Meet the Speakers

Achim Berg represents the largest German mobility platform Flixbus as chairman of the advisory board at Bitkom. Previously, Berg was Chairman of Arvato´s Executive Board and Bertelsmann´s Executive Board, held senior management positions at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle and managed Microsoft´s operations in Germany. Initially as General Manager Microsoft Germany and Area Vice President Microsoft International, he was appointed to the US corporate headquarters as Corporate Vice President for the Windows Phone Division. In this role, he led the Windows Phone business and its associated services, and later became responsible for the Operator Channels division to work with mobile operators, cable and media companies, consumers and businesses of all sizes to deliver innovative solutions.

Previously, Achim Berg was a member of T-Com´s Board of Management and since 2002 has been responsible for fixed-network marketing and sales at Europe´s largest telecommunications company. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of T-Mobile and Matav (the largest telecommunications company in Hungary). From 1999 to 2001, Achim Berg held the position of CEO of Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH. Between 1995 and 1999, he held senior sales management positions at Dell Deutschland GmbH, most recently as director of the computer manufacturers SME business. Achim Berg made his first career steps between 1989 and 1994 in various sales functions at Bull AG in Cologne. Achim Berg graduated from the University of Applied Sciences Cologne in 1989 with a degree in computer science. He also completed the European Potential Management Program at the European Economic School EAP, Paris, London, Madrid, Rome and Berlin.

He enjoys spending his free time with his family and sports activities such as running and skiing.

Beruflicher Werdegang:
Seit Juni 2019 – Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments

Ausschüsse und Delegationen:
Mitglied:

• Ausschuss für konstitutionelle Fragen (AFCO)
• Delegation für die Beziehungen zu Kanada

Stellvertretendes Mitglied:

• Haushaltsausschuss (BUDG)
• Ausschuss für Industrie, Forschung und Energie (ITRE)
• Ausschuss für bürgerliche Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres (LIBE)
• Delegation für die Beziehungen zu den Vereinigten Staaten

2017 – Mai 2019 – Volt Europa, Mitgründer, Vizepräsident

Mitgründer einer politischen Bewegung mit dem Ziel Menschen neu für Politik zu begeistern, die heute 15,000+ Unterstützer in allen EU Mitgliedsländern, sowie Abgeordnete im Europaparlament und lokalen Parlamenten hat

2013 – 2016 – Beratungsunternehmen, Senior Associate

Fokus auf den sozialen und öffentlichen Sektor. Projekte schlossen u.A. große NGO Strategien, Beratung deutscher Agenturen und Ämter, sowie Recherche im Bereich des Impact Investing und der Zukunft des Euros ein

2012 – 2012 – Euroskop.org - Young Visions for Europe, Co-Initiator

Durchführung einer journalistischen Reise durch 20 europäische Hauptstädte, publiziert in DIE ZEIT und The European

Ausbildung
Master in Public Administration verliehen von der Columbia University und Hertie School of Governance; Bachelor der Philosophie & Volkswirtschaft von der Universität Bayreuth

Photo and Copyright © Michał Szyndel

Dr. Thierry Botter is deputy-Chief of Airbus’ central research & technology (CRT) organization and heads Airbus Blue Sky, a research department within CRT dedicated to emerging, transformative technologies. The department currently has running activities in the areas of sustainable, bio-based recycling of materials, computational neuroscience, and quantum technologies. Dr. Botter was a member of the strategic advisory board for the European Commission’s Quantum Technologies Flagship. He has an extensive track record in the areas of quantum physics, applied quantum engineering, optics, and aerospace systems. Prior to joining Airbus in 2014, Dr. Botter was a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on the development of space-based quantum sensors. He holds a PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Mario Brandenburg is a technology policy spokesman for the parliamentary group of the Free Democrats in the German Bundestag as well as the a member of the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment and the Committee for Digital Agenda. 2018-2020 he also served as a member in the Study Commission Artificial Intelligence. Before entering the Parliament, Mario Brandenburg studied Business Informatics at the University of Applied Sciences in Karlsruhe and worked for the multinational software corporation SAP as Cloud Integration Architect.

Dr Helge Braun was born in Gießen in 1972. After obtaining his Abitur (highereducation entrance qualification) at Liebigschule Gießen and completing compulsory military service in Koblenz, he returned to Gießen where he studied medicine from 1994 to 2001, going on to work as a research assistant in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy at University Hospital Gießen from 2001 to 2009. He completed his doctorate in 2007 on the topic “The impact of intraoperative tachycardia on the postoperative prognosis”. He was a member of the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2005 and then again from 2009. From 2009 to 2013 he served as parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, during which time he was responsible for issues concerning young researchers, research in the life sciences, general and vocational training and the internationalisation of education and research. From 2013 to 2018 he served as Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor.

Since 14th of March 2018 he has been serving as Head of the Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Tasks.

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).

Photo and Copyright © Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH

Biography : Thomas Courbe was born in 1972. He is ingénieur general de l’Armement, and is a graduate of l’Ecole supérieure de l’aéronautique et de l’espace (SUPAERO). 

Career : Thomas Courbe began his career in 1995 at the Ministry of Defense as head of fighter aircraft programs then Chief of Staff of the Director of aircraft programs.
He joined the Directorate General of the Treasury in 2002 where he was successively deputy head of the Asia office, head of the Africa - Maghreb office, head of the aeronautical, military and naval business office, Secretary General of the Paris Club and then Deputy Director of bilateral economic relations.

In 2010, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the State Secretary in charge of Foreign Trade (Pierre Lellouche) and Deputy Chief of Staff of the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry (Christine Lagarde and then François Baroin).

In 2012, he returned to the Treasury Department where he served as Secretary General, then Deputy Director General from 2015 to 2018.

In August 2018, Thomas Courbe was appointed Director General for Entreprises.

Honours : Knight of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the National Order of Merit.

Ellen Devereux is currently working at Fujitsu in the role of Quantum-inspired Optimisation Services Consultant and she is project managing their inspiring Drug Discovery Platform bringing her passion and expertise in analytical thinking and complex problem solving. Ellen is inspired to realise the potential that technology and people have to digitally transform the world.  Since joining Fujitsu, she has been involved in a number of special high-profile projects including as the technical lead for the space debris program collaborating between consortium members and the UK Space Agency.

