Philippe Babin , CEO of AEPONYX, has 30 years of experience in product and market development in the telecommunication field. He co-founded AEPONYX Inc and leads the company. With his team, he develops and brings to market photonic integrated circuits and products for a broad range of applications, recently expanding to quantum communications. Philippe holds both an Electric Engineering degree and an MBA from the University of Sherbrooke.

Dr. Félix Beaudoin is the Director of Quantum Technology at Nanoacademic Technologies Inc., a scientific software development company founded in 2008 as a spin-off of research done in the McGill Physics department by Prof. Hong Guo’s computational physics research group.

Dr. Beaudoin first obtained an M. Sc. in theoretical physics from Université de Sherbrooke under the supervision of Prof. Alexandre Blais, followed by a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from McGill University with Prof. William A. Coish. Dr. Beaudoin then worked as a postdoctoral associate and university lecturer at Dartmouth College in the research group of Prof. Lorenza Viola, in close collaboration with the Quantum Information and Integrated Nanosystems Group led by Prof. William D. Oliver (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). At scientific and technological levels, Dr. Beaudoin’s research interests revolve around quantum noise, quantum control, quantum metrology, and modeling of spin qubits and superconducting qubits alike.

Dr. Beaudoin joined Nanoacademic in 2019 as a Research Scientist. As Director of Quantum Technology, he currently works with a team of experts to manage the development and commercialization of Nanoacademic’s newest quantum modeling tool: QTCAD, the world’s first commercial finite-element simulation software for spin qubits in semiconductors, which enables computer-aided design of quantum hardware with the objective of streamlining device design and prototyping by reducing trial and error.

Dr. Bellido has over 35 years of international experience in Cybersecurity, Healthcare and Financial industries.

He was appointed CEO of Quantum eMotion Corp., (QNC.V) in January of 2020.

He was the CEO of SoundBite Medical from 2018 to 2020 after he served as CFO from 2015 to 2018. From 2007 to 2014, he served in several top executive positions in large, medium-sized and start-up companies.

From 1999 to 2006, he managed a $300M life science investment Fund (SGF-Santé) and produced several major winners: Cryocath, IDI-GeneOhm, Draxis, Medicago, Atrium, Axcan Pharma. He occupied several executive positions with Eli Lilly in the United States and Europe including Strategic Asset Director, Global Business Unit Manager and Head of Regulatory Affairs.

He was also the director of the chair of Management in Bioindustry at the University of Quebec in Montreal where he has held the position of Invited Professor at the School of Management for 15 years.

Dr. Bellido has served as Board member and Director in more than 20 private and public companies, including at the present time Diagnos (ADK.V), Magneceuticals (USA), RegenLab (CH). He is a former member of the board of DSM Biologics Company Inc., one of the world leading biopharmaceutical CMOs.

Dr. Bellido has an MBA, a MSc. in pharmaceutical sciences and a Ph.D. in sciences from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and he has published over 40 original manuscripts and communications in peer reviewed scientific journals.

Yoshua Bengio is Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at Université de Montreal, as well as the Founder and Scientific Director of Mila and the Scientific Director of IVADO. Considered one of the world’s leaders in artificial intelligence and deep learning, he is the recipient of the 2018 A.M. Turing Award with Geoff Hinton and Yann LeCun, known as the Nobel prize of computing. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of London and Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, Knight of the Legion of Honor of France, and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair.

Sarah Blanchette is the Executive Director of the Bachelor in Quantum Information Sciences at Université de Sherbrooke. Part of her responsibilities in the framework of this new degree, the first of its kind to be provided in French, is to develop partnerships with industry players and integrate their cutting-edge research into the course curriculum. She also works to mobilize knowledge between different academic and industrial partners. Previously, Sarah worked as a quantum software developer at Institut quantique, where she focused on quantum machine learning projects and on building educational material on quantum computing. She studied physics at Université de Montréal.

Mr. Blouin began his studies at the University of Sherbrooke and at INRS-Energy and Materials, where he obtained his doctorate in 1998 on the fabrication of nanomaterials. He subsequently worked at Laval University in collaboration with Hydro-Quebec, as well at the Institut des Matériaux Industriels and the Minutia Group. At the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation since 2007, he became General Director of Science and Partnerships in 2016.

François Borrelli has worked for more than 30 years in the information and communications technology sector both inside and outside of Quebec where he founded multiple companies (Oblique Networking, Oy AddPhone and others). He is recognized for his entrepreneurial and creative approach to combining technologies with market sectors and adapting them to existing or innovative business models. He has been and still is involved in several technology projects in sectors as diverse as culture, mobile commerce, healthcare and telecommunications, both conceptually and commercially. He still regularly acts as a coach to help start-up businesses.

