When people hear the phrase “quantum technology,” they often picture powerful computers capable of transforming entire industries. In reality, the term covers a broader family of technologies that harness quantum effects, and the next practical advances may come from specialized applications well before general-purpose quantum computers are ready for widespread commercial use.
These advances may be incremental or largely invisible to end users, but they could still produce meaningful business, scientific and societal value. Here, members of Forbes Technology Council identify areas where quantum technology could deliver useful results first, even if those developments don’t resemble the breakthroughs the public has come to expect.
Gravity And Magnetic Field Sensing
One area that could bring real value soon is better sensors that measure very small changes in gravity or magnetic fields. These can help with navigation in places without GPS or with finding underground resources. It is useful work, even if it does not look like the big computer breakthroughs people usually imagine. – Rohan Pinto, 1Kosmos BlockID
Underground Surveying
I expect an early win in underground surveying. A field-tested quantum gravity sensor has detected a tunnel beneath a road, showing a path to finding voids before construction starts. I would pilot it where boreholes, delays or a missed sinkhole carry high costs. The value is fewer blind excavations, not a headline-making computer. – Kayode Faturoti, Breet
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Materials Discovery
One of the earliest practical breakthroughs may come from materials science and optimization, not consumer applications. Quantum systems could help design better batteries, catalysts, semiconductors and energy systems years before they transform everyday computing. The biggest impact may be invisible to consumers but highly valuable to industries, reducing costs, accelerating innovation and improving efficiency at scale. – Gaurav Rastogi, Hertz Corporation
Healthcare Process Optimization
One practical area is process optimization in healthcare. Quantum-enabled methods may first help improve scheduling, supply chain planning, imaging workflows or resource allocation before they transform drug discovery or diagnostics. The value is not dramatic headlines but better decisions across complex systems. Leaders should watch for measurable gains in speed, cost, access and care coordination. – Will Conaway, Tuxedo Cat Consulting
Independent Benchmarking
Independent benchmarking may deliver quantum’s initial practical business value. A credible trial requires teams to define the problem precisely, establish the strongest classical baseline and account for data preparation, error mitigation and integration. Many pilots may improve the classical solution or show that a quantum project isn’t economically viable. Avoiding unnecessary investment delivers value, even without quantum advantage. – Mani Padisetti, Almost Magic Tech Lab
Quantum AI For Cybersecurity
Businesses will gain immense value from quantum technology with the integration of quantum artificial intelligence: defensive cybersecurity, ultra-secure communication channels, and the use of quantum key distribution and post-quantum cryptography to protect data at rest, in transit and in use. The application of QAI in SOCs will deliver intelligent defenses that predict attacks—including novel attacks and anomaly detection—at lightning speed, preventing costly attacks and reputational damage. – Connie McIntosh, Ericsson
Post-Quantum Security Modernization
The first practical payoff is arriving before the machines do. The credible threat of quantum decryption is already forcing a once-in-a-generation overhaul of how data is protected, and organizations that started early are finding weaknesses that needed fixing anyway. Quantum’s first contribution may be the pressure it puts on classical infrastructure. – Charles Yeomans, Atombeam
Quantum-Inspired Retail Optimization
Where does market research actually lose money? Not in modeling behavior, but in acting on it. Assortment and promotion optimization are combinatorial; teams can only solve a fraction of the problem and rely on judgment for the rest. Quantum-inspired solvers, running on classical hardware, close part of that gap. It’s not glamorous, but it’s measurable, and it’s available before any true quantum machine matters. – Dr. Chiranjiv Roy, C5i.ai
Enterprise Data Matching
Long before quantum hardware trains LLMs, it will solve combinatorial bottlenecks in enterprise software, like real-time identity resolution and record deduplication across massive databases. It won’t look like flashy AI, but executing million-node graph matches in seconds brings massive, immediate ROI to enterprise platforms. – Eshaan Jain, Mphasis Silverline
Cross-Industry Quantum Enhancements
The earliest quantum breakthroughs are likely to emerge in domains where enhanced sensing, measurement, security and optimization can deliver immediate value, including healthcare, transportation, advanced manufacturing and critical infrastructure. Rather than a single area leading the way, we are likely to see practical impact develop across multiple industries as quantum sensing, secure communications and computational capabilities mature and converge. – Mark Thirlwell, BSI Group
Drug Discovery
One area to watch in quantum computing is drug discovery. Quantum is primed to help researchers model complex molecular interactions and narrow potential therapies faster. The first real breakthroughs may happen behind the scenes. Quantum is already helping investors and biotech teams place smarter bets on which drugs are worth pursuing. – Nada Usina, NU Advisory Partners
Supply Chain Optimization
I feel the first real business value will be in supply chain optimization. Quantum excels at multivariable logistics and dynamic inventory routing—problems that constantly choke classical systems. It won’t be a flashy headline; it will be a hyper-streamlined operation that builds the right foundation to scale from. Being able to instantly optimize stock positioning globally removes massive friction and accelerates speed to market. – Sumit Srivastava
Stress-Testing AI Security Models
Long before quantum computers run production workloads they will be useful for stress-testing AI security models against attacks that do not exist yet. I simulate quantum-style attacks against the AI flagging anomalies in my pipeline, checking whether its assumptions hold up against computing power that’s years away. Testing for a threat before it exists costs less than patching after it lands. – Nitesh Sinha, Sacumen
Certified Randomness
The first practical use is boring on purpose: certified randomness. Quantum hardware can produce numbers whose unpredictability is guaranteed by physics, not an algorithm, and the early payoff isn’t encryption keys but public trust. Think lottery draws, audit sampling and election spot-checks—cases where everyone needs to verify the draw wasn’t rigged. It’s trustworthy dice, offered as a service. – Luke Wallace, Bottle Rocket
Financial Risk Modeling
Financial risk modeling may deliver practical quantum value before most public expectations are met. Monte Carlo simulations that take hours to run across large portfolios could possibly run in seconds with quantum speed-up, giving risk teams the ability to model more scenarios without simplifying assumptions. The value isn’t dramatic but it’s measurable, and it doesn’t require fault-tolerant quantum computers that remain years away. – Dan Haiem, AppMakers USA
Semiconductor Quality Control
Quantum may create its first quiet ROI in semiconductor yield. Quantum-scale metrology could detect microscopic defects, field variations or process drift earlier, preventing bad wafers from moving downstream. The breakthrough would not be a faster computer; it would be fewer invisible manufacturing errors becoming expensive ones. – Akhilesh Sharma, A3Logics Inc.