Quantum‐inspired evolutionary algorithms, one of the three main research areas related to the complex interaction between quantum computing and evolutionary algorithms, are receiving renewed attention. A quantum‐inspired evolutionary algorithm is a new evolutionary algorithm for a classical computer rather than for quantum mechanical hardware. This paper provides a unified framework and a comprehensive survey of recent work in this rapidly growing field. After introducing of the main concepts behind quantum‐inspired evolutionary algorithms, we present the key ideas related to the multitude of quantum‐inspired evolutionary algorithms, sketch the differences between them, survey theoretical developments and applications that range from combinatorial optimizations to numerical optimizations, and compare the advantages and limitations of these various methods. Finally, a small comparative study is conducted to evaluate the performances of different types of quantum‐inspired evolutionary algorithms and conclusions are drawn about some of the most promising future research developments in this area.