Professor Gabi Dreo Rodosek holds the Chair for Communication Systems and Network Security at the Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany. She is Executive Director of the research institute CODE (Cyber Defence), member of the Supervisory and Advisory Board of Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, member of the Advisory Board of the BWI GmbH, member of the Governing Board of the Deutsches Forschungsnetz (DFN) and member of the IT expert panel of the German federal financial supervisory agency (BaFin). Professor Dreo studied computer science at the University of Maribor and the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. In 2016 she was awarded the European Medal from the Bavarian Minister for European Affairs and International Relations Dr. Beate Merk.

Prof. Dr. Gabi Dreo Rodosek leitet den Lehrstuhl für Kommunikationssysteme und Netzsicherheit an der Universität der Bundeswehr München. Sie ist Leitende Direktorin des Forschungsinstituts CODE (Cyber Defence), Mitglied des Beirats und des Aufsichtsrats der Giesecke+Devrient GmbH, Mitglied des Aufsichtsrats der BWI IT GmbH, Mitglied des Verwaltungsrates des Deutschen Forschungs-netzes (DFN) und Mitglied des Fachgremiums IT der BaFin, Mitglied des Aufsichtsrats der Siltronic AG und Mitglied im Datenschutzbeirat der Deutschen Telekom. Prof. Dreo hat Informatik an der Universität Maribor, Slowenien studiert und an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) mit „summa cum laude“ promoviert sowie habilitiert. In 1997 erhielt sie den Promotionsförderpreis der LMU; in 2016 wurde ihr die Europa Medaille von der Staatsministerin Dr. Merk verliehen. Ihre Forschung konzentriert sich auf die Cybersicherheit vernetzter IT-Systeme, Cyber Defence, Security-Analytics, Netztechnologien wie Software Defined Networking, IT-Sicherheit von Internet of Things (IoT) sowie Cloud Computing.

Dr Christian Ehler has been a Member of the European Parliament for Brandenburg since 2004 and belongs to the Group of the European People's Party (EPP/CDU). He has been a Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) for over ten years and has been its coordinator for the EPP since the beginning of this legislative period. As rapporteur for Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) and Horizon Europe (2021-2027) Dr Christian Ehler is considered one of the leading figures in the design and implementation of the European Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation. He is the initiator of the ITRE working group on the implementation of the Framework Programmes, which ensures close parliamentary scrutiny of Europe's research and innovation funding. Furthermore, Dr Christian Ehler is Vice-Chair of the European Parliament's think tank STOA (Science and Technology Options Assessment).  One of Dr. Ehlers main priorities is to ensure Europe’s excellence in science, technology and innovation in all sectors, including health, digital and climate. As Rapporteur for Horizon Europe, he has put forward a number of instruments to reduce the administrative burden for researchers and SMEs and for boosting public-private partnerships contributing to achieving EU climate and digital goals.  In addition to his engagement in the field of research an innovation, in the European Parliament Dr Christian Ehler is also Member of the US Delegation and substitute Member of the Committee on Culture and Education, the Delegation for relations with Israel and the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Dr. Christian Ehler ist seit 2004 Abgeordneter für Brandenburg im Europäischen Parlament und gehört der Fraktion der Europäischen Volkspartei (EVP/CDU) an. Er ist seit über zehn Jahren Mitglied des Ausschusses für Industrie, Forschung und Energie (ITRE) und seit Beginn dieser Legislaturperiode dessen Koordinator für die EVP. Als Berichterstatter für Horizont 2020 (2014-2020) und Horizont Europa (2021-2027) gilt Dr. Christian Ehler als einer der führenden Köpfe bei der Gestaltung und Umsetzung von europäischen Forschung- und Innovationsprogrammen. Er ist Initiator einer ITRE-Arbeitsgruppe, die sich für eine engere parlamentarische Kontrolle bei der Umsetzung von Wissenschafts- & Innovationsprogrammen der EU einsetzt. Darüber hinaus ist Dr. Christian Ehler Stellvertretender Vorsitzender des Think Tank STOA (Science and Technology Options Assessment) des Europäischen Parlamentes.  Einer der Schwerpunkte von Dr. Christian Ehler ist es, Europas Exzellenz in Wissenschaft, Technik und Innovation in allen Sektoren – einschließlich Gesundheit, Digitalisierung und Klima – zu stärken. Um die EU-Klima- und Digitalisierungsziele zu erreichen, hat er in seiner Funktion als Berichterstatter von Horizont Europa eine Reihe von Instrumenten auf den Weg gebracht, um administrativen Hürden zu vereinfachen – für Wissenschaftler und KMU’s ebenso wie zur Stärkung öffentlich-privater Partnerschaften. Neben seinem Engagement im Forschungsbereich ist Dr. Christian Ehler im Europäischen Parlament Mitglied der Delegation für die Beziehungen zu den Vereinigten Staaten, stellvertretendes Mitglied im Ausschuss für Kultur und Bildung (CULT) und Stellvertreter in der Delegation für die Beziehungen zu Israel sowie der Delegation für den Mittelmeerraum.

Dr Rachid El Bansarkhani is the Founder and Managing Director of QuantiCor Security GmbH, a Darmstadt-based company specialized in developing quantum-resistant security solutions. He obtained his PhD in post-quantum cryptography at Technische Universität Darmstadt. As a research scientist and postdoctoral fellow he designed and developed quantum computer-resistant cryptosystems such as digital signatures and encryption schemes. Together with his company he won several prizes and established the first industry standard for quantum-safe encryption.

Tom Ewen studied Mathematics with a specialization in financial mathematics at TU Kaiserslautern and finished with his master thesis on bridge processes for the simulation of capital-forming life insurance. In 2018 he started working at Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in the financial mathematics department. Since late 2020 he works on utilizing quantum computers for simulating interest rates and asset prices.