Dr. Bourassa earned his Ph.D in quantum information processing in 2012 under the supervision of Professor Alexandre Blais at the Institut Quantique of the Université de Sherbrooke. He is a renowned expert in quantum sensing technologies with superconducting devices, having published more than a dozen scientific papers and been awarded three patents related to quantum sensing. In 2018, Dr. Bourassa co-founded Qubic, a company developing quantum technologies for remote sensing applications in collaboration with Professor Christopher Wilson of the University of Waterloo and the Institute for Quantum Computing, a world-leading expert in microwave quantum signals and technology. Together, they created the world’s first quantum-enhanced radar prototype capable of demonstrating a quantum advantage in ambient conditions. Today, Qubic is a growing startup located in Sherbrooke, Québec and Waterloo, Ontario. The company is a 2022 graduate of the University of Toronto’s deep-tech accelerator, the Creative Destruction Lab, partners with two world-leading quantum research institutes and receives strong support from the Canadian defense, the governments of Canada and Quebec, and of major corporations in the aerospace market.

Professor of computer science at the Université de Montréal since 1979, Gilles Brassard laid the foundations of quantum cryptography at a time when nobody could have predicted that the quantum information revolution would usher in a multi-billion dollar industry. He is also among the inventors of quantum teleportation, which is one of the most fundamental pillars of the theory of quantum information. Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the International Association for Cryptologic Research, International Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, and Officer of the Orders of Canada and Québec, his many accolades include the Wolf Prize in Physics, the Micius Quantum Prize, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences, the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, and the C&C Prize of the NEC C&C Foundation. He has been granted honorary doctorates from ETH Zürich, the University of Ottawa, and Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.

Dr. Nadia Carlsten is VP of Product at Sandbox AQ, where she is responsible for managing product development across the company’s quantum security, quantum sensing, and simulation & optimization efforts. Nadia has extensive experience turning emerging technologies into products. Previously she was Head of Product at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing where she helped define the strategy for quantum hardware and helped launch Amazon Braket, AWS’s quantum computing service. Nadia has also led commercialization activities at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and successfully brought new technologies to market in the areas of cybersecurity and machine learning. Nadia has a PhD in engineering from UC Berkeley.

Amanda is a Director of Product at Horizon Quantum Computing, where she works on building developer tools for programming quantum computers. She specialises in product innovation and development, and software developer tools. Previously, she worked in product in Microsoft. She holds a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from Brown University, and executive certifications in Design Thinking, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy, and Finance from Stanford University, Wharton Executive Education and INSEAD Executive Education.

Lilian Childress is an Associate Professor of Physics at McGill University. Her research applies concepts of quantum optics and atomic physics to solid-state systems, notably color centers in diamond. Her nearly two decades of work in this field have examined how electronic and nuclear spins in diamond can serve as a platform for quantum information processing and quantum-enhanced sensing. More recently, her research has focused on coupling diamond defect centers to open-geometry Fabry-Perot cavities, which promise compatibility with defects sensitive to nanofabricated surfaces. She has also explored the dynamics of nanomagnetic circuits with sensors formed by single nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond and developed techniques for adaptive measurements with nitrogen-vacancy centers.

Alexandre Choquette is a quantum computing professional with experience in academia and industry. At IBM Quantum, he is responsible for driving the adoption of quantum computing across various industries through strategic partnerships and collaborations in Canada and internationally.

Alexandre holds a MSc in Quantum Computing from Université de Sherbrooke and prior to joining IBM he worked as a research scientist for IBM Quantum Zürich and 1QBit. Although he is based in Montreal, you may often find him backcountry skiing on the West coast!

Dr. William Clark is an accomplished industry leader with over two decades of experience in systems design, development, and integration of cutting-edge tactical and strategic communications systems. Currently, he serves as the Vice President of Quantum Development at Infleqtion, where he leads the development of innovative quantum technologies.

Before joining Infleqtion, Dr. Clark was a Senior Engineering Fellow at General Dynamics Mission Systems. He was the Founder and Director of the Quantum Laboratory and Quantum Center of Excellence, where he explored the practical use of quantum technologies for secure and covert communications, remote sensing, and signal processing. His work has been instrumental in advancing the development and implementation of quantum technologies in the defense industry.

Dr. Clark has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) physics from the University of Colorado, Department of Physics. He has been recognized for his work as the Chairman of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for Quantum Computing, Communications, Security, and Sensing.

