Speakers

Roman spent his university years at Berlin's Humboldt University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Shenzhen University in China, and he concluded his education with a PhD degree in experimental solid-state physics at the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth. After a 2 year post-doc phase, he spent the next few years working at Bitkom, Germany's digital industries association, as head of IT infrastructure topics, being responsible for Quantum Computing, HPC, data centers and communications technologies, amongst other topics. In 2022 he joined Cyberagentur, Germany's federal agency for cyber security and related key technologies, where he manages the quantum technology topics and progams. 

Jan Berger is a historian by profession and foresight professional by choice. He's the founder of the business thinktank Themis Foresight and its CEO. His professional carreer began in publishing in the 1990's. For five years he led the Russian operations of a leading Danish real estate developer before joing an award-winning Fintech in 2012. Between 2014 and 2021 he was the CEO of a Leipzig-based future institute. Jan is a sought-after sparring partner for corporate executives, speaker, author and co-author of multiple futures studies, analyses and a book on ethical AI. He has worked and lived on four continents. He currently resides in Berlin and Bulgaria.

Jean-François is a Partner & Director at BCG based in Paris. He conducts digital & technology transformations at Fortune 500 companies. He is a core member of BCG deep tech expertise center with a focus on quantum computing

Dr. Andreas Böhm is physicist and worked for several years at Robert Bosch in the development of engine control units. He also gained extensive experience in the management of complex projects. Since 2007, Dr Andreas Böhm has been working at Bayern Innovativ GmbH where he headed the Automotive Cluster till July 2020. His main focus was on coordinating the future topics of automotive wiring systems and autonomous driving. He is currently setting up the technology field of quantum technology for Bayern Innovativ GmbH in order to promote cooperation between research and industry in this future-oriented field.

Ingo Boernig -- Chief Architect in Germany, responsible for solution design across the entire Red Hat portfolio. He works with a wide spectrum of customers in the Travel & Transportation, Retail, Energy & Utilities industries.

Ingo consults his clients on how #opensource solutions and open source approaches address the needs of these industries, across diverse technology domains such as #cloudcomputing, software-defined data centers, data and application integration, #IoT #InternetOfThings, #ML #MachineLearning and #Simulation.

Ingo is an IBM Quantum #Ambassador.

Prof. Dr. Tommaso Calarco has pioneered the application of quantum optimal control methods to quantum computation and to many-body quantum systems. Currently the Director of the Institute for Quantum Control of the Peter Grünberg Institute at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Professor of Quantum Information at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Cologne, Tommaso received his PhD at the University of Ferrara and started to work as a postdoc in the group of P. Zoller at the University of Innsbruck. He was appointed as a Senior Researcher at the BEC Centre in Trento in 2004 and as a Professor for Physics at the University of Ulm in 2007, where he then became Director of the Institute for Complex Quantum Systems and of the Centre for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology. He has authored in 2016 the Quantum Manifesto, which initiated the European Commission’s Quantum Flagship initiative, and is currently the Chairman of one of the Flagship’s Governing Bodies: The Quantum Community Network (QCN). In 2020, together with the QCN, he has launched an initiative towards the creation of a consortium of European quantum industries, which has been legally established in 2021 under the name of European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC).

Samantha has over ten years of global experience in people and talent management. Following recruitment roles at both Apple and Airbnb, she led a consultancy partnering with start-ups on talent pipelines, diversity, inclusivity, and leadership development. In 2021 she moved to Universal Quantum, where as Head of Talent she is responsible for rapidly expanding and developing a world-class team of Physicists, Hardware Engineers, Software Developers and Operations staff, as they work together to build a million-qubit quantum computer.

HANS EHM received his Dipl. Ing. (FH) in Applied Physics from the University of Applied Science in Munich / Germany in 1983 and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University / USA in 1985. He had several Management and consulting positions in the Semiconductor industry and in supply chains containing semiconductors at Infineon . Since ten years he heads the supply chain Innovation department at Infineon Technologies. In 2014 he received the LEO Award as supply chain Manager of the Year of DVZ Media in 2014 and 2018 he got listed as one of the most influential supply chain Manager in the DACH region. His Supply chain Innovation industrial research includes semantic web, capacity and demand optimization problems, deep learning and solutions for complex supply chain problems with quantum computation.

Jan is a quantum physicist and co-founding CEO of IQM, building next-generation quantum computers. IQM has assembled an exceptional team of international quantum experts developing quantum computers to tackle the hardest challenges of modern society. IQM's breakthroughs include pioneering on-chip components for ultra-fast processors and hardware-efficient solutions for application-specific computers. IQM has raised more than EUR 71 million in funding, including the largest seed investment round in Finnish history. Jan did his doctorate on superconducting quantum circuits at the Technical University of Munich and worked as a Marie Curie Fellow in Helsinki at Aalto University, where he holds the title of docent. Capital magazine selected him as one of the 40 under 40 in Germany and he received the prestigious entrepreneurship award from the KAUTE Foundation.

