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Desayunos Esade with Horacio Morell, General Manager of IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Israel

Horacio Morell highlighted Spain’s ambition to position itself at the forefront of quantum computing in Europe
Desayunos Morell

“Spain has the opportunity to lead the key sector of quantum computing across Europe, and we cannot do it by ourselves. The more actors involved, the better.” Horacio Morell, General Manager of IBM for Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Israel, summarized his talk with this statement at a new edition of Desayunos Esade held at Esade’s Madrid campus last October. In his talk, Morell surveyed the history of IBM, a company that is about to mark its centennial in Spain, and highlighted its commitment to research and collaboration.

IBM’s evolution in innovation has focused on reorienting its business towards high-value areas, like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing, which carries on the company’s longstanding tradition of developing software and business infrastructures. One key point has been its acquisition of Red Hat to consolidate its position in the hybrid cloud market. IBM is also one of the world’s leading developers of quantum technology.

With more than 25 years of experience in the IT sector, Horacio Morell is known as a leader and strategist in business transformation and effective execution. He has a solid track record in managing complex, transformative projects and investment strategies like IBM’s Multizone Cloud Region in Madrid, which opened in July 2023, and the IBM-Euskadi Quantum Computing Center.

 

Spain's commitment to quantum computing and leadership

Morell highlighted Spain’s ambition to position itself at the forefront of quantum computing in Europe, a key sector driven by the installation in San Sebastián of IBM System Two, the most powerful quantum computer in the world and the second in Europe. He urged collaboration to make the most of this edge: “Spain has the opportunity to lead the key sector of quantum computing across Europe, and we cannot do it by ourselves. The more actors involved, the better.” After investing in the quantum processor, Morell said that now the challenge is to develop the industry around it: “We’ve invested in the processor, but now we have to develop an entire industry.”

Desayunos Morell

The company’s strategy is based on open collaboration, and it works with more than 300 partner companies and 800,000 researchers. Morell expressed his optimism because of the community’s work: “Thanks to the community, we are progressing more quickly than planned, so next year we’ll prove that we’ve achieved the quantum advantage. We will begin to meet many of the goals we set for 2040 in 2029.”

The IBM General Manager outlined the three phases in this technological evolution: “We’re going to see the first application in materials design, the generation of new molecules, and drugs; the second will solve optimization problems applied to areas like financial products and logistics routes; and the third will be fully involved in mathematics, a field in which intelligence will be capable of decrypting.”

 

AI and the new development model

IBM has a deep track record in artificial intelligence that spans decades of research and development. Morell admitted that despite its swift adoption by end users, “a true transformation in companies has yet to occur.” To drive this change, IBM is boosting its staff and its proximity with consumers: “The idea is to listen to customers and be more readily accessible to them,” he said.

He also identified a fundamental change in AI development with the shift from in-house models to scalable, specialized models: “You no longer build the model. You can make it as big as you are capable of and automate tasks like summarizing documents and writing emails with small adjustments. That possibility of scaling up is the main innovation.” In his view, the future will revolve around “specialized models adapted to each organization,” which will be integrated with AI agents capable of not only responding but also executing tasks.

Finally, Morell also stressed that IBM is focused on “the technology of the next ten years,” including the world of semiconductors, chip design, AI, and quantum computing.

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