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The United States is engaged in a competition for technology and innovation leadership with China, with both nations making significant investments in their domestic innovation systems while seeking to undermine the other’s innovation system. The United States, for instance, has implemented export controls and investment restrictions to slow China’s rate of technological innovation, while launching innovation initiatives covering emerging energy technologies, quantum computing, and wireless communications, among other industries.

As the competition intensifies, many policymakers and analysts are caught up in the blow-by-blow of this industrial policy race. However, by focusing on these high-profile policies, they risk overlooking a fundamental driver of innovation: a system of secure and market-based intellectual property (IP) rights.

1. Congress Should Pass a Narrow Amendment to Allow for the Patenting of Genes

One of the major ramifications of Myriad was the uncertainty that the investment world felt after the Supreme Court’s decision.319 This uncertainty led to an unwillingness among investors to invest in biotechs that relied on gene patents, thus hindering ongoing research and development of gene-based diagnostics.320 Although big, sweeping changes like those proposed by Senator Tillis or those that would see gene patents split off into their own field of patent law might ultimately be able to address the gene patent problem,321 they are unlikely to foster the economic certainty needed to stabilize the U.S. biotech industry. Such drastic solutions will likely only serve to increase uncertainty around gene patents as biotechs, investors, and courts try to sort out the implications of such moves.

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have met with enormous public opposition over the past two decades.   believe that GMOs are bad for their health – even poisonous – and that they damage the environment. This is in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence that proves that , and that they bring  by making agriculture more sustainable. Why is there such a discrepancy between what the science tells us about GMOs, and what people think? To be sure, some concerns, such as herbicide resistance in weeds and the involvement of multinationals, are not without basis, but they are not specific to GMOs. Hence, another question we need to answer is why these arguments become more salient in the context of GMOs.

I recently published a , with a group of Belgian biotechnologists and philosophers from Ghent University, arguing that negative representations of GMOs are widespread and compelling because they are intuitively appealing. By tapping into intuitions and emotions that mostly work under the radar of conscious awareness, but are constituent of any normally functioning human mind, such representations become easy to think. They capture our attention, they are easily processed and remembered and thus stand a greater chance of being  and becoming popular, even if they are . Thus, many people oppose GMOs, in part, because it just makes sense that they would pose a threat.

Stakeholder Views on Patent-Eligible Subject Matter Jurisprudence

Stakeholder views vary on whether the Alice/Mayo framework has positively or negatively affected the patent system’s ability to encourage investment in technology and encourage innovation. In June 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) submitted a report to Congress that reviewed public comments on patent subject matter eligibility from stakeholders, including legal associations, industry organizations, advocacy groups, nonprofit entities, businesses, law firms, practitioners, academics, and inventors. The variability in stakeholder views underscores an important aspect of patent and innovation policy: changes to patent policy often affect innovation differently depending on many factors, including, among other things, the economic sector, industry, and firm size in question.

Composition of Matter Patents Preempt all Uses of a Sequence

Because patents can claim genomic sequences as new “compositions of matter” (like polymers or metallic alloys), they preempt all possible uses of the patented sequences, whether or not envisioned by the patent holder (Contreras, 2020). The Supreme Court correctly recognized in Myriad that genomic sequences of biological organisms are not new forms of matter, even if they are isolated and purified in the laboratory. Reversing this holding would again allow individual patent holders to control all uses of a particular genomic sequence, thereby creating significant bottlenecks to effective research and development and granting patent holders a windfall with respect to applications of a discovery that they did not actually make.

Genomic Sequence Data is a Basic Research Tool that Should be Broadly Available

A vast array of basic scientific research is enabled by knowledge of an organism’s genomic sequence. This research can lead to a better understanding of biochemical mechanisms and to medical innovations such as vaccines and therapeutics. As such, genomic sequence data are a form of basic “research tool” — a resource that can be used by multiple researchers to address different research questions. There is a broad policy consensus that research tools should be made as broadly available as possible to the research community (National Institutes of Health, 1999). Allowing one or a handful of entities to own this basic scientific information can hinder research when speed and international collaboration are needed most. Studies have shown that researchers were reluctant to study the patented BRCA genes, thereby reducing overall knowledge and scientific advancement, something that cannot be afforded in the face of an emergent global pandemic.

