Educating decision makers on resource allocations for quantum technologies

Abstract

While quantum science occupies a deserved place in STEM curricula, new learning trajectories are also suggested for those seeking to generate value in emerging product and service settings. Harnessing quantum technologies for commercial purposes invites innovative curricula that guides both industry and government players in making promising use of their resources. Strategic resource allocation demands an underlying innovation thesis by which to diagnose value propositions with a guiding set of value principles. These tools then deliver cohesive actions that realise a quantum strategy to unlock value. Given this imperative, a key question arises: "How can we best educate a distributed skilled workforce to deliver and capture value from quantum innovations?". This distributed learning challenge suggests a massive open online course (MOOC) to align quantum science with quantum strategy. We have recently built such a MOOC and have tracked its development arc as we tested our pedagogy, leading us to some interesting delineations. Firstly, those with existing products and services adopting particular quantum technologies to improve performance require tools to cut through the quantum hype in distilling value opportunities such technologies are uniquely positioned to deliver. Secondly, those already immersed in the technology need guiding frameworks to distil and propagate their value proposition aligned with end-user needs, thereby connecting technology advances with market expectations.We draw on our experience to note distinctive successes and learning boundaries enabled by MOOC platforms to allow both learning scale and geographic dispersion. We suggest future research and pedagogical development pathways.