Dr. Clark’s expertise in quantum technologies, systems design, and development has made him a sought-after speaker and thought leader. His contributions to the field have been invaluable, and he continues to lead the industry in developing and implementing quantum technologies.

Mr. Couillard has over 35 years of experience in the field of cybersecurity with focus on cryptography, key management and quantum-safe technology. His expertise includes design, development and implementations of cryptographic and cybersecurity systems and products for both commercial and military environments. He is currently the co-founder, CEO & CTO of Crypto4A which develops crypto-agile and post-quantum cybersecurity products for deploying, managing and protecting digital keys, workloads, data and applications.

Prior to co-founding Crypto4A, he led the development of the Luna hardware security module (HSM) as the co-founder and CTO of Chrysalis-ITS which is now part of Safenet/Gemalto/Thales. In addition to developing the Luna HSM he contributed significantly to the development of the PKCS#11 Standard. During his tenure as a cryptographic evaluator for the Canadian Government, he also led the security evaluation of multiple high assurance military cybersecurity products in addition to being a security architect on the Canadian Cryptographic Modernization Program (CCMP).

As a board member of Quantum Industry Canada (QIC) association, co-chair of the Quantum Industry Developers and Users Working Group, and a member of the Canadian National Quantum Strategy committee, he is actively involved in the promotion and development of a Quantum National Strategy for Canada and its ecosystem.

Etienne De Montigny is a Defense Scientist at Defense Research and Development Canada in the Department of National Defense. He is part of the Electro-Optic Surveillance and Reconnaissance section at the Valcartier Research Center. His research interest are in active imaging and lidar, and more recently in quantum imaging and sensing. He obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering Physics from Polytechnique Montréal.

Raphael de Thoury has spent the last 20 years of his career as a CEO of deep tech companies, innovation director in medium-sized groups, and senior entrepreneur in top-ranked tech transfer and startup incubators.

He has joined Pasqal as the CEO of their Canadian subsidiary, where he is responsible for setting up PASQAL’s facility and technical center in Sherbrooke to serve North-American customers. This subsidiary will enable PASQAL to develop new commercial applications, particularly in the fields of energy, mobility, and materials for academic and industrial users.

As Head of Product, and with over 25 years of experience in research and development, Sébastien leads the productization of infinityQ quantum-inspired technologies.

Prior to joining infinityQ, he held leadership roles in several privately held companies, including Director of Development at Montreal’s Ubisoft Entertainment, where he lead more than 15 teams developing a micro-services platform used by all Ubisoft game titles, Director of Engineering and R&D at OSSim Technologies (now Symgery), a Montreal-based startup developing surgical simulators to train medical students, and Director of Product Development at Sologlobe (now Generix North America).

Sébastien started his career as a researcher and later Team Lead at the National Research Council Canada, where he was involved in the development of software and hardware technologies for the healthcare sector. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, and Masters and Bachelors degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnique Montreal.

Kees Eijkel is Business Development Director at QuTech, the Delft quantum institute founded by the Technical University of Delft and TNO. Before that, he was president of Kennispark Twente, the science park and innovation ecosystem in and around the University of Twente and Saxion University of Applied Sciences, and technical-commercial director of the MESA+ Institute of Nanotechnology. His education is in Mathematics (MSc University of Amsterdam) and Engineering (PhD University of Twente). Kees has held several positions in organizations to support commercialization and startups, including public venture funds.

Jonah Force Hill is Managing Director at The LightBridge Group, an advisory firm for quantum tech companies. From 2021-2023, he served as the Director for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technology on the staff of the National Security Council at the White House, where he directed President Biden’s national security memorandum on quantum computing (NSM 10). Prior to joining the White House, he served as Head of Cyber Policy at the U.S. Secret Service and Senior Specialist for Technology and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce. He maintains affiliations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, American University, and the Council on Foreign Relations, and holds an MTS and MPP from Harvard University and a BA from UCLA.

Andrew Fursman is a co-founder of 1QBit and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Andrew was a founding partner of Vancouver-based VCC firm Minor Capital, co-founder of Satellogic Nano-Satellites, and co-founder of Cloudtel Communications.

Andrew studied Economics at the University of Waterloo and Philosophy and Political Science at the University of British Columbia prior to attending post-graduate programs in Technology Studies at Singularity University and Financial Engineering at Stanford University.