Michael completed his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen in the field of Quantum Information Processing, for which he was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society. After an international research stay at NIST in Boulder, he started as a strategy consultant at TRUMPF in Stuttgart in 2015. In 2016, he became the personal assistant to the CTO of the TRUMPF Group, Dr. Peter Leibinger. 

In 2018, he founded the start-up Q.ANT, which focuses on the development and production of photonic quantum technologies. Q.ANT's product developments include sensors for particle sensing, autonomous driving and human-machine interaction. 

Kevin studied physics at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and works in the field of nanotechnologies and semiconductors during his dissertation. He works more than seven years as senior director business development and marketing at the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and has profound knowledge in the development and implementation of innovation and strategy processes. In 2020 he was one of the founding members of Quantum Optics Jena GmbH. The QOJ team develops quantum-based cyber security solutions and photonic hardware for quantum computing and imaging. 

Physicist and professional in the telecommunication industry with 20+ years of experience. Working for the Deutsche Telekom Innovation Laboratories in Berlin since 2013, with focus on information technology, communication systems, quantum communication and quantum computing.

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 co-design 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.

Walter currently works as a Smart Factory / Industry 4.0 Evangelist in Manufacturing & Automotive at Fujitsu. His current focus is on translating insights in analytics, artificial intelligence and quantum computing into business-relevant outcomes for industrial manufacturing. In addition, he represents Fujitsu in the Bitkom working groups on Industrie 4.0 and actively follows developments in other associations such as the Open Industrie 4.0 Alliance.

Maik Gränitz (Dipl-Ing) studied business administration and engineering at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus. Since 2020 he joined SICK as strategic product manager for the dust and particle analyzer business. Within that role he is currently responsible for the market & application analysis regarding the cooperation project of Q.ANT and SICK called QuantAlyzer. 

Dr Cristian Grozea is employed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS VISCOM division as a researcher and project manager, responsible for the topics "Machine Learning" and "Computer Vision" in VISCOM.

Cristian Grozea holds a degree in Computer Science (University of Bucharest 1995), a Master in Operating Systems and Parallel Computing (University of Bucharest 1996) and a PhD in Algorithmic Information Theory from the University of Bucharest 2003. From 1995 to 2006 he taught mathematics and computer science at the University of Bucharest, mainly AI and programming techniques. As a university supervisor, he has coached student teams which have won many prizes, the best of which being to rank fourth best team in the world at the ACM ICPC programming competition (1999). 

At the end of 1999 he visited for a quarter of a year the University of Bristol, UK where he investigated the emerging quantum algorithms. Since 2007 he has been working as an AI researcher for Fraunhofer, first at Fraunhofer FIRST, then from 2012 on at Fraunhofer FOKUS, in various projects in which ML was applied: Brain-Computer Interfaces (from 2007), ML-based Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (from 2009), indoor-localisation learned from WLAN signal intensity (from 2010), real-time tumor tracking with high latency sensors for High-Intensity Focus Ultrasound Surgery (from 2012), sensor fusion and analysis for smart watches/e-Health (from 2013), optical measurement and weight estimation of swimming salmon(from 2016), and Quantum AI and Optimization (from 2019).

Prof Manfred Hauswirth is the executive director of the Fraunhofer for Open Communication Systems FOKUS since October 2014 and holds the chair of “Open Distributed Systems” at the Technische Universität Berlin. Since October, 2019 Prof. Hauswirth is the co-speaker for the field of quantum computing and speaker of the competency network quantum computing of  Fraunhofer. He is a director of the Fraunhofer Academy and has been the speaker of Fraunhofer’s Berlin Centre for Digital Transformation (2016-2018). He is a director and principal investigator in the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society (the German Internet Institute), and principle investigator in the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF), in the Berlin Big Data Center (BBDC) in the Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD) and in the Helmholtz-Einstein International Berlin Research School in Data Science (HEIBRiDS). 

Oliver works at T-Labs where he investigates Quantum Technologies with regard to their potential benefits to the business of a network operator. Current focus topics are Quantum communication & security and Quantum annealing for combinatorial optimization.

Dr Andrew Horsley is CEO and co-founder of Quantum Brilliance, a company using diamonds to build quantum computers that operate entirely at room temperature and can slot in wherever computers are used today. Dr Horsley is a quantum scientist and engineer with a career focussed on designing, building and operating practical quantum devices. He has worked between Australia, Switzerland and Germany, and led the experimental diamond quantum computing efforts at the ANU prior to founding Quantum Brilliance.

As a Computer Scientist by education Georg Houben held several international roles in Sales & Product Management in over 20 years in the traditional IT business. Since October 2019 he brings in his passion and experience to support Manufacturing and Automotive companies in Digitization projects for their core business to improve profitability and competitiveness. For this, he worked a lot on and with the Quantum-inspired Optimization Services.

Jean-Christophe Jaskula is a quantum computing project leader and expert at Atos Quantum. He received his Ph.D. in quantum mechanics from Paris-Sud University in 2010, followed by postdoctoral training at Harvard University and MIT. His research focused on NV centers in diamond, which can serve as nanoscale quantum sensors for drug engineering or navigation, or as a new computational resource for solving classically intractable problems. His current interests include algorithms on near-term quantum processors, with a special focus on real-world applications in various domains ranging from chemistry to combinatorial problems and partial differential equations.

Duncan Jones is a cybersecurity expert and the Head of Quantum Cybersecurity at Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC). His mission is to show the world that quantum computers are our cybersecurity allies rather than merely our adversaries. Duncan has over 13 years of experience developing security solutions for global companies, with projects ranging from Internet-connected hair straighteners to national ID systems. Before CQC, Duncan worked for several large tech companies, including Thales, Arm and Worldpay. He has led teams in various disciplines, including innovation, research, consultancy and product management. He has worked across a range of industries, from hardware security and payments to IoT.

In his current role, Duncan oversees all cybersecurity activities at CQC, including the development and commercialization of CQC’s unique certified quantum random number (entropy) generation. He holds a bachelors degree in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge. Duncan lives just outside Cambridge, UK, with his family.