In early 2021, new legislative proposals to strengthen patents, including by Senators Tillis and Coons, began to percolate as the Biden administration prepared to take office. Yet despite unsubstantiated claims that increased patent protection would have facilitated the speedier development and deployment of COVID-related diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies, there is ample evidence to suggest that, at least in the case of genomic sequences, a return to the days of patenting would have been counterproductive.

The Value of Open Genomic Data

3. Broad Congressional Overhauls Would Introduce Too Much Economic Instability

Some have advocated for sweeping congressional legislation to overturn Myriad, such as Senator Tillis’s Patent Eligibility Restoration Act.339 The bill would effectively reverse Myriad and set gene patents back to pre-2013 status.340 However, gene patents were not perfect before Myriad. 341 The Myriad suit was brought over very real concerns about the effects that gene patents had on healthcare costs and access by researchers.342 The bill, if enacted, would likely reopen those issues and reignite a number of debates over gene patents that would once again require judicial interpretation. Given the Supreme Court’s stance that genes should not be patentable, it is unclear whether those debates would lead to a different result. Such a move would likely provoke even greater uncertainty within the biotech industry and might ultimately prove counterproductive to the goal of reinvigorating investment in the field.

Supreme Court refuses to grant certiorari in Cleveland Clinic Section 101 dispute – The United States Supreme Court decided not to address the way lower courts are applying criteria for patent subject eligibility, denying certiorari in Cleveland Clinic Foundation v. True Health Diagnostics. The Cleveland Clinic’s petition asked the court to review the 2017 decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to invalidate three of its patents relating to methods for testing for arterial damage and methods for treating patients with cardiovascular disease. Having applied the two-step Alice/Mayo test for determining patent subject eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act, the CAFC deemed the patents’ claims to be directed towards laws of nature and therefore unpatentable. The Supreme Court was asked to consider whether its Mayo decision authorises a district court to invalidate patents on the pleadings when there are disputed questions of fact, a disputed question of claim construction or scope, and/or an undeveloped evidentiary record; and whether the Federal Circuit erred in ruling that that a method involving natural phenomena is ineligible for patent protection if it claims known techniques that have been adapted for a new use and purpose not previously known in the art. Life sciences innovators, hoping for more clarity around the eligibility of method-of-treatment claims, will be disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case.

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union today announced its opposition to legislation introduced by Sens. Thom Tillis and Chris Coons. The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023, which was announced today by the senators, would eliminate the long-standing prohibition on patenting laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas from U.S. patent law.

Ten years after the Supreme Court invalidated the patents on two human genes in AMP v. Myriad, the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023 threatens to reverse that critical ruling, and the 150 years of legal precedent before it. If passed, the Act would allow corporations and other entities to patent laws of nature and products of nature, including naturally-occurring genes, giving them exclusive domain over research, development, and analysis. Such monopolies would result in higher health care costs, deny patients access to their health information, and create new hurdles for developing technologies to fight cancer, pandemics, and much more.

Patents on Genomic Sequences Increase Costs and Reduce Access to Medical Innovations

Myriad Genetics priced its genetic tests at a level beyond the means of many individuals, leading to widespread criticism of the company and the patents that gave it a monopoly over testing the BRCA1/2 genes. Issues surrounding access to genetic testing thus lay at the heart of the Myriad litigation. The issue of access was central to the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case, and its recruitment of numerous patient advocacy groups, health care providers, and medical societies as plaintiffs and amici curiae (Contreras, 2020). The Supreme Court’s decision invalidating most of Myriad’s gene patents was widely heralded as a victory for health care access. A return to the days of genomic sequence patents would reverse this victory and again enable private firms to wield legal exclusivity to increase patient costs, burden the health care system, and exclude those most in need from critical medical innovations.