On those rare occasions when he is not busy with his 1QBit duties, he indulges his passions for kayaking in the gulf islands and explores practical applications of microbiology at a small home laboratory on Vancouver Island dedicated to experiments with Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Olivier is the Lead of Québec Quantique, a community dedicated to optimizing Quebec’s actions in the field of quantum sciences and technologies in order to make it a social and economic lever for Quebec and position the latter as one of the leaders in the field on the national and international scene.

Over the past 20 years, Olivier has worked as an entrepreneur, business developer and strategic consultant in various industries such as quantum tech, climate tech, deep tech, mobility, manufacturing, health & wellness, entertainment, non-profit organisations and in economic development. So far, he has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs at different growth stages and worked in multiple countries on mandates such as commercial expansion, capacity building and partnership development.

Lawrence Gasman is the founder and President of Inside Quantum Technology. He has authored industry analysis reports on quantum key distribution, quantum computing, quantum networks, and quantum sensors and numerous studies on high-speed interfaces for high-performance computers. He also served on a panel at the Q2B conference in 2017; the first ever business-oriented quantum computing conference. Lawrence has been tracking commercialization of new technologies for 35 years and has written four books in this area. His consulting work has included both major multinationals and high-tech start-ups as clients and he has also carried out due diligence work for investment banks, venture capitalists and leading management consulting firms.

Nicolas Godbout is Director of Engineering Physics at Polytechnique Montréal, Director of the Transdisciplinary Institute for Quantum Information (INTRIQ) as well as Co-Founder of Castor Optics. Throughout his career in the private and public sectors, he tackled research and development projects harnessing optical fibers for applications in telecommunications, biomedical engineering and quantum information. He has been an active researcher in quantum information for twenty years and is now active in advocating the development and adoption of quantum technologies.

Oktay is the founder and CEO of Agnostiq. Oktay received his PhD in physics from the Max-Planck Institute, Stuttgart, Germany. After his PhD he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He worked in Turkey as an Assistant Professor before moving to Canada as a visiting scientist at the University of Toronto in 2017. Since 2018 he has led Agnostiq, a Toronto-based software startup developing software for quantum computing and high performance computing.

Wendy is responsible for leading High Q’s vision to harness the power of quantum technology to aid scientists in developing lifesaving treatments. She is a global business executive who delivers unprecedented results by understanding unmet market needs and expanding strategic partnerships with customers. She brings more than 20 years of executive leadership expertise in the healthcare capital equipment, biotechnology and pharmaceutical markets across large public, privately held, and venture funded organizations. She holds an MBA and Master of Finance from Tulane University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University.

Gael Humbert is one the founding partners of the Digital and Quantum Innovation Platform ( PINQ2 ).

Head of Strategic Partnership and Business Development, he has spent the last 9 years of his life in finance, specifically in organizational transformation roles and as an innovation management lead. His work focuses on how public and private organizations optimize the transfer of technology to the market and the related impacts in society. He is also president of the IE Club Canada innovation network and a member of the Institute for Lifelong Learning.

Dr. Justin Huneault is the Cryogenics Team Lead at Anyon Systems where he oversees the development of scalable cryogenic systems for quantum computing. The team focuses primarily on building large scale dilution refrigeration systems for the quantum computing needs of today, as well as the anticipated needs of the future. Justin obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University and has performed research in a wide variety of fields including hydrodynamic instability, shockwave induced cavitation, the dynamic failure of materials, energetic materials, and the development of hypervelocity launchers.

Bruno Huttner is the Director of Strategic Quantum Initiatives, and a Quantum Key Distribution Expert at ID Quantique. He is also the co- chairman of the Quantum-Safe Security Working Group (QSS WG) organized by the Cloud Security Alliance.
Bruno joined ID Quantique in 2014, participating in business development and product management in the Quantum Security division. He then started the space programs, aiming at developing quantum key distribution globally, using satellites.

Bruno is an engineer (Ecole Centrale Paris) and a physicist (PhD from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology). After an early career in academia, Bruno moved to business. Prior to joining ID Quantique, he participated in the creation of a startup company, Luciol Instruments, which used quantum technologies for improving test and measurements equipment.

Rainer Iraschko has worked in the telecommunications sector for over 30 years. He holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto and a doctorate from the University of Alberta. Over his career he has accumulated a broad base of expertise and experience, including enhancing the resiliency of a multinational telecom service provider’s transport network to growing a Silicon Valley DWDM start-up into a successful public company. In 2014 Rainer Iraschko joined TELUS after overseeing the R&D of TRLabs, a research consortium funded in part by TELUS. As Principal Technology Architect (PTA) at TELUS he is responsible for identifying emerging technologies and ICT trends, and fostering the creation of innovative technologies of interest and value to TELUS including Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and most recently Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).