Prof. Dr. Bettina Just got a PhD in mathematics and computer science from J.W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main. For many years, she managed projects in life insurance companies and specialized on migration projects of life insurance portfolios. Since 2010, she is a professor of mathematics and computer science at THM Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen. She teaches quantum computing classes and is the coordinator of the "Quanten an HAWn" network. This is a platform for members of universities of applied sciences (the german "Fachhochschulen") to develop teaching inspired by practical applications.

Dr Gustav Kalbe is German, born in Belgium. From 1986 to 1990 he studied Applied Physics at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. In 1991 he studied Applied Optics at the Imperial College of Science in London. In 1995 he completed his studies and earned a PhD in Physics, Molecular Spectroscopy, at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium.

He started his professional career as a project manager in photonic networks at the incumbent telecom operator in Belgium. He was R&D manager when he left the company. In 1998 he joined the Directorate General Information Society & Media of the European Commission where he started working as Project Officer managing research projects of the European Framework Programs for Research. Over the years he had several assignments in quantum technologies, photonics, and cybersecurity. In 2014 Gustav Kalbe became Head of Unit for Administration & Finance in the European Commission, in Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology.  In 2016 he was appointed Head of Unit of the newly created High Performance Computing and Quantum Technology unit in Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology.  In 2018 he became responsible for the establishment and operation of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking. He occupied the post of Interim Executive Director of the Joint Undertaking until its autonomy by the end of 2020. 

He’s also Deputy to the Director of DG Connect C “Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure” since 1st January 2021.

Sven joined JoS QUANTUM in 2019. He has more than ten years of experience in trading and risk management. Most of that time he spent on the trading floor of a large proprietary trading company where, as Head of Research, he was in charge of all quantitative models and algorithms for trading and built up and managed a team of quants. Before that, he did Part III maths at the University of Cambridge, a PhD in theoretical physics at King’s College, London, and a postdoc at the Center for Theoretical Physics in Groningen.

Natalie is the CEO and Founder of Nabla Co, her own advisory firm working on use cases with businesses to leverage frontier technologies, evaluating risks and potentials in emerging markets tangential to Quantum technologies in the cloud, communications, venture capital and automotive sector. She has held positions at Microsoft, EEins and MHP Porsche with a postgraduate degree in physics from Cardiff University and a BA from Hult International Business School. Strongly prefers Python over C.

Raoul Klingner was born in Weilheim, south of Munich, in 1974. He graduated at the University of Hamburg, Germany and received his PhD degree at ETH Zurich, chair of building physics.

In 2005, Raoul Klingner started working at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Munich, initially as a research associate in the Strategy and Internal Research Programs department. In 2010, he became head of department of International Business Development. Since April 2016, Raoul Klingner has been in charge of the Research Department as Director of Research Management and Governance. The division oversees all activities of the Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany.

Raoul Klingner has been teaching research and innovation management at the Technical University of Braunschweig since the winter semester 2017/18 and was appointed honorary professor there at the end of 2019.  He is member in several advisory boards such as the board of governors of RWTH Aachen University (since 2020), advisory board of DFKI GmbH (since 2019) and he is chair of the board of Fraunhofer UK (since 2016). 

Oliver Kolb studied Mathematics with Computer Science at the TU Darmstadt and completed his PhD there in 2011. From 2012 until 2019 he was professor for Applied Mathematics at the University of Mannheim with a focus on numerical simulation and optimization. Since September 2019 Oliver Kolb is product manager at the neXt Lab of DB Netz AG, which particularly works on the automation of train schedules.

Jörg Lässig is Professor for Enterprise Application Development with positions at the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz and the Fraunhofer Society. His domain focus is Energy Informatics and Computational Sustainability. With graduate degrees in Computer Science and Computational Physics, he received his PhD in Computer Science at Chemnitz University of Technology. After research and postdoc positions in the context of algorithmic optimization in Stanford and Berkeley, California and Lugano, Switzerland, Quantum Computing increasingly connected his interests. His current focus is research and development in quantum approaches to optimization and machine learning, working with academic and industrial partners towards first commercial quantum applications. Prof Lässig is speaker of the Saxonian quantum initiative QAPPS.Center and the section Quantum Computing of the “Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI)” (German Informatics Society). He is founder and CEO of the INM Institute for Sustainability Management and author of the annual volume Energy-Efficiency-Benchmark for the German Industry.

Jana Lehner with her background connects scientific research and business application. She received her PhD in theoretical quantum optics and worked in research groups at Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Berlin and Garching, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and DESY IfH/CERN in Zeuthen/Geneva. In addition to her experience in research projects, she continued on business projects in the transportation sector as software engineer and business management consultant. In her current role at IBM in consulting workforce management for EMEA, she focus on strategic data analysis, data processing automation and process optimization. From the first contact in her doctoral research study she was fascinated about the idea of quantum computation and joined the IBM Quantum Ambassador team in 2020.

Martin Leib studied theoretical physics at the University of Konstanz. He finished his PhD in the group of Prof. Hartmann at the TU Munich on the theory of superconducting qubits, one of the leading hardware platforms for quantum computing. After his PhD he held three postdoc positions in Tokyo at RIKEN, in Scotland at Heriot-Watt and finally at the IQOQI in Innsbruck. During his time as a postdoctoral researcher his interest shifted from the underlying hardware to the software of quantum computers. He is currently employed at the Volkswagen Data:Lab and responsible for the development and research of quantum uses cases for the VW group.

Since 2018 he responsible at Accenture for quantum computing innovation projects across industries, gained 5 years of experience in semiconductor quantum computing research, and consulted a German parcel company on network planning. He holds a double M.Sc. in physics, and economics, business and management from RWTH Aachen.

Sebastian Luber has a doctorate in Physics and is Senior Director for Technology & Innovation at Infineon. As the head of the Infineon-wide expert group on second-generation quantum technologies, he is actively involved in a variety of bodies dealing with quantum technologies. Recently he acted as a member of the German government's expert council for a national quantum computing roadmap.

Prof Margull did his PhD in Physics at the University of Regensburg. After many years in the Automotive Industry, where he worked as Software Architect for ECU development with focus on real-time software and multicore systems, he switched into teaching. His research covers real-time and safety-relevant systems.