Sebastian has been involved in the commercialization of early stage technologies since the beginning of his career, building Apple's first customer web site in 1995, leading IBM's mobile strategy in 2000, founding mobile app and internet startups, then joining IBM Quantum in 2018 where he built the academic partnerships. He joined AWS Quantum in 2021 where he leads worldwide business development and go-to-market strategy for the public sector.

Carina Kießling is a Manager in EY Technology Consulting. She has a study and research background in physics and is specialized in quantum technology. Currently, she serves as EY Quantum Computing Leader Germany and Europe West. Together with Hult International Business School she developed an academic quantum learning curriculum. She is a cofounder of EY's quantum initiative and drives global connectivity as well as strategy in the quantum field besides quantum alliance management. Her core focus lies in the empowerment of the key future technology both for external clients as well as for the Big4 professional service firm. https://www.ey.com/de_de/people/carina-kiessling

Dr. Stefan Klußmann is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Planerio. With a doctorate in neurobiology, he worked for various years as a consultant and project manager at McKinsey, where he mainly advised companies in the healthcare sector. With Planerio, Stefan follows his passion to increase both efficiency and employee happiness in hospitals, practices and care.

Study at University of Stuttgart (2010-2016):

2010-2014 Bachelor of Science in Simulation Technology

2012-2015 Bachelor of Science in Physics (parallel study)

2014-2016 Master of Science in Simulation Technology

2017-2020 PhD in Quantum Chemistry at the Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Stuttgart in the group of Prof. Hans-Joachim Werner (Title: Multiconfiguration self-consistent field methods for large molecules)

2021 Post-Doc at the Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Stuttgart

Since 2022: Quantum Software Developer and Researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) Research Topics: Quantum Machine Learning and Quantum Optimization

Jana Lehner is Chief of Staff at Quantum Brilliance, an Australian-German company for full-stack room temperature quantum computers based on diamond. She holds a PhD in Theoretical Quantum Optics and has worked in various research groups. She also has extensive experience in business operations, business consulting and software engineering.

With over 6 years of experience in standardization, Marius is responsible for the national coordination of standardization activities in the field of quantum technologies at the German Institute for Standardization. This includes, for example, the initiation and implementation of pre-normative documents (DIN SPECs) or the procedural support of the European CEN-CENELEC Focus Group on Quantum Technologies (FGQT).

Sebastian Luber holds a PhD in physics and is Senior Director for Technology & Innovation. As spokesperson of the Infineon-wide expert group for second-generation quantum technologies, he represents Infineon in a variety of external bodies and activities. Among other things, he was a member of the German government's expert council for a national quantum computing roadmap. In addition, Sebastian Luber is active as a working group leader in QUTAC, the German Quantum Technology & Application Consortium. Previously, he held various positions in the company, including MEMS technology line manager and program manager for sensors.

Melanie Maas-Brunner was born in Korschenbroich, Germany in 1968. She studied at RWTH Aachen University, passing her PhD in Chemistry in 1995. Before joining BASF in 1997, she worked as Research Assistant at Aachen University, Germany, and University of Ottawa, Canada. She is responsible for the divisions European Site & Verbund Management; Global Engineering Services; Corporate Environmental Protection, Health & Safety; Advanced Materials & Systems Research; Bioscience Research; Process Research & Chemical Engineering; BASF New Business.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Mauerer is a Senior Research Scientist at Siemens Technology, and a Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at the Technical University of Applied Science in Regensburg. He has worked with various aspects of quantum computing and quantum information for the better part of two decades.

I am a hands-on software engineer, applied cryptography expert and open-source enthusiast with 10 years of experience in delivering secure, performant and maintainable software.

David Niehaus is co-founder of Anaqor and responsible for marketing and aligning Anaqor's platform for quantum computing with customer needs. He also holds a leading position in the PlanQK research project, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection as a lighthouse project for the use of quantum computing in Germany. After completing a double master's degree in Berlin and Toulouse, he worked in the US, France, the UK and Germany in various positions in the aerospace industry. Most recently, he was Complexity Management Lead Germany at the consulting firm umlaut. In this role, he led large-scale projects with clients of various sizes and industries to improve individual product development processes.