Dr. Mark Jackson is the Quantum Evangelist at Quantinuum. He received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Columbia University. He then spent 10 years researching superstring theory and cosmology, co-authoring almost 40 technical articles. To promote the public understanding of science, he founded the science crowdfunding platform Fiat Physica and non-profit Science Partnership Fund. He is Adjunct Faculty at Singularity University and a Director of Astronomers Without Borders.

Rafal is the Chief Operating Officer at Xanadu. He manages business operations and leads organizational growth on a product and company level. He specializes in commercializing deep tech projects and has over ten years of experience in leading software and machine learning teams in both large enterprises and high-growth startups. Rafal holds an MSc in Biophysics from the University of Guelph.

Dr. Yoann Jestin, is the CEO and co-founder of Ki3 Photonics, a Canadian startup focusing on the development of quantum resource distribution with the vision to adapt quantum technologies and quantum key distribution to the actual telecommunications infrastructure. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Maine (France) and has been a professional researcher since 2002. He is an authority in the realization of systems and devices for telecommunications applications like optical amplifiers, ultra-stable interferometers, sources of optical frequency comb, including specialized optical fibers and integrated optics. His research and development work has produced over 70 scientific papers and 15 patents to date.

Dr. Maninder Kaur, a program manager at QURECA, is at the forefront of driving the successful adoption of quantum education and workforce readiness programs. Her remarkable contributions include evaluating $36 Billion in Public Funding investment in Quantum Technologies, creating a quantum industry database, and leading the development of quantum training courses. Dr. Kaur’s insightful review paper, “Defining the quantum workforce landscape,” sheds light on global quantum education initiatives. She holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Delhi and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at ELI Beamlines. Leveraging her extensive research background in theoretical modeling and simulations of laser-plasma accelerators, she transitioned from academia to the quantum industry. She continues exploring various initiatives in the quantum ecosystem, forging new pathways in research and applications as well as quantum workforce readiness.

Pierre Kennepohl is currently Associate Dean for Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at the University of Calgary Faculty of Science. His research focuses on leveraging the electronic properties of unusual molecules and molecular assemblies for diverse applications including cancer treatment, solar energy conversion, water oxidation catalysis, and quantum computing. He has recently taken the lead on several initiatives related to UCalgary’s Quantum Strategy, including faculty hiring and the delivery of its brand-new Professional Master of Quantum Computing program.

Robert Keys is a Senior Director of Optical Transmission R&D at Ciena. In this role, Robert oversees all aspects of optical systems transmission including link performance assurance, planning tools, optical hardware development and Quantum communications. In his 30+ years of experience, Robert has held several leadership positions including VP of Packet Optical R&D at Juniper Networks where he developed optical systems for switching and routing platforms, as well as CTO at BTI Systems.

Katanya B. Kuntz (PhD) is a Research Associate at the Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Canada, and the Co-Founder & CEO of Qubo Consulting Corp. where We Make Quantum Accessible to government and business leaders, so they can learn about the ever-changing quantum landscape. Katanya is the QEYSSat Science Team Coordinator for Canada’s first quantum satellite mission: Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat), which will demonstrate the distribution of encrypted keys (i.e. Quantum Key Distribution) between the satellite and ground stations across Canada and around the world. She works in the field of experimental quantum optics, such as generating quantum states of light using lasers and non-linear crystals to study quantum entanglement. She has a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Quantum Optics, University of New South Wales, Australia, 2013) and a BSc in Physics (University of Calgary, 2008).

Simon Labrecque is Director General, Regional Operations at Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) since 2021. In his role, he is responsible for 9 of CED’s regional business offices and works to promote long-term economic development of Quebec regions by supporting the investments necessary for the competitiveness, growth and vitality of small and medium-sized businesses and communities. He previously held the position of Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister / President of CED for 5 years. Simon was responsible for monitoring the organization’s priorities, managing relations with CED’s internal and external stakeholders, as well as advising the Deputy Minister / President on various files. Simon has worked at CED since 2009 and has held various positions within the organization.

Simon holds an executive MBA from the École des sciences de la gestion (UQAM) and from the University of Paris Dauphine.

Olivier Landon-Cardinal is Lecturer at the Ecole de Technologie Superieure (ETS) in Montreal. After graduate studies in quantum information (M.Sc. UdeM, Ph.D. USherbrooke), he held postdoctorate fellowships in Caltech and McGill. Since 2014, he chose to focus on teaching, while keeping close to research. He has been teaching an introductory undergraduate course to quantum computing since January 2021. He is now building a curriculum in quantum information and fostering research in quantum technologies at ETS.

