent from all over the world to Finland. Finland is a hot spot for quantum and especially focused on superconducting circuits and some of the quantum algorithm theory. So you should see it as a place where you can come and educate yourself, get a job. You can also move around. And there are many companies even in Finland in the area. So if you get bored with one company, you can change to another.

Alex Romanovich 3:11

Why Finland? Why quantum in Finland?

Mikko Möttönen 3:13

Well, we have a lot of research tradition, like decades of research tradition in the field that then happened to be extremely important for leading quantum computer technology. And we're also strong in AI and computer science. We had and we had this radio engineering was very strong because of Nokia and stuff. So we kind of have a history. Then I guess IQM had to play a big part of why Finland is now so big in quantum. It was a great example that you can do something big in a small country to kind of uh then inspire the other entrepreneurs to start their own companies.

Alex Romanovich 3:46

Nico, thank you so much for being with us today, and thank you for being an amazing voice for quantum and Finland.

Mikko Möttönen 3:52

Thank you.

George Schwartz 3:59

Um, good afternoon, everyone. My name is George Schwartz. I'm a quantum expert at Global Quantum Intelligence, representing the Quantum Computing Report, talking with these fine individuals about the Fin to Finish quantum ecosystem.

Katri Raevuori 4:10

Okay, yeah. Hi, my name is Katri Raevuori . I work in the work in Finland, which is part of Business Finland. I work in talent attraction in our unit.

Sirpa Salmi 4:18

Hi, my name is Sirpa Salmi. I'm uh working Kvantinnova as a sales and marketing and skills and talent head.

Santeri Ojala 4:25

And hi, I'm Santeri from Business Finland, work in the Finland Unit, and I'm responsible for international operations of this unit. So creating networks and connection support for work in Finland.

George Schwartz 4:35

Great best media. Sure. So I guess we can maybe start from on a high-level question of the government initiatives both in the EU and through Finland towards supporting quantum technologies. We can first focus on supporting those quantum computing companies and then maybe dial back down to like supply chain and things of those kind of uh more infrastructure kind of question. Who would be one of the things?

Santeri Ojala 4:56

We'll have Sirpa starting to be within the Sirpa.

Sirpa Salmi 5:05

It goes very well along with Finnish Chips from the North strategy. And uh the strategy was created because uh the situation has changed dramatically, like global situation, and European competence has to be higher in chips. So the market is growing rapidly, as you well know, and uh Finland has a place that we are actually um we are making the semiconductors and chips design and also quantum design, and uh we have the full, like the only one computer that that's full stacks. The strategy is mentioned because we we also want to grow in in uh startup-wise, and there is going to be like uh in uh in uh talent and skills sections 15,000 new new talents in the brands in in 10 years. So it's it's very important for Finnish Finnish uh growth and for European growth. And uh Finland has uh good positions because we have a long history of of making these technology achievements. For example, ALD has born in Finland. So that's why the eyes are in in Finland. Sure.

George Schwartz 6:14

And as a follow-up, you talked about manufacturing, doing this at scale. And one thing that we see at GQI is that maybe a move towards 200 millimeter and 300 millimeter fabs to help scaling that. Talk about some of those initiatives that then would.

Sirpa Salmi 6:26

Yeah, exactly. So we have pilot lines, and VTT has the latest pilot line, quantum quantum pilot line, and we are actually spreading the manufacturing premises from 2,000 square meters to 7,000 square meters. We are already the biggest in Nordics and the biggest in in Europe, but we will be in two years definitely one of the biggest in the world, 7,000 square meters. And it makes the possibility to do the 300 millimeter secret.

George Schwartz 6:54

Talking more about, I guess, on that infrastructure point, we recognize that Blue force is a huge player in Finland. So, what is the kind of the government's perspective to making sure Blue force stays that keep key player uh in the initial?

Sirpa Salmi 7:06

Very good question. This is also uh a spearhead to government. So the premises uh is is going to be built so that uh the government is giving one 100 million and the the companies are giving 400 million, so it's uh half a billion premises. And uh the reason why it has happened so that uh Blue Force is so big is that we have a special recipe that makes success stories in Finland. And uh the recipe is that uh we we give the access to clean rooms for researchers but also for the companies, and that lowers the costs for companies. They don't have to build up their own clean rooms, they can use government premises, which is actually VTT's premises, to build up their own production.

George Schwartz 7:51

And does that kind of clean room access for say some of these startups that you're trying to promote, but does that also say extend to like cryogenics of like providing access to all these?

Sirpa Salmi 8:01

Yes, yes, definitely. And yeah, exactly. So it it means for startup-wise that they don't have to make the investments to this cost, and they can have like the product uh until it's proof, um uh face, and uh, when they have the mass production, then they can move from the premises outside and make start the mass production as Blue Force has started.

George Schwartz 8:23

Focus a lot now on like infrastructure of uh building these crowd genet players, but at GQI we recognize there's other quantum modalities out there, like the neutral players, like for example, QRA or Pascal in France, and some of the trapped diamond players like IMQ and continuum here at APDS. What are the um how's the pool uh Finland's approach to supporting those kind of modalities and making sure you're supporting essentially all the horses in the race, if you will?

Sirpa Salmi 8:47

Yeah. Uh especially quantinoma ecosystem is built for that. So we we want to support all companies all over the world, actually. We are attracting companies down to Finland and make the research in there. And uh we are neutral player, we are owned by VTT, Auto University, and the city of Espo. So it's public funded.