Michael Marthaler has worked in the field of quantum computing since 2005. He worked on superconducting quantum mechanical bits at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and later at the Saarland University. In 2017 he co-founded HQS, a company creating quantum simulation software, with the goal of running this software on quantum computers in the future.

Mark Mattingley-Scott has a Bachelor of Science with Joint Honours in Computing and Electronics, and a Doctor of Philosophy on the subject of Code Division Multiple Access Local Area Networks from the University of Durham, combined with 36 years experience in the commercial exploitation of technology and research.

As a Principal at IBM he is specialised in the identification, nurturing and development of technological innovation, with a primary focus on Big Data Analytics, Neuromorphic Computing and Quantum Computing. In his 32 years at IBM he has developed several new business areas and transferred these into IBM’s services and solutions business.

Since its inception in 2017, he has been a leading member of IBM’s Quantum Ambassador team, responsible for raising awareness of Quantum Computing and developing business opportunities throughout EMEA, and beginning in 2019 he became Quantum Ambassador Leader for EMEA, adding AP to this 2020, and became IBM Quantum Business Leader for DACH in 2020. Previously he was a member of the core team founded in 1989 at IBM to work on the fledgling world-wide-web, managed the team that built the world’s first e-commerce platform in 1996, managed several large outsourcing contracts from 1997 and led the team which implemented the world’s first mobile health platform in 2006.

He has taught human & machine learning and quantum computing at the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück and quantum computing at the Kirchoff Institute at the University of Heidelberg. He was an adjunct Professor at the Institute of Media Anthropology at the Goethe University of Frankfurt where he taught Cognitive Science, at the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim where he taught Intercultural Management, and at the Institute of Developmental Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilian's University in Munich where he taught Advanced Statistics & Analytical Methods. 

He is a director of the Frankfurt Institute for New Media and a senior member of the IEEE, having founded the German chapter of the Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, a member of the IEEE European Public Policy Committee, a member of the Board of Disruptive Technologists in New York, a member of the Advisory Board of the Graduate School in Cognitive Science at the university of Osnabrück, a member of the NATO Advisory Committee on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, and Chairman of the Big Data working group and co-Chairman of the HPC and Quantum Computing working group at BITKOM, the German IT and Telecommunication Industry Association.

He is an active musician and radio amateur.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Mauerer is a senior research scientist at Siemens Corporate Technology, and a professor of theoretical computer science the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg. After designing one of the first programming languages for quantum computers in 2005, he has published on quantum communication, quantum electrodynamics, quantum optimization and quantum randomness generation and distillation. Besides his engineering work in domains ranging from healthcare to industrial automation, he has authored a monography on the Linux kernel, and has published research on quantitative software engineering and low-level systems architecture in both, industry and academia. A recurrent theme of his talks concerns the deep chasm between research and industrial application, which he will also pick up at this event.

Rory McLaren is Technology Strategist in the CTO Office at Deutsche Börse Group, based in London and working digitally everywhere. He is responsible for technology innovation including executing lighthouse projects in new technology and leads the Quantum Initiative within Deutsche Börse. Rory has 25+ years of experience in Financial Services Technology ranging from start-ups and accelerators to leading financial infrastructure providers and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Glasgow, UK.

Prof Dr Kristel Michielsen received her PhD from the University of Groningen, (the Netherlands) for work on the simulation of strongly correlated electron systems in 1993. Since 2009 she is group leader of the research group Quantum Information Processing at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany) and is also Professor of Quantum Information Processing at RWTH Aachen University (Germany). Together with Prof. Lippert she is building up the Jülich Unified Infrastructure for Quantum computing (JUNIQ) at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC). Her current research interests include quantum computation, quantum annealing, quantum algorithms, hybrid classical-quantum algorithms and quantum statistical physics.

Dr Christian Muench is part of the Digital Annealer team within the Digital Incubation group at Fujitsu TDS GmbH. With his team, he designs purpose built and quantum inspired solutions for various customers and their combinatorial optimization tasks. The understanding of the customer language and transfer of field specific problems to abstract mathematical models plays a major role in his work, as does the implementation of the optimization solutions.

Prior to joining Fujitsu in 2018, Dr Muench completed his PhD in mathematics at the Technical University of Munich and occupied a postdoc position for one semester. His research was directed towards optimal control of semi-linear parabolic systems with hysteresis and differentiability properties of the solution operator. As a member of the International Research Training Group IGDK Munich – Graz, he also published several studies in fields such as dynamical systems and Bayesian inversion.

Dr Muench also holds a Master’s degree in mathematics by the Technical University of Munich.

Rainer Müller is Professor for Physics Education at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. He recedived his Ph. D. in Theoretical Physics in Konstanz. He then moved to Physics Education Research for his Habilitation on the teaching and learning of quantum physics at LMU Munich.

He is an active writer and editor of textbooks for school and university in such diverse fields as mechanics, thermodynamics and quantum physics. Currently, he is active in the coordination of the Education sector of Europe's Quantum Technology Flagship.

Mathieu Munsch is a cofounder and the CEO of Qnami. He holds an engineering degree from the ENS Grenoble INP and a PhD from the University Grenoble Alpes. He worked as a scientist for the CEA and the University of Basel, where he was develop new sources of quantum light and lasers. He is the author of > 15 publications in high profile papers such as Nature and the Physical Review. In 2017, Mathieu created Qnami, with the ambition to become a leader in the quantum sensor market. Mathieu is actively involved in the European Quantum Flagship program and creation of a European quantum ecosystem.

Clara Neumayer heads the business unit »Executive Education«, one of five business units of the Fraunhofer Academy. The Fraunhofer Academy is part of the German based Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft - the leading organization for applied research in Europe. The Fraunhofer Academy provides continuing education and part-time trainings made by Fraunhofer researchers for executives and specialist in the industry. Her business unit organizes over 40 different technical training programs with more than 5000 participants each year. Clara’s scope of responsibility includes the strategical business development, product development, portfolio and stakeholder management with universities and Fraunhofer research institutes. Here major focus is on working on interdisciplinary projects based on the collaboration between multiple Fraunhofer Institutes from different areas. Her team and her are responsible for creating new technology specific trainings, recently also on the topic quantum computing. There she holds the role of a Product Owner and leads a consortium of eight Fraunhofer Institutes focused on hardware, software, application and innovation management. Additionally she heads the internationalization of the Fraunhofer Academy with leading training projects in Asia and the US (recently: Industry 4.0 training for SMEs in Korea). From 2015 till 2017 she was a research associate at Fraunhofer Academy for a project in »lifelong learning in STEM fields« sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Germany. The project supported the development of national and international training programs in alliance between German universities and Fraunhofer research institutes.

