🎅 Festive twist: If Santa adopted quantum technology to modernize his operations, which tool or capability would he choose first—and why?

'Observing that "Santa" is a product for cultural mix, namely the collective creation of religious tradition, immigrant culture, American literature, and 19th-century commercial art - I would recommend to expand the eigenstates to expand his Hilbert space and include other Cultures and measurement operators in order to escape the commercial collapse to a Red Hooded White Man with Beard selling Coke.'

Thomas Ehmer, Innovation Incubator, Merck KGA

'I would say quantum sensing for real-time naughty/nice detection. That would be something! :)'

Zoran Krunic, Senior Data Scientist, Amgen

'Hopefully not optimization, because then logistics will not make it for xmas 😊'

Clemens Utschig-Utschig, Chief Technology Officer & Head of IT Technology, Strategy Boehringer Ingelheim

'Quantum Search Algorithms – Grover’s algorithm - sorting his naughty and nice lists. Quadratic speedup to enable Santa to swiftly and efficiently go through each child’s behaviour throughout the year. Enhanced fairness and efficiency. Every good and bad deed counts!'

Lucy Maidwell, Senior Engineer - Simulation & Modelling, MBDA Missile Systems

'To find out who has been naughty or nice, Santa would use quantum optimization to analyze billions of behavioral data points at once and plan perfect gift routes in seconds. With that power, he could cut travel time, reduce reindeer energy use, and make sure every child gets the right present on time.'

Steve Suarez, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, HorizonX Consulting

'I think Santa must already have macro-scale quantum teleportation to traverse the world so quickly and macro scale quantum tunelling to get in and out of the chimneyless houses to do his job so perhaps he already has the game changers we can't even imagine! Hohoho!'

John Barnes, Principal and Owner, Entangled Positions

'Santa would choose a quantum-powered logistics tool. Why? Because delivering gifts to billions of kids in one night is the ultimate scheduling problem. Quantum computers are especially good at solving complex puzzles with many moving parts (i.e., figuring out the fastest routes, balancing sleigh capacity, and timing deliveries across different time zones.) Santa’s sleigh would run on a quantum “GPS” that instantly calculates the most efficient path. Elves would use quantum simulations to plan toy production, making sure materials and energy are used wisely. And, quantum communication would keep the North Pole securely connected to every helper around the world, with no risk of hackers peeking at the naughty-or-nice list.'

Kimberly D McGuire, Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA), Brookhaven National Lab