Megan is responsible for planning, direction and implementation of Quantum City’s organizational, administrative, financial, communication, service delivery and stakeholder partnership activities.

Dr. Julie Lefebvre is the Director General of the Security and Disruptive Technologies, Advanced Electronics and Photonics, and Nanotechnologies Research Centers at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). She provides leadership in the quantum, material sciences, photonics and nanotechnologies in support of NRC’s strategic goals to promote the advancement of knowledge and collaboration with stakeholders across the innovation landscape. Prior to joining the NRC in 2019, she worked for 20 years at Defense Research and Development Canada (DRDC), both as a researcher and as a science manager. In 2014, she was appointed Director General of the Science and Technology Joint Force Development and led several programs in the fields of cyber operations, intelligence, space operations and sensing technologies. Dr. Lefebvre has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from McMaster University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Washington State University.

Charles is a Partner in BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund, created in 2021. Charles served as Assistant Vice-President Ecosystem Development after he joined BDC Capital in 2016. He also played a key role in the formation and deployment of BDC’s Bridge Financing Program during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Previously, Charles worked in private equity at PSP Investments and management consulting at McKinsey & Company where his main functional areas were strategy, operations and finance, with a focus on the mining and oil & gas sectors.

Charles holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal as well as an MBA from Harvard University. He also continues to be involved in academia as a guest lecturer on the topic of entrepreneurial finance.

Mr. Levy has worked at the intersection of technology and finance for more than 35 years. In 2018 Mr. Levy co-founded SEEQC, a scalable quantum computing company, where he serves as the company’s CEO and Chair. From 2010-18 he served as the Chair of BioLite, a distributed clean energy company. In 2013, Mr. Levy joined the board of goTenna, an ad hoc mesh networking company. In 2011, he was named Chair of Hypres, a digital RF and MRI company. In 2012, Mr. Levy joined the investment committee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation overseeing a $450m endowment and became Chair of the investment committee in 2017, pursuing a commitment to impact investment. Mr. Levy was a founding partner from 2005-2010 of L Capital Partners, a $185m venture capital fund, where Mr. Levy led investments in the technology sector and served on seven technology company boards including WiSpry, OnPATH Technologies, HiGTek, Simparel (Exenta), and Evogen.

From 2001-2005, Mr. Levy was a partner in the Shalom Equity Fund, a seed stage tech fund based in the US and Israel. Prior to 2000, Mr. Levy served as founding CEO of ePlanet, a pioneering computer vision company funded by Interval Research and Intel Corp. During the mid-1990’s, Mr. Levy worked at Interval Research Corporation, a Palo Alto based development lab sponsored by Paul Allen. Before that he was a general partner of Ariel Securities Corp., an NASD-licensed broker/dealer specializing in venture capital and media-based investments.

Since 1997, Mr. Levy has served as a board member of the Cathay Investment Fund, a private equity fund with over $1b invested in Chinese companies. He also served on the boards of VisionSense, Adjungo Networks and Ovex and was an adviser to Tseng Labs and Advanced Medical Imaging. Mr. Levy served on the board of Bend the Arc and was chairman of the organization from 2000-2006 overseeing the merger of two non-profits.

Mr. Levy is a regular guest lecturer at Columbia University Business School and has given talks on entrepreneurial finance at Harvard Business School, M.I.T., and at numerous industry conferences including a TEDx event at Amherst College in 2014.

Mr. Levy received an A.B. from Amherst College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mathieu Maisonneuve is a Scientific Advisor at INO in the Office of the CTO, where he oversees activities related to the development of quantum photonics technologies and their applications. Mathieu’s expertise covers a wide range of applications and technology development – optical space systems, nanotechnologies, and biomedical applications – all supported by more than 20 scientific publications and presentations at international conferences.

Sarah McCarthy is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, with a strong background in quantum-secure cryptography. She received her PhD from Queen’s University Belfast. Her research encompasses vehicle-to-vehicle communications, global QKD networking and advanced lattice-based primitives. As a researcher, she is drawn to contributing efficient designs which are useful and practical in the real world, which continues to be a key influence in her current role.

Udson Mendes has a PhD in Physics from the University of Campinas in Brazil. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratoire Pierre Aigrain at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris, and then at the Institut Quantique at the Université de Sherbrooke. Dr. Mendes’ research has been focusing on the development of quantum technologies ranging from quantum hardware to quantum algorithms. Since joining CMC, he created the world’s first cost-sharing fabrication service for superconducting devices and helped to train over 170 high qualified personnel in CMC’s quantum workshops. Moreover, Dr. Mendes leverages his expertise to lead a team of quantum scientists working on applications ranging from cybersecurity to protein design to cancer diagnosis.