From 2011 until 2015 she was working at the School of International Business and Entrepreneurship (SIBE) of the Steinbeis University Berlin in the team of International Programs. During that time, in October 2013, she became the program manager of all Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. There she was responsible for the internationalization of the MBA programs in cooperation with the University of California San Diego (USA) and Tsinghua University Beijing (China).

Clara Neumayer holds a Master of Science degree in international management from the Steinbeis University Berlin, Germany and a German accredited Diplom of Business Administration of the University of Applied Science, Regensburg, Germany.
Clara was invited as a keynote speaker and panelist to several national and international conferences.

Kathy Nickelsen studied industrial engineering and joined SVA in 2017. As a consultant, she has been advising her clients on current topics such as quantum computing since 2019, supporting them with long-term implementation and helping to develop new business areas in the field of quantum technologies. Together with her team, she is currently working on the alignment and execution of enablement workshops around quantum computing for her clients.

David Niehaus is Head of Product at StoneOne’s quantum product unit Anaqor and Community Manager for the research project PlanQK (Platform and Ecosystem for quantum-assisted artificial intelligence). Prior to joining StoneOne he was Complexity Management Lead Germany at umlaut and led major projects with customers of various sizes and industries to improve individual product development organizations and processes. He holds two M. Sc. Degrees, one in Industrial Engineering from Berlin University of Technology and one in Aerospace Management from Toulouse Business School.

I am a project manager and a team leader in the deep-tech venture Terra Quantum AG, experimental quantum physicist at Aalto University, and quantum algorithms developer at Physics of Quantum Information Technology Laboratory at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Phystech). I have a strong background in engineering, manufacturing, developing, and operating unique microwave and optical systems for quantum-enhanced computing, machine learning, sensing, and communications.

Nico Piatkowski received his B.Sc., Dipl.-Inf. and Dr. rer. nat. degrees from TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany. He is currently a senior research scientist at the Media Engineering Group of the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS in Sankt Augustin, Germany. Before that, he was a research scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Unit at TU Dortmund, at the DFG Collaborative Research Center SFB 876 on ``Providing Information by Resource-Constrained Data Analysis'', and later at the Competence Center Machine Learning Rhine-Ruhr (ML2R). Nico contributed to various research projects on the foundations of machine learning under resource constraints, spatio-temporal modelling, and probabilistic inference. His current research interest is focused on quantum computing methods for structural and probabilistic inference.

Having a background in Data Science, Data Management as well as Innovation Management, Claudia Pohlink seamlessly connects business and Data Science aspects of Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Claudia’s team at Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T Labs), the research unit of Deutsche Telekom, drives the adaptation of AI methods such as machine learning (ML) across relevant business areas. Main research focus is on the application of Quantum Computing, in the field of Cyber Security as well as around sustainability use cases. Since T-Labs has established AI as a core innovation area in 2017, the research facility of Deutsche Telekom is one of the most active players in AI in Berlin. Projects from Claudia’s previous position in the Deutsche Telekom’s Chief Data Office include ‘Data Cockpit’ (data transparency and data control for end customers) and a ‘Portal for Intelligence & Analytics’ (internal community for data and AI use cases). Claudia is a member of the Bitkom Board for Artificial Intelligence. Moreover, she plays an active role in Berlin’s AI/ML and start-up communities and regularly shares her knowledge as guest speaker at industry events and reviewer at Berlin’s universities and kids’ events and at schools. In 2019, she was honored as one of the Global Women Leaders in AI.

Mit einem Hintergrund in Datenwissenschaft, Datenmanagement sowie Innovationsmanagement verbindet Claudia Pohlink nahtlos betriebswirtschaftliche und datenwissenschaftliche Aspekte der Analytik und Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI). Claudias Team in den Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs), der Forschungseinheit der Deutschen Telekom, treibt die Adaption von KI-Methoden wie dem maschinellen Lernen (ML) über relevante Geschäftsbereiche hinweg voran. Hauptforschungsschwerpunkt ist die Anwendung von Quantencomputing, sowohl im Bereich der Cybersicherheit als auch rund um Anwendungsfälle der Nachhaltigkeit. Da die T-Labs die KI im Jahr 2017 als Innovations-Kernbereich etabliert haben, gehört die Forschungseinrichtung der Deutschen Telekom zu den aktivsten Akteuren der KI in Berlin. Projekte aus Claudias früherer Position im Chief Data Office der Deutschen Telekom sind unter anderem das 'Data Cockpit' (Datentransparenz und Datenkontrolle für Endkunden) und ein 'Portal for Intelligence & Analytics' (interne Community für Daten und KI-Anwendungsfälle). Claudia ist Mitglied des Bitkom-Boards für Künstliche Intelligenz. Darüber hinaus spielt sie eine aktive Rolle in der Berliner KI/ML- und Start-up-Community und gibt ihr Wissen regelmäßig als Gastrednerin bei Industrieveranstaltungen und als Gutachterin an den Berliner Universitäten sowie bei Kinderveranstaltungen und an Schulen weiter. Im Jahr 2019 wurde sie als eine der Global Women Leaders in KI geehrt.
 

Alexander is a physicist and co-founding CEO at kiutra. He received his PhD from the Technical University of Munich, where he worked on methods to generate very low temperatures, including novel magnetic refrigeration devices that are being commercialized by kiutra to provide easy-to-use and scalable cryogenic cooling for science and the emerging quantum technology industry.