Prof. Román Orús is Ikerbasque research professor at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) in San Sebastián, Spain, and co-founder and CSO of Multiverse Computing, the largest quantum software company in the European Union. After obtaining his degree and PhD in Physics at the University of Barcelona in 2006, he worked as a research fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia, and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany, as well as a junior professor at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz, Germany. He was also visiting professor at the Universitè Paul Sabatier – CNRS, France, and at the DIPC. Prof. Orús has achieved several awards for his work, including a Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowship, and the Early Career Prize (2014) by the European Physical Society. He has written more than 80 scientific articles about quantum research cited more than 6000 times, including foundational contributions to the fields of complex quantum systems and applied quantum computing. He is steering board member of the journal Quantum, member of the ‘Quantum for Quants’ (Q4Q) commission of the Quantum World Association, partner at Entanglement Partners, member of the Scientific Comittee of the Pedro Pasqual Benasque Center for Science, and president of the Specialized Group on Quantum Information at the Spanish Royal Society of Physics.

Markus Pflitsch is a dedicated quantum physicist, senior financial executive and deep tech entrepreneur. He believes in the competitive advantage of quantum tech and is committed to support the European ecosystem to unlock its value. 

Since he was 14 years old, Markus has been a quantum physics enthusiast. He built on that passion, studying mathematics and physics, and accomplished a research career at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Before founding Terra Quantum in 2018, his curious mind and business acumen led him to pursue his profession in the business and finance industry. Starting at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Europe and North America, he applied his expertise in the financial services industry. He spent additional years working as chief financial officer and senior executive in various corporations (Deutsche Bank, UniCredit), as well as owner-managed digital and high-tech companies. 

Ultimately, he decided to leverage his expertise in quantum physics, business and finance to become an entrepreneur in the quantum tech space. He founded Terra Quantum AG, a deep tech pioneer commercializing quantum tech applications. Markus is senior advisor to private equity funds and member of the “Baden-Badener Unternehmergespräche” (BBUG), a German institution which helps cultivate the next generation of executive leaders by bringing together decision makers from business, politics and society.
 

In 2019, Manfred Rieck set the course for Deutsche Bahn for quantum technologies by founding a research group for quantum computing. The group concentrates on the industrial use of quantum computers for optimization problems and on the security aspects of quantum cryptography (PQC, QKD). He sees the quantum computing ecosystem as the key to success, which is why he is expanding the activities of Deutsche Bahn in the area, so Deutsche Bahn is a consortium partner in the PlanQK project for the creation of quantum-based AI algorithms, member of the German Industry Association for Quantum Security DIVQSec, Mr. Rieck is a member of the Governance Board of the European Quantum Industry Consortium QuIC and in the Bitkom working group HPC & Quantum Computing. Before that, Mr. Rieck worked internationally for IBM Germany, including as EMEA responsible for the Project Management Center of Excellence, as well as for BASF in a managerial position. He holds an MBA from the University of Reading, UK and is a qualified computer scientist at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn.

Dr. Fritz Schinkel – Digital Incubation – Fujitsu Fellow and Distinguished Engineer
As Principle Architect and Data Scientist Fritz provides consulting, solutions and services in technology oriented business projects. He is heading an expert team for quantum and quantum inspired computing. Since 1991 Fritz worked in development, architect and management functions for Nixdorf, Siemens and Fujitsu contributing to e.g. CASE tools, portal technology, cloud and big data platforms. His degree in mathematics Fritz received from the Leibniz University, Hannover. Fritz has been recognized as Fujitsu Distinguished Engineer and Fujitsu Fellow.
 

Dr. Sebastian Stern studied physics at the Technical University Munich and received a PhD at the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics. He spent several years in academic research in the field of high-energy particle physics, and searched for the Higgs boson at the LHC at CERN. Sebastian joined AWS Professional Services in 2019. In his role, he builds solutions leveraging emerging cloud technology for AWS customers and accelerates their platform adoption. He is also a member of the AWS Quantum team and onboards customers on Amazon Braket.

Dr Araceli Venegas-Gomez spent several years working for Airbus in Germany and France as an aerospace engineer, before falling in love with quantum mechanics. She then decided to follow her passion for physics and moved to Scotland to pursue a PhD in quantum simulation at the University of Strathclyde. Following discussions with the different quantum stakeholders she had over the last years, Araceli identified the need to bridge the gap between businesses and academia, as well as to raise the quantum awareness to the general public. Continuing her work on outreach advocating quantum technologies, she was named the “quantum ambassador”, after winning the Optical Society Milton and Rosalind Chang Pivoting fellowship in 2019. Araceli founded her own company called QURECA (Quantum Resources and Careers) to create a link between the different stakeholders in the quantum community through a common language, and to generate global opportunities with quantum technologies. QURECA provides a range of professional services, business development, and the solution to the quantum workforce skills bottleneck: the first online platform for quantum training and resourcing, to support individuals and businesses to be part of the quantum revolution.