Quantum sensing, computing, and communications require different expertise, and an agency may not need experts in all three areas. Similarly, a single quantum scientist won't be equally suited to roles across--or even within--the three technology clusters. For example, quantum communications encompasses a wide variety of efforts from building a quantum internet to transitioning to post-quantum cryptography. These quantum-enabled and quantum-safe innovations leverage different skills and may be best supported by different subject matter experts. With early support from trusted advisors, organizations can identify which quantum skillsets correspond to their mission-critical use cases and ensure access to the right talent for research and prototyping.

Zapata Computing has raised $38 million for its quantum computing enterprise software platform. The figure, which brings its total funding to over $64 million, will be put toward Zapata's core mission: "Delivering quantum advantage for customers through real business use cases." Quantum computing leverages qubits (unlike bits that can only be in a state of 0 or 1, qubits can also be in a superposition of the two) to perform computations that would be much more difficult, or simply not feasible, for a classical computer. Unlike most quantum computing startups that build the hardware, Zapata is focused on the algorithms and software that sit on top. Based in Boston, Zapata has one product: its hardware-agnostic Orquestra quantum computing platform.