Manfred Rieck has been with DB Systel since 2013 and taken on the leadership of the quantum computing research group, in which the industrial suitability of the technology is examined. The group is focusing at security aspects of quantum computing and at optimization problems for logistic companies with quantum computers. 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.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ina Schieferdecker ist Generaldirektorin für Forschung für technologische Souveränität und Innovationen beim Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). Ihre Abteilung setzt Initiativen zu modernen Schlüsseltechnologien wie Quantentechnologien, Materialtechnologien, Mikroelektronik, Kommunikation, Software und KI-Technologien sowie zur Zukunft der Arbeit und zur Wertschöpfung um. Vor ihrem Eintritt in das BMBF war Frau Schieferdecker Institutsleiterin des Fraunhofer-Instituts für offene Kommunikationssysteme (FOKUS), Professorin für Quality Engineering offener verteilter Systeme an der Technischen Universität Berlin und Direktorin des Weizenbaum-Instituts für die Vernetzte Gesellschaft. Sie ist Mitglied der Deutschen Akademie der Technikwissenschaften (acatech) und war u.a. Mitglied des Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen (WBGU), des Hightech- Forums (HTF) und des Vorstands der Technologiestiftung Berlin (TSB). Für ihre wissenschaftliche Arbeit erhielt sie verschiedene Auszeichnungen wie den EUREKA Innovation Award und den Alfried Krupp-Förderpreis für junge Hochschullehrer.

Ina Schieferdecker wurde am 18. März 1967 in Berlin geboren und studierte Mathematische Informatik an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Ihre Promotion legte sie 1994 an der Technischen Universität Berlin ab.
 

Felix Schiessl drives Technology Innovation marketing and the Quantum Computing Community in Accenture´s Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Russia Technology Innovation team to identify and consult on go-to-market strategies and deliver QC applications.

Felix is part of the German quantum computing team at Accenture since day one and helped ramping up Accenture´s quantum computing business in the German speaking market. He has experience in use case development, building up relationships to vendors and ecosystems, quantum computing strategy and delivered quantum computing projects in the financial services and public sector industry.

As part of the PlanQK project, funded by the German ministry for economics and energy, Felix facilitated the functional and technical design of over 20 quantum computing use cases with various partners from industry and academia and is working on expanding the outreach of the PlanQK community.

He holds a B.Sc. in Business Informatics with a focus on Business Engineering from DHBW Ravensburg.

Klaus is a crypto consultant at the German company, Cryptovision (www.cryptovision.com). Klaus has published 15 books, 300 articles, 1,300 blog posts and 25 research papers about encryption technology (in German and English), which makes him the most-published cryptology author in the world. In addition, he is one of the world’s leading crypto history experts and writes a successful crypto history blog. He has hosted presentations at more than 200 conferences in Europe, Asia and US. His talks have been enthusiastically received because of Klaus's unique presentation style, which involves self-drawn cartoons and Lego models for visualization.

M. Sc. Maximilian Selch was born in 1995 and studied mathematics with minor subjects in physics and economics at Dresden University of Technology. After having completed his Master's degree in 2020, Mr. Selch joined the Fraunhofer Institute of Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU as a research associate. He takes the lead of the institute's quantum computing project about identifying and evaluating use cases of quantum technologies in manufacturing context.

Thomas Skordas received his diploma in Electrical Engineering in 1984 and a PhD in Computer Science in 1988. From 1988 to 1995, he worked in France as a Research Fellow and project leader in EU-funded R&D projects in the areas of Information Technology and Robotics.

In 1995, Thomas joined the European Commission as a Research Programme Officer in the Directorate General Information Society & Media (DG INFSO). Ever since, Thomas worked in various units of DG INFSO (which, in 2012 became DG CONNECT) dealing with ICT research in the context of EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programmes. From 2006 to 2009, he was Deputy Head of Unit in ICT Security and Trust. In 2009, he was appointed Head of the Photonics Unit and in 2014, Head of the Flagships Unit. 

Since March 2017, Thomas is the Director of DG Connect's "Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure Directorate". He’s also acting Deputy Director-General of DG Connect since 1st April 2021.”

Bob Sorensen, Senior Vice President and Chief Analyst for Quantum Computing at Hyperion Research, drives research and consulting efforts in the United States, European, and Asian-Pacific markets for technical servers, supercomputers, clouds, quantum computing and high performance data analysis. Bob is the lead analyst for Hyperion Research’s quantum computing program that looks at global R&D, technology, industry, and government trends in the quantum, computing sector. His areas of expertise include analysis of HPC hardware, architectures, interconnects, HPC benchmarking and performance analysis, and assessments of emerging and disruptive technology trends in the HPC and IT sector writ large. Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester and a master’s degree in computer science from the George Washington University, and he strongly prefers C over Python.

Nicolas Spethmann is head of the Quantum Technology Competence Center (QTZ) at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). He obtained his PhD in 2012 in the group “quantum technology with single neutral atoms” of Prof. Dieter Meschede at University of Bonn. Subsequently he obtained a Marie-Curie outgoing fellowship at University of California, Berkeley performing research dealing with force sensing at the quantum limit and quantum-limited coupling of cold atomic gases via photons. In 2017 he joined PTB in the research group “quantum logic spectroscopy” of Prof. Piet Schmidt where he works on the aluminum ion quantum logic clock. Since 2019 he heads the Quantum Technology Competence Center (QTZ) at PTB, which pursues the transfer of quantum technology from the fundamental research laboratory into application together with partners from industry and academia.

Nikolay Tcholtchev holds a PhD in engineering and a diploma in computer science from the Berlin University of Technology. He is currently working for the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS where he leads and participates in projects related to the areas of Smart Cities (Open Urban Platforms), Network and Systems Management, Cybersecurity, Autonomic Communications, Virtual und Softwarized Networks and Testbeds, VoIP Emergency Communication (NG112), Blockchain, Smart Energy, Firewall/IDS/IPS, Model-Checking, IPv4/6, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Model-based Testing and Testing for Security purposes.

