CLEVELAND — Cleveland Clinic and IBM have unveiled the first quantum computer of its kind dedicated to medical research.

What You Need To Know

  • IBM Quantum System One can solve equitations and conduct research much more efficiently than other computers

  • The two companies believe that will help boost efforts to find cures for diseases

  • Seattle is sending pitcher Justin Dunn, outfielder Jake Fraley and top pitching prospect Brandon Williamson and a player to be named to the Reds

“We are bringing something new to our organization and something new to the world," said Cleveland Clinic CEO Tom Mihaljevic.

Cleveland Clinic and IBM have been working on the new quantum computer for two years. 

“We’re also excited because it will create a lot of jobs," Mihaljevic said. 

It will be called IBM Quantum System One, and it can solve equitations and conduct research much more efficiently than other computers.

“For certain classes of problems, we will be to do things that are literally impossible to do with today’s computers," said IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research Dario Gil. "So, it’s not just faster or better. There will be classes of problems that will be just the difference between I just couldn’t do it at all. I can't discover that at all. So, that’s the ultimate promise with the new technology.”

The two companies believe that will help boost efforts to find cures for diseases, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Let’s say as an example, a new small molecule that can be used to be the delivery vehicle for a drug to be more efficient against a treatment," Gil said. "That aspect of it can be greatly accelerated by using the most advanced computational methods.”

IBM said this could be the first of other computers that could be placed in hospitals to help find cures. Local officials are glad that northeast Ohio is where IBM has decided to put this quantum computer, which is the first one that IBM has ever placed in a private sector organization.

“It can do 10,000 years of traditional computation in one day," said Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. "That’s the speed in which a traditional computation can work. So it can enable you to do simulations research things like that in days in what might take centuries to do."