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The World Government Summit is a global platform dedicated toshaping the future of governments worldwide. Each year, the Summitsets the agenda for the next generation of governments with a focuson how they can harness innovation and technology to solve universalchallenges facing humanity.The World Government Summit is a knowledge exchange center at theintersection of government, futurism, technology, and innovation. Itfunctions as a thought leadership platform and networking hub forpolicymakers, experts and pioneers in human development.The Summit is a gateway to the future as it functions as the stage foranalysis of future trends, concerns, and opportunities facing humanity.It is also an arena to showcase innovations, best practice, and smartsolutions to inspire creativity to tackle these future challenges.AnsweringTomorrow’sQuestionsToday2 Table of ContentExecutive SummaryIntroductionConclusionQuantum computing: opportunities, risks and realityQuantum computing in the Middle East: assessingemerging opportunities and challengesDeveloping a quantum-computingroadmap for Middle East nationsTopics 060837102232 Executive summaryQuantum computing is moving from the high-techlab to mainstream commercial use over the next fewyears, representing the next major breakthrough inmodern IT.This dramatic shift will affect both how and howquickly computers are able to solve increasinglycomplex problems. Instead of performing calculationsor testing infinite combinations of hypothesessequentially, quantum computers can process almostinfinite combinations of scenarios simultaneously –finding answers to questions that would otherwisebe impossible to solve in a lifetime. The associatedleap in data science will vastly accelerate medicaland scientific advances and transform knowledgeeconomies.The technology also carries risks however. It may leadto a new wave of cybercrime, as quantum computerscan crack even the most elaborate forms of encryptionin use today. The implications are significant:sensitive national and commercial data – includinganything shared over networks and in the cloud – willbecome highly vulnerable to cyber-theft or sabotage.Government intelligence, digital payments, blockchaintransactions, people’s health records, the electricitygrid and other essential national infrastructure couldall be at a significantly higher risk of a breach oncequantum computing becomes widely accessible.Other challenges relate to the relative speed with whichrespective governments and economies will be ableto exploit quantum computing to support and protectnew opportunities for economic growth. Many of theworld’s largest economies, including the US and China,are already investing heavily in quantum computingcapabilities. Countries such as Russia and Australiahave strategies in place to develop initiatives andnurture relevant talent. Others that do not keep pacemight find that they are never able to catch up.It will take time to grasp, shape andformulate strategies for the opportunitiesand challenges created by quantumcomputing, so planning must start now.This paper assesses the potential impact of quantumcomputing, detailing expected opportunities andspecific risks. It then drills down into the technology’sspecific relevance to economic and national securitypriorities in the Middle East. The paper concludes bydescribing the practical measures that Gulf nations willneed to take to capitalise on quantum computing intheir own economies – while simultaneously protectingtheir interests against the potentially significantsecurity risks that are likely to emerge.6 Introduction8 Quantum computing represents a sweepingtechnological breakthrough that is set to changein the next few years so much of the way we workand interact. Its disruptive potential exceeds thatof the internet, smartphones and cloud computingcombined, and the way governments and economiesoperate will be radically and fundamentally altered.It is computing itself that is the subject of thistransformation. Quantum computers are able toperform complex calculations at 100 million times thespeed of current computers.When combined with other advancedtechnologies – Big Data analytics,artificial intelligence/machine learning,the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloudcomputing – the potential to acceleratediscovery and innovation in almost anyfield of knowledge is beyond anythingconceivable today.The ramifications of all this are both exciting andfrightening. The technology has the potential to bringmajor breakthroughs in medicine, energy exploration,space engineering and in many more areas. But itwill also render existing forms of national security,including cyber-security, obsolete as the scale,speed and sophistication of malicious code-crackingoutpaces current approaches to network and dataprotection.These considerations should be creating a growingsense of urgency as quantum computing isapproaching its breakout from the lab into the outsideworld. In May 2018, Forrester Research1pr