Quantum Roadmap: Understanding the Evolution of Quantum Computing (2026 BEYA)

All right, good afternoon or good morning still, everyone.

Thank you to our colleagues from industry and from academia for being here.

So today we are going to discuss quantum computing, not as a distant possibility, but as a strategic imperative that's unfolding right now.

So whether you are deciding on a major or recruiting talent or investing in R&D, or you're training the next generation.

The decisions you make in the next few years will determine your competitive edge for the next few decades.

So before we get started, I want to set some expectations.

This is about a 30-minute presentation, and then we're going to open it up to fireside chat.

But I have three goals for this presentation.

And one is to start with the diversity in the history of quantum physics.

And for young people in the audience, where I want this to land is that we have been in this field.

There are shoulders that you're standing on.

And I think that it's really important for us to see ourselves and see the work that we've done.

And so I want to highlight a few people today.

Secondly, the vast changes beyond PQC.

So after this presentation, we're going to do a deep dive into post-quantum computing.

But quantum technology is changing a vast amount of industries, so I'm gonna highlight those.

And lastly, the civil rights issue at hand.

Every time technology changes at a mass scale, like AI, quantum, we then have policy issues and legal issues that we need to think about.

And we need to think about them early.

So I want to discuss some of those.

The first person that I want to highlight is back in 1918, a young black physicist by the name of Elmer Imes.

He published a paper that changed quantum physics forever.

And he did it just 53 years after slavery ended.

So let that sit.

Imes got his PhD in physics just two generations after slavery.