George Schwartz 9:07

And that's why it's easy to rely on supply of uh infrastructure. We've talked a lot about the hardware, but you know, let's talk about the the kind of supporting ecosystem of the talent development. And uh, you know, ideally, I I don't know if you can't sustain the entire lab all PhDs. There's got to be a little bit of a spread of uh um technical talent across the spectrum. But that means potentially even at like elementary, high school level, and then potentially college or community colleges in the US. I'm not sure if that's the equivalent for Finland. Uh what what kind of initiatives uh is Finland looking on that perspective?

Sirpa Salmi 9:38

Yeah, that's a very good question. And unfortunately, it's I think it's all around Europe the phenomena at that the kids, young kids are not so interested in maths, chemistry, or or physics anymore. So we have lots of things to do in that branch. But we have an initiative in in Finland. We have actually started like a called Zero Start, which is uh an Arduino package for kids. And uh it's in a pilot phase. So uh we are trying to get the interest. They actually done very well in in Britain with this kind of initiative. And the other thing is that we have to get more women into the brand, which is very important. And and we also have like uh for teenagers, like uh they can so-called corporate village, which is actually mini village, mini society in the 14th, and in in there we can present like clean green uh clean rooms and uh and the industry for for uh sixth and ninth grade kids. And this way to show them and and guide them to the path in high school to chosen the maths and the chemistry and physics and and to auto university and universities overall in Finland because they also need more students in in this level.

Santeri Ojala 10:48

Maybe to add on from the Finnish government side, work in Finland is a unit that I'm representing in that country that we are representing, and the Finnish government also has a special focus on talent development and talent attraction both. And uh quantum ecosystem and quantum technologies are definitely one of our focus areas. So we are representing Work in Finland, and uh, Work in Finland is a unit of Business Finland, which is the national innovation funding agency of the Finnish government. And Work in Finland has this special task on making Finland more attractive for international talent and highlighting our key innovation ecosystems in Finland. So that is also a reason why we are part of this conference over over here. So we try to make Finland kind of more visible in the eyes of kind of these bright minds that are visiting this conference.

Sirpa Salmi 11:38

And I could also add to that that we are in European level. Finland is a strong partner in European, like cheap competence centers. So they also have skills and talent, and we are going to we have we are heavily funded from there too. There are initiatives that are uh supporting the skills and talent, like upskilling and reskilling.

George Schwartz 12:00

This all sounds fantastic. Going back to the kind of now supply chain, we recognize at GQI there's a lot of enabling technologies in order to make these one-up systems come to fruition. Lasers, wave um sources, ocean fridges, which obviously Blue Force has a fantastic job. But and then also say like control electronics, FPGAs and things of that nature. How is Finland trying to bring some of those companies into potentially within your ecosystem, sourcing them locally and things along those directions?

Sirpa Salmi 12:28

That's a good question. We we do a lot of like governmental side, like um taxation, for example, or the PhDs who are entering the country, you probably can tell more about it.

Santeri Ojala 12:38

I think Godfrey remembers the key taxation depends on the Yeah, we have a new introduced new flat rate of 25% for talent, especially in this field, international talents that come to Finland. That's in order to make Finland more attractive. That's one initiative we have.

Sirpa Salmi 12:53

And for companies, we do the soft landing, like each community can offer the soft landing program for spouses and children. And uh then, of course, we what what is special in Finland? We are quite a small country and the ecosystem is quite dense. People know each other, also companies know each other. So it's easy to this is interesting brands in that wise that uh there is a high level of supporting each other instead of being in silos. Quantum computing and semiconductor companies support each other very well. And they they all see it that uh together we can be much uh much uh yeah.

George Schwartz 13:29

And yeah, that uh that end-to-end um connections is fantastic. But to go even even to the even more fundamental, say like rare earths. So for example, uh to run a dilution fridge, you need some healing from some odd of these superconducting technologies in Iobium, tantalum, and these are you know spread across the world. And I don't necessarily think that there's a large density of those uh rare earths in Finland. So, how is the uh kind of government approach to making sure that you secure that these either trade or are all risk reserves of these particular rare earths in order to make sure the technology can continue to evolve over the next uh decade?

Sirpa Salmi 14:04

The good thing in Finland is that uh president is only one shake away. It's very low hierarchy. So I have to admit that I have been surprised that our president Stub Stub is mentioned in Oval Row also quantum technology. So they are very aware of the the spearhead that they should support. And also the ministries are are working very well together to get this growth happened. Okay, that's fantastic.

George Schwartz 14:28

Um perhaps okay, so I guess the maybe one the go to the other end of the stack of quantum computing, the the holy grail, if you will, is demonstrating RSA encryption, breaking the Assures algorithm. But one aspect of what we think of GQIs is harvest now decrypt later, where information um data has a shelf life. And if that cryptographically relevant quantum computer comes up in say 10 years, any data that has 10 year shelf life becomes valuable and could be being uh uh captured now to be decrypted later. What is the kind of move to either CNS, I'm sorry, uh QKD initiatives or post-quantum cryptography that Finland's looking at and making sure that the infrastructure can handle some machines such as that have that kind of capabilities?

Sirpa Salmi 15:11

I have to admit that I'm not a technician and I'm more like the commercial side. I believe that uh if we see that it's important to follow that path. So there are technologies and there are willing willingness to to do it, especially university level. We are high educated, talents in there, so in that sense. And Finland is not going to be the mass mass production place. We we head of the very deep tech research, so in that sense I could believe that it's happening. I think that hits most of my question.

George Schwartz 15:41

Okay.

Sirpa Salmi 15:42

Thank you. Very nice question.