Dr. Evan Meyer-Scott is the Director, Quantum Processors, at Photonic, Inc. He got his start in quantum information at the University of Waterloo, obtaining his PhD in 2013 under Professor Thomas Jennewein, where he built photon sources, measured entanglement, and played with QKD systems. He spent time as a visiting researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he was part of the team to measure a loophole-free violation of Bell’s inequality. After a postdoc in integrated quantum optics in at the University of Paderborn (Germany), Evan returned to Canada to join the startup G2V Optics. There he managed two product development streams, including systems to improve and tailor plant growth with light, and highly-accurate solar simulators, one of which was delivered to NASA for pre-spaceflight testing of its OSAM-1 mission. Returning to the quantum fold he joined Photonic in 2022, overseeing a rowdy but loveable group of physicists, engineers, and mathematicians seeking to build a fault-tolerant photonically-linked silicon spin based quantum computer.

Dustin Moody is a mathematician in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Computer Security Division, where he leads the post-quantum cryptography project. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2009. His area of research deals with elliptic curves and their applications in cryptography.

Dr. Mosca is a founder of the Institute for Quantum Computing, Professor in the Department of Combinatorics & Optimization at the University of Waterloo, and a founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

He is globally recognized for his drive to help academia, industry and government prepare our cyber systems to be safe in an era with quantum computers. He co-founded evolutionQ Inc. to provide services and products that enable organizations to evolve their quantum-vulnerable systems and practices to quantum-safe ones. He was a founder of the ETSI-IQC workshop series in Quantum-Safe Cryptography. He co-founded softwareQ Inc. to help organizations benefit from the power of quantum computers.

He worked on cryptography during his BMath (Waterloo) and MSc (Oxford) and obtained his Doctorate (Oxford) on Quantum Computer Algorithms.

His research interests include quantum computation and cryptographic tools designed to be safe against quantum technologies.

Dr. Mosca’s awards and honours include Fellow of the Institute for Combinatorics and its Applications (since 2000), 2010 Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), SJU Fr. Norm Choate Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), and a Knighthood (Cavaliere) in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2018).

Mehdi is the Chief Science Officer of Qunnect Inc. As a graduate student he co-founded Qunnect with the intent to transform his PhD work, the experimental demonstration of a room temperature Quantum Memory, into a commercial product. He now leads the research agenda for the company’s product suite, a collection of instruments to enable scalable quantum networking. Prior to Qunnect, Mehdi was awarded the Yale Joint Quantum Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship and completed his PhD at Stony Brook University.

Skip Norton is the VP of Business Development for QLabs, a Quantum Cybersecurity Company specializing in PQC Crypto-Agile Key Management (KMS), Quantum Entropy (QRNG) and developing a Quantum Key Distribution Platform (QKD). Skip has over 30 years of experience in cybersecurity, specializing in encryption technologies and solutions, working for industry leading companies that include Thales, SafeNet, Futurex, Eracom Technologies and TRW. Skip has SME expertise in hardware encryption technologies (HSM), payment encryption solutions (PCI DSS) and software cryptographic applications (KMS).

In his position as Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary he is the principal investigator of the Quantum Cloud Lab. The research group comprising undergraduate and graduate students, postgraduate trainees, research associates and technical staff, tackles numerous experimental aspects of quantum networks and quantum technology such as quantum key-distribution, quantum satellite ground-stations, quantum memory, quantum wavelength transduction, and bio-photon emission. Dr. Daniel Oblak is deeply involved in several projects that push the limits of current expertise and are motivated by the development of innovative quantum information technologies. He has a strong commitment to nurture a congenial and inclusive work environment and sensitively resolve conflicts that arise in a highly competitive, demanding, and multicultural environment.

Dr. Daniel Oblak additionally serves as work-package leader on the executive board of the Alberta Quantum Major Innovation Fund Project, is member of the Intelligent Quantum Networks and Technologies (INQNET) program, part of the QEYSSat Science Team, and participates in over a dozen collaborative grants. He is the co-founder and Chief Scientist with Quantized Technologies Inc. and Director of the CREATE training program for Innovators in Quantum Computing Deployment (IQuCode).

Dr. Daniel Oblak obtained his PhD from the Niels Bohr Insitute at the University of Copenhagen in 2010 and continued his postgraduate training at the University of Calgary from 2010 to 2018.