As will be explained in the next section, the USPTO is dissecting patent applications and courts are dissecting previously granted patents down into the foundational elements that underlie all inventions and discoveries—and denying that these are patentable as such under the Alice-Mayo framework. In one recent and notorious example, the courts disintegrated a method of making an axle in an automobile engine down to the laws of thermodynamics that underlie all machines and invalidated the patent.15 Nineteenth-century industrial technologies are now being denied patent protection in the 21st century, not because they are not new, but because judges and administrative officials are saying they are not even inventions. Even worse, given that any invention can be disintegrated down into underlying laws of nature or abstract ideas, patent applicants or patent-owners have no way of predicting when a patent examiner at the USPTO or a judge may choose to do this.

As a result of the Alice-Mayo framework, the U.S. is now denying patent applications or invalidating issued patents claiming cutting-edge discoveries in medical care, such as treatments for breast cancer, diabetes, and strokes, among others.16 This is an alarming shift from the historical approach of the U.S. in securing reliable and effective patent rights in new innovations, which has been a key driver of economic growth in the U.S. This not only threatens economic growth and the new medical treatments and high-tech products that we rely on in our day-to-day activities in the 21st century, but it threatens the long-standing world leadership in innovation by the U.S. that has been driven by its once “gold standard” patent system.17

New research by Universal Quantum has determined how a quantum computer could break the encryption of Bitcoin and simulate a crucial molecule in the fight against global food shortages and climate change. The research, undertaken by Universal Quantum, University of Sussex and Qu&Co, was published today in an Editor's Choice paper in AVS Quantum Science. The paper demonstrates that a quantum computer with 13 million physical qubits could break Bitcoin encryption within a day; and it would take a 300 million qubit computer to break it within an hour. There has also been considerable progress in reducing the physical size of quantum computers. Mark Webber, quantum architect at Universal Quantum and the paper’s lead author, who embarked on the research whilst studying for a PhD at the University of Sussex comments: ‘Four years ago, we estimated that a trapped ion quantum computer would need a billion physical qubits to break RSA encryption, which is the standard method of encrypting communication today, equating to a size 100m2. With innovations across the board, the size of the computer would now just need to be 2.5m2.’ ‘State-of-the-art quantum computers today only have 50-100 qubits,’ Webber continues. ‘Our estimated requirement of 13-300 million physical qubits suggests Bitcoin should be considered safe from a quantum attack for now, but quantum computing technologies are scaling quickly with regular breakthroughs affecting such estimates and making them a very possible scenario within the next 10 years.’ Quantum computers are exponentially more powerful at breaking many encryption techniques than classical computers. While today's largest supercomputer could never pose a serious threat, current encryption methods will one day be vulnerable to a quantum computing attack. That includes Bitcoin’s encryption and more widespread techniques such as RSA encryption. Tackling the world food shortage and saving energy The scientists also focused their research on the potential of quantum computers to play a key part in tackling hunger and climate issues through testing the simulation of the FeMoco molecule, which is responsible for biological nitrogen fixation and a common object of research in quantum computing. The FeMoco molecule is important for converting nitrogen in the air into ammonia, which could then be used for fertilizers. ‘We are currently spending around 2 per cent of the world energy supply on just this process, so a better understanding of the FeMoco molecule could greatly improve efficiency in this field with an immensely positive impact on world food scarcity and the climate crisis. But these two use cases are the tip of the iceberg, we’re only just starting to understand the impact on society for reaching quantum advantage,’ added Webber.