After he finished his studies of law in Mainz, Germany, and Charlottesville, Virginia (USA), Alexander Tettenborn first worked as lawyer in a law firm in Cologne. In 1990, he entered civil service for the Federal government of Germany. After having served several posts in the field of Education and Technology at the Federal Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF) until 1998, he was transferred to Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, now Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). There, he had served several posts in the field of administration, foreign trade (MENA-Region) and ICT/Media-law. In addition, he is co-publisher of several pub-lications on internet-law. Since March 2012, Alexander Tettenborn is head of unit  „Development of digital technologies“ (KI 3) at the BMWi. There, he is responsible for R&D in the fields of Internet of services (Cloud, Big Data, Smart Services), internet of things (Autonomik and Industry 4.0, PAICE – additive manufacturing, engineering), Artificial Intelligence (contest/program – 2019/2020-2024 program); In planning: Implementation of the coalition package on 5 G/Open RAN, AI and quantum computing. ICT architecture of electromobility as well as for the area of ICT-Start ups (start-up contest) and transfer of the projects to SMEs/international cooperation (smart data  forum; since 9/2019: Forum digital Technologies). 

Christian Tutschku is a theoretical solid state physicist with a strong background on quantum field theory, numerical simulations and quantum computing. He successfully completed his bachelor’s degree in high-energy physics in 2015, his master’s degree in theoretical  solid-state physics in 2016 and completed his PhD program at the frontier between high-energy and solid-state physics in 2021. During his studies, he mainly worked on topological quantum field theories, including different numerical simulations for quantum algorithm on topological superconductors. Since January 2021, Christian Tutschku continued his field of research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart, where he develops quantum algorithms for industrial applications. He is mainly focused on the engineering of use-case based quantum algorithms, aiming for hybrid (classical and quantum) programs, which provide an opportunity to significantly reduce the runtime and to increase the performance of recent classical algorithms.

Dimitri is Quantum Lead & Solution Architect at ABN AMRO with a broad range of technical, management and commercial skills.

Dimitri has built several high available and high performance internet environments, and managed and built networks for several customers as project manager and in technical roles, including a 40+ fiber uplink for the LOFAR radio telescope.

After a 10 year period of working on several startups in different roles ( CTO, COO, Full Stack IT), and after making the last one successfull , Dimitri started working at ABN AMRO Technology Lab to explore new technologies that can be applicable for the bank in 5 years and beyond. Dimitri is responsible for the creation and execution of the Quantum Program within the bank, managing 3 Quantum projects, and working with experts in the field of Information Security, Cryptography, IT and Data Science & Mathematics.

Within the Quantum ecosystem Dimitri is active as member of the Dutch Quantum Finance Initiative (ING, Rabobank, ABN AMRO), member of the Industry Council of the Quantum Software Consortium (https://www.quantumsc.nl),  participating in setting up Quantum.Amsterdam (https://www.quantum.amsterdam/) and bridging science, industry and government.

Hannah Venzl is head of the management office of the nationwide Fraunhofer Competence Network Quantum Computing. The Network aims to advance the key technology of quantum computing in Germany. This involves developing new technological solutions as well as quantum-based computing strategies for problems in applied, business-relevant areas. Heart of the Competence Network is an open research platform around an IBM Q System One quantum computer for exclusive use by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and its partners.

Hannah Venzl studied physics in Ulm, Germany, and Melbourne, Australia. She worked as a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany, and holds a PhD in theoretical quantum optics from the University of Freiburg. She joined Fraunhofer in 2015.

Dr Horst Weiß is Vice President Knowledge Innovation & Solutions in the Global Digital Services division at BASF SE. There he is currently working on natural language processing, digitalization of knowledge and innovations. For many years he has dealt with multiscale modeling on high-performance computers, where he also started quantum computing. His passion is to enable innovations with the help of new technologies. He studied chemistry and physics at the Universities of Marburg and Karlsruhe and received his doctorate in quantum chemistry in Karlsruhe. After this, he startet polymer research at BASF as a quantum chemist. In 2020 he was appointed to the Expert Council to set up a national roadmap for quantum computing. This was decided by Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and supported by the State Secretaries of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

Jan is a Senior Expert in the Atos Expert Community and the Presales organization for the areas of High Performance Computing and Quantum Computing. In this context, he has been involved in the large HPC projects of the data centers in Germany for many years. Since 2016, he is deeply engaged with Quantum Computing as part of the Atos product and innovation strategy and has given presentations on this topic at numerous conferences.

M. Sc. Sören Wilmsmeier, born on 15.02.1988, studied industrial engineering at Leibniz University Hanover. From August 2014 to February 2016, he worked as a quality assurance manager at ENERCON. Since March 2016, Mr. Wilmsmeier is working as a research associate at the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools at Leibniz University Hanover, where he is head of the department of production planning and control since October 2019.

Jürgen Winkler studied computer science at Technische Universität Berlin. Since 1996 he worked for Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS, where he is Head of IT-Department. In 2020, he became Member of Central office Fraunhofer Competence Network Quantum Computing and Head Admin of Fraunhofer Quantum Computing Hub.

After studying computer science and business administration, Ingolf Wittmann started at Nixdorf as a Unix system engineer. In 1990, with the announcement of the RS/6000, he took over the AIX marketing responsibility at IBM Germany. This was followed by various positions as RS / 6000 sales representative, sales manager for ERP solutions and international technical manager roles. Most recently, Ingolf Wittmann was Technical Director in charge of High Performance Computing in Europe and heads the global technical team of IBM Quantum Ambassadors.

In August, he took over the role as Head of Business Unit Quantum Systems at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg and is working in the Fraunhofer-wide team that takes care of the project partnership with IBM and the first IBM Q System One quantum computer in Germany. 

Ingolf Wittmann was the chairman of the BITKOM IT infrastructure steering committee from 2007 to 2018. In 2017 he founded the new Bitkom working group for High Performance Computing and Quantum Computing (HPC&QC) and was elected as its chairman.
He has written books on AIX 4 and AIX 5L and is a recognized spokesperson for the press and analysts on IT trends, technology and open source.

1998 Diplom-Informatiker, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (master in computer science)
1991-1996 German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Integrated Genomic Database project.
Since 1996 with F.Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Basel, Switzerland.

I am positioned in Pharma Research and Development, Research Informatics, Data Science. My current focus is on Digital Biomarker Data Analysis and Quantum Computing, specifically the Chemistry Simulation part.