Michel Pioro-Ladrière is Director of Partnerships and Strategy at Nord Quantique, a quantum computing company that grew out of his laboratory within the innovation ecosystem he helped create in Sherbrooke (Québec, Canada). Previously, he was Co-Scientific Director of the Institut quantique of the Université de Sherbrooke, holder of the Chair for the Deployment of Quantum Technologies, Scientific Director of Quantum Sherbrooke (one of the first Innovation Zones designated by the Government of Québec) and Founding Director of the Bachelor in Quantum Information Sciences program at the Université de Sherbrooke. His background is in physics, including a PhD in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada and a postdoc at the NTT Basic Research Laboratories in Japan.

Matthew Posner is director workforce and photonics education at Optonique, Quebec’s photonic optics cluster of excellence. His expertise is in the fabrication of integrated circuits and photonic components for optoelectronic, sensory and quantum applications, as well as in the pedagogy and management of technical training and professional development programs. He is an active science communicator and is passionate about “getting science out of the lab.” He is editor of the special section “Education and Training in Quantum Sciences and Technologies” published in SPIE Optical Engineering, Vol. 61, Issue 8a, a 2023 Global Ambassador for Optica, and holds advanced degrees in electronics and optoelectronics.

Michael Redding is CTO at Quantropi, a provider of complete quantum-secure cryptographic solutions for data and communications. Before joining Quantropi, Mike was Managing Director and co-founder of Accenture Ventures, where he grew a global portfolio of strategic partnerships and 38 equity investments in emerging technology startups. During his nearly 30 years with Accenture, he incubated and launched technology innovations for enterprises across multiple geographies and industries. Ever-passionate about bold ideas with game-changing results, he speaks frequently on the impact of emerging technology on large organizations. With a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton, and a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern, Mike is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Accenture Foundation and Board Observer for startups Maana and Splice Machine.

Dr. Madison Rilling is Executive Director of Optonique, Québec’s photonics industry cluster, a non-profit aimed at mobilizing, promoting and developing Québec’s rich photonics ecosystem. In this role, she acts as an intermediate between industry, government, academia, and support agencies to catalyze the growth of start-ups, SMEs and large photonic businesses in Québec. Madison has been actively involved in science advice and policy development at both the provincial and federal levels. Through different advisory roles, she worked on improving and diversifying research funding and support given to the next generation of scientists and researchers in STEM fields. Internationally, she contributes to science diplomacy and public policy forums in the sectors of photonics and quantum. Throughout her studies and career, she has been active in making these fields more open, inclusive, and known to the public. Madison holds advanced degrees in medical physics and optical design and is Optica’s 2021 Chang Pivoting Fellow.

Michael Rosenblatt is the Director of the Federal Science and Technology Policy Directorate and National Quantum Strategy (NQS) Secretariat in Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). Michael’s group is responsible for policy development and co-ordination of the implementation of the NQS, both domestically and internationally. Michael has a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Carleton University, a M.A. in Public Policy from McMaster University and an Honours B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University in Political Science and Business. Michael will present an overview of the National Quantum Strategy (NQS), including highlighting its pillars, missions and investments.

David is the CEO and co-founder of SBQuantum, a spinoff from Institut quantique, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. After completing his PhD studies on diamond based quantum magnetometry, he led an engineering team to prototype the technology out of the optics labs. Over the last three years, the passage through the Creative Destruction Lab quantum stream has added an algorithmic and data centric focus to SBQuantum, to provide to clients the best Magnetic Intelligence for geophysics exploration, magnetic based navigation and defense applications. For these streams, David and the SBQuantum team are thinking differently to solve user problems using quantum magnetometers assisted with interpretation algorithms. Currently, SBQuantum is building the future of the World Magnetic Model by deploying its quantum magnetometer on cubesat platforms.

Thomas A. Searles currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago, hired under the University of Illinois System Distinguished Faculty Recruitment Program. This past year (20-21), he was a Martin Luther King Visiting Professor at MIT and served as the Director of the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center. Thomas received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Rice University in 2011, where his thesis work primarily focused on the magneto-optical properties of carbon nanotubes. Upon his appointment at Howard University in the Fall of 2015, Thomas has established a new research program in applied and materials physics, which now focuses on quantum materials, metamaterials and quantum information science and engineering at UIC. In recognition for his research in light-matter interactions and his capability to train and mentor Black students in Physics and Engineering, Thomas was recently awarded the inaugural AIP-NSBP Joseph A. Johnson Award for Excellence and an NSF CAREER Award. Thomas graduated from Morehouse College with a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics. He is a native of Albany, GA.

Dr. