The Enterprises & Workforce
African Countries Leading the Google Quantum Trends; Discussion With Brian Lenahan
The engagements between specialists in the quantum ecosystem always uplift my thoughts and ideas about how enterprises should act in the upcoming years. This week has started with a conversation with Brian Lenahan, founder of Quantum Strategy Institute. According to an investigations he’s been doing, he found through Google Trends that Zambia and South Africa were the #1 and #2 worldwide in the search term "quantum". In his most recent substack post (check here), he has provided detailed information (subscribe to his newsletter for part 2) about the most recent google trends in relative to quantum technologies terms, in which i quote from him the following.
The breakdown by country is equally interesting. Particularly the country ranking 100 in interest in the search term “quantum”. That country is not the United States or China. It’s Zambia.
{End of quote}
Another quote from Brian!
Then when we look at the search term “quantum computing”, another African country stands out - Ethiopia.
Ethiopia significantly outpaces all other countries in Google Trends searches for quantum computing at this point in time (and ranked 6th on “quantum” search). So why would that be the case?
{End of quote}
This definitely triggers many in the ecosystem, and the quantum version of Sherlock Holmes is mostly wanted to help finding and analyzing tracks. How come African countries are outpacing many developed countries in quantum trends…. I usually start such a discussion with a question “who needs who the most, the enterprises or the workforce?”
If many companies and institutions claim that there's a quanum talents shortage nowadays, then is it a matter of waiting for such human capacity to park the bus and line up for employment? of course the other side of the coin reads; It is a matter of merging global forces without eliminating underrepresented nations in the ecosystem by leaning down to the bottom to find and help create the right oriented talents. This affects how African tech enthusiasts push their presence online on the quantum technologies (QT) landscape to find possible and suitable career paths.
Let’s break this down to 3 aspects to consider;
The Enterprises and what to achieve with a skillful workforce.
For developing new products and services leveraging QT, a proof of concept and creating real business scenarios(use cases) is mostly required for investors to draw & establish the revenue channels and knowing how to acquire the right business model.
Towards that, enterprises would be desperate for finding the best expertise that can enhance their technology, products and services to help in positioning the organization within the ecosystem which will secure new business opportunities.
How the workforce create their career paths.
The lack of diverse educational & business incubation programs, as well as R&D funding, made many nations to be missed out on most of the previous tech-revolutions.
However, with the quantum community growing online rapidly and unambiguously, this raises the opportunities for everyone taking part of shaping the global ecosystem. In countries that haven’t yet established quantum programs, the growing talents lack the experience & the knowledge to fulfill the gaps and open positions. So, they strive on many online platforms to find appropriate self-developing resources and educational programs. This increases the chance of being present and not excluded.
On the other side, many technologists in developed countries, are already incorporated in “on-the-ground R&D work” and have a clear roadmap to make their quantum careers succeed. Now here’s the riddle, even though there has been a significant improve in the tech specialists pool, however most of the workforce in relative tech fields are already occupying many careers in other advanced & deep-tech industries (which are mostly not available in lagging countries). Thus, causing talents shortage for QT.
So, what does this mean for the companies in the QT ecosystem, and what kind of actions must be done?
Mining for the skillful workforce?
If we analyze the quantum business demands by region, it is easily noticed that the use cases differ from nation to another. Therefore, some QT application are oriented rather can be generalized for a global demand. The target here is to find new talents with new mindsets that can bring whole new aspects of QT and uncovering the untouched business scenarios by global enterprises so far. To achieve this, organizations should build their international network of professionals (quantum skills are not limited to only few regions), educate their staff, and start the quantum roadmapping as soon as possible.
As a summery, Africa is amongst the best-to-go talent pools in the sci-tech fields, it has the youngest population (which strongly affects the google quantum trends), and its new generations are striving to not being left behind anymore. Since the beginning of this decade, and throughout the upcoming years, African nations will influence the quantum ecosystem by not only their online presence, but also by supporting the global market with talented and passionate workforce.
QT will have a huge influence on many industries. Governments should establish initiatives, industries must materialize the applications, and international organizations have to create the workforce pipeline starting now.
Let’s see how the African wind would sail the quantum ships!
Stay Tuned for part #2 from Brian.
============================================================================
If you want to volunteer, partner, or support us, please reach out to me with your goals on LinkedIn; Abdulmalek Baitulmal or email me at a.baitulmal@quanta.ly.
Sign up now for our Newsletter so that you will never miss out on quantum tech news, updates, events, and opportunities.
AbdulMalek Baitulmal | President | OneQuantum Libya
Let’s take a moment to get to know some of the Libyan landscapes;
Balfo Waterfall, Raʾs al-Helal
Ras al-Helal (Arabic: رأس الهلال, Raʾs al-Helal, "Crescent Cape") is a village on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Derna District, Cyrenaica, Libya. It takes its name from its cape, which appears to have a crescent shape when viewed from the surrounding Jebel Akhdar foothills. Ras al-Helal is known for its green, forested beach and its nearby waterfalls.