Swissnex at the Inaugural Quantum World Congress in Washington

Brendan Karch, Head of Academic Engagement at Swissnex in Boston and New York, will represent Switzerland at the session on National Quantum Programs on November 30.

November 22, 2022 | Boston & New York

Swissnex in Boston and New York will be representing the Swiss quantum ecosystem alongside other Swiss organizations at the inaugural Quantum World Congress (QWC) in Washington, DC, from November 29 to December 1, 2022. Brendan Karch, Swissnex’s Head of Academic Engagement, will give an overview of Switzerland’s quantum landscape in the session on National Quantum Programs on Wednesday, November 30.

“Swissnex’s participation in QWC is a great follow-up to the Swiss-US Quantum Days, the bilateral conference we launched in Chicago earlier this year,” says Benjamin Bollmann, CEO of Swissnex in Boston and New York. “We’re excited to be able to highlight the excellence of Swiss quantum information science and technology in front of this high-level audience.”

Organized by the Potomac Quantum Innovation Center, an initiative of the regional development organization Connected DMV, QWC is an international conference that bridges academic research with private sector innovation, education, and workforce training, as well as policy and investment strategies. The program features over 100 speakers, including world-renowned quantum researchers, CEOs, ecosystem builders, and policymakers.

“The conference is a chance to present Switzerland’s new National Quantum Initiative as well as the strengths of Switzerland’s bottom-up research and innovation in all major aspects of quantum: computing, sensing, simulation, and cryptography,” says Karch. “The quantum revolution will rely on collaboration across global innovation networks. Swissnex’s mission is to help foster those connections.”

In addition to Karch, the Swiss delegation to QWC will include Raymond Cron, CEO of Switzerland Innovation; Olivia Gachoud, Head of the Science Office at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, DC; Kristi Shalla, Innovation Commissioner at Swiss Business Hub USA; and Bruno Huttner, Director of Strategic Quantum Initiatives at ID Quantique. Karch, Cron, and Gachoud will join a panel focused on advancing global strategic partnerships in quantum on November 29.

Alongside Switzerland, representatives from several other countries will present their national quantum programs, including Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the US, and the UK. Switzerland and the US in particular are looking to deepen their partnership after signing the Joint Statement on Cooperation in Quantum Information and Science and Technology in October.