The main advantage of is the ability to handle complex problem solving. By harnessing the property of superposition, qubits can exist in an infinite yet contained number of states: 0, 1, or any combination of the two. While this creates many challenges that researchers continue to work through, it also leads to some distinct advantages of computers compared to their traditional counterparts. To learn more about the fundamentals, we recommend our article introducing . For now, we’re going to focus specifically on the value and advantages of quantum computing. Quantum computers excel at solving problems that are too large, complex, or cumbersome for even the most powerful supercomputers. These problems often involve many variables, permutations, and uncertainties. For instance, in 2019 Google and NASA by running a computation to that would have taken a supercomputer thousands of years. The quantum computer managed the task in a manner of seconds. In addition to solving these problems faster, quantum computers are also more efficient from an energy usage and carbon emissions standpoint. While a traditional computer has to use lots of electricity to brute force its way through possible solutions, quantum computers leverage the properties of qubits to streamline the computation process.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of nuclear war, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has placed his nuclear forces at an elevated state of alert and has warned that any effort by outside parties to interfere in the war would result in “consequences you have never seen.” Such saber-rattling has understandably made headlines and drawn notice in Washington. But if China attempted to forcibly invade Taiwan and the United States came to Taipei’s aid, the threat of escalation could outstrip even the current nerve-wracking situation in Europe. A recent war game, conducted by the Center for a New American Security in conjunction with the NBC program “Meet the Press,” demonstrated just how quickly such a conflict could escalate. The game posited a fictional crisis set in 2027, with the aim of examining how the United States and China might act under a certain set of conditions. The game demonstrated that China’s military modernization and expansion of its nuclear arsenal—not to mention the importance Beijing places on unification with Taiwan—mean that, in the real world, a fight between China and the United States could very well go nuclear.

Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway republic. If the Chinese Communist Party decides to invade the island, its leaders may not be able to accept failure without seriously harming the regime’s legitimacy. Thus, the CCP might be willing to take significant risks to ensure that the conflict ends on terms that it finds acceptable. That would mean convincing the United States and its allies that the costs of defending Taiwan are so high that it is not worth contesting the invasion. While China has several ways to achieve that goal, from Beijing’s perspective, using nuclear weapons may be the most effective means to keep the United States out of the conflict.

NATO military capabilities enabled by next-generation quantum technologies are anticipated to offer unprecedented improvements in the following areas (Figure D.2): 1. Computing: Quantum computers are expected to provide orders of magnitude better computational capabilities, beyond the theoretical limit of classically designed computers for specific classes of analytical problems (e.g. optimisation and simulation). This computational leap will enable highly sophisticated approaches to encryption and decryption of codes, rendering current cryptographic methods obsolete. Sophisticated and rapid M&S will enable complex operational and organisational decision making, as well as new ways of developing hitherto undiscovered materials and biotechnologies, as well as next-generation AI (e.g. quantum neural networks for target and image identification problems). 2. Sensing: Quantum sensors will be many times more sensitive than current systems. This will support the development of counter-stealth and covert radars [92, 305]; magnetic, acoustic and gravity sensors with greatly increased ASW capabilities [90]; and, support the development of hitherto impractical low power high sensitivity airborne and spaced based sensors. Some example applications are for all-weather, day-night tactical (battlefield etc.) sensing (short-range, active/passive, covert, using EO/IR/THz/RF frequencies) for ISTAR, as well as strategic (long-range maritime, airspace, space) surveillance (active, RF). Quantum sensors are potentially more resistant to jamming. 3. PNT: Quantum effects support the development of very sensitive precision instruments for PNT. Such PNT technologies will enable operations in a GPS denied or difficult operational environment (e.g. long-duration submerged under-ice autonomous operations). In the short to medium term, rack-mounted units suitable for exploitation on larger mobile military systems (e.g. ships) will be available. 4. Communication & Cryptography: The development of unbreakable cryptography and the ability to decrypt encoded messages using current cryptographic methods will provide significant DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. 72 Chapter D. Quantum Technologies challenges for current C4ISR systems. RED Within the 2020-2040 time-frame, the primary threat is from near-peer competitors, especially given the high level of mathematical sophistication and R&D investment required. The potential security implications due to the loss of useful encryption methods, the possible loss of air and underwater stealth, and a possible RED analytic/decision advantage enabled by quantum computing will challenge Alliance operations. Interoperability The use of next-generation quantum technologies will present significant interoperability challenges, primarily driven by differing rates of investment and, given the potentially dramatic improvements in sensing and communication capabilities, national security considerations. S&T Development Defence research areas of note are [46, 87]: • Sensing: TRL for quantum sensing is still quite low; however, several of the enabling technologies are advancing quite rapidly and may be available in the mid-term to address NATO ISR challenges. Improved sensors may be used to build georeferenced maps of gravitational and magnetic anomalies around the world. Near-term targeted investments in QT gravity, magnetic and EW sensors could demonstrate new military capabilities for tunnel surveys, magnetic anomaly detection and electromagnetic sensing. In the mid-term better QT sensors will enable these capabilities to be deployed in more challenging military environments such as space. In the long-term, the use of entanglement distribution networks may make distributed sensors thousands of times more precise than is currently available. • Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT): There are two fundamentally different approaches to PNT: one involving the transmission and receipt of external signals, such as GPS, and the other relying on the self-contained sensing of motion, such as provided by inertial systems. Since the future security environment anticipates a highly contested electromagnetic environment (jamming and spoofing), NATO will need to be prepared to operate in a GPS denied environment. Investment in QT will enhance resilience to these emerging vulnerabilities. Quantum technologies are expected to support the combination of ultra-precise time measurements with ultra-precise acceleration and angular rotation measurements (each of which uses a different quantum technology), to provide ultra-precise inertial navigation (and timing), which will be needed as GPS, and other signaldependent means become unavailable due to countermeasures (or inside structures). There are several competing concepts (solid-state nitrogen-vacancy, atom trapping in free space, cold atomic interferometry, etc.). Developing cold-atom QT will enable resilience to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denial through smaller QT clocks, and both gravity and magnetic sensing could be used to georeference using survey maps. It is expected that PNT will be first fielded through rack-mounted units (e.g. desktop computer size), suitable for exploitation on larger mobile military systems, e.g. ships. With continuous investments in the mid and long term, the systems are expected to reduce in size, weight, power and cost and ultimately provide navigation better than current GNSS performance, with greatly reduced reliance on external references. • Quantum Remote Sensing: Quantum remote sensing, such as quantum radar [91, 92, 92] has the potential to make stealth technologies obsolete, provide more accurate target identification, and allow covert detection and surveillance. There are two known approaches to Quantum-enhanced remote sensing: either by using quantum interferometry or by using quantum illumination. Both rely on using entangled photons and retaining one half of an entangled photon pair while sending the DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. 73 other out (in a known direction) to interact with the environment. These sensors will enable much more accurate and sensitive measurement and the use of much lower power, for applications such as the detection and tracking of small, stealthy targets. Developments will rely on several quantum engineering capabilities, such as the controlled generation of individual entangled photon pairs, the

ability to retain one of each pair in isolation and to detect the returning photon for comparison with the idler. • Magnetic and Gravity Sensing: Precise measurement of the magnetic field are used by maritime patrol aircraft for the localisation of submarines, using MAD (magnetic anomaly detection) sensors. Current sensors are not suitable for use on small UAVs, due to size-weight-power constraints, but emerging quantum technologies may provide a solution. There are also special applications of gravity sensing that could be enabled by quantum technology, for specialised surveillance

Quantum technologies have the potential to bring profound new capabilities, enabling us to sense the insensible, transforming cybersecurity, and enabling us to solve problems we have never been able to solve before. In the defence and security environment, two applications will have particularly significant implications in the near- to mid-term. Firstly, quantum sensing. Quantum sensors have some promising military applications. For example, quantum sensors could be used to detect submarines and stealth aircraft, and quantum sensors could be used for Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT). Such ‘quantum PNT devices’ could be used as reliable inertial navigation systems, which enable navigation without the need for external references such as GPS. This would be a game-changing capability for underwater navigation on submarines, for instance, but also as a back-up navigation system for above-water platforms in case of GPS signal loss. The first quantum sensors are already commercially available, making it the most mature technology out of sensing, communications and computing. Moreover, for quantum communications and computing, the civilian sector is expected to drive developments forward, given the immense potential value they have for civil industry. However, for quantum sensing, potential applications such as quantum PNT and quantum radar are particularly interesting for the military. Therefore, it is up to the military to fund, support and guide research and development in this area to make these potential applications a reality. Secondly, the ‘quantum threat’ posed by quantum computing. As mentioned in the previous section, the factorisation of integers is one type of problem that quantum computers can solve particularly efficiently. Most of our digital infrastructure and basically anything we do online – whether that is video conferencing, sending e-mails or accessing our online bank account – is encrypted through cryptographic protocols based on the difficulty of solving these kinds of integer factorisation problems (e.g. the RSA algorithm). While practically usable quantum computers still need to be developed, the quantum algorithm to solve these problems and to decrypt our digital communication, i.e. Shor’s algorithm, has already been invented in 1994 and is waiting for a quantum computer capable of running it. While you might think that any graphic calculator would be able to solve this seemingly simple mathematical problem, in fact, the world’s fastest supercomputer would take the whole lifetime of the universe to solve it. A quantum computer, however, would be able to solve it in a couple of minutes. This is an urgent threat to society writ large but also specifically to the military, given the importance of secure communication and secure information for defence and security. To counter this threat, we will have to completely upgrade all our secure digital infrastructure using cryptography that is ‘quantum-resistant’, i.e. secure against both quantum and classical computers. One option would be to wait for quantum communication (QKD or quantum teleportation) to mature and use this quantum technology to protect against the other quantum technology. However, time is not on our side. Not only could quantum computing technology outpace quantum communication development, the threat is already present. With the prospect of future quantum computers, hackers could steal encrypted information today, store it and decrypt it in 10-15 years using a future quantum computer. The better option is to implement ‘Post-Quantum Cryptography’ (PQC), new classical (i.e. non-quantum) cryptographic algorithms that even quantum computers will not be able to solve. Currently, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is leading an international competition to select the PQC algorithm(s) to be standardised and adopted across the globe. The process started in 2016 and in July 2020 the NIST announced it had seven final candidates. We can expect the NIST to make its final selection for standardisation by early 2022 and establish actual standards by 2024 (source). Decision-makers across industries and within the military should pencil these dates in their diaries, start preparing for a big cybersecurity upgrade and make sure we hit the ground running. New advances in quantum technology research and development have the potential to bring exciting new capabilities to the military. Given the sizable interest and funding for quantum technologies coming from both civilian industry and governments, it is expected that the technology will mature and that new quantum applications will become available in the coming five to ten years. However, for Allied militaries to be able to actually reap the benefits of these new quantum technologies, it is essential that Allies proactively engage in this field and guide the development and adoption of the military applications of quantum technologies. This should include not just engaging with big technology companies, but specifically also with start-ups, universities and research institutes as these are vital for innovation in these new technologies. Allied militaries could bring significant added value to existing efforts in industry and academia by providing testing & validation infrastructure (test centres) and access to end-user military operators. Early experimentation with these technologies not only contributes to their further development, but also enables the military to become familiar with these technologies and their capabilities, which helps facilitate future adoption. Moreover, active participation in the quantum ecosystem increases the military’s understanding of the potential risks associated to quantum technologies, specifically within the cyber domain.

Highly precise sensors that could enable aircraft to navigate without satellite-based GPS. Tiny atomic clocks that could ensure perfect timing in the face of GPS jamming. Wideband, low-power antennas that could guarantee secure communications.

These are among the breakthrough capabilities promised by quantum technologies that experts say could give the U.S. Air Force crucial advantages in a future conflict with China—provided, that is, that the U.S. military invests in developing those technologies sooner, not later.

Enabling Medical Research and Precision Medicine with Quantum Computing

Cleveland Clinic chose to work with IBM on its quantum computing initiative due to its long-term perspective on disruptive and transformative technology. The partnership gives Cleveland Clinic access to IBM’s data sciences, engineers and researchers, allowing their teams to work with IBM’s full spectrum of computation, including high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing.

Fig. 1. Visualization of results in the form of 3D graphs of populations u and v .

Fig. 2. Quantum variational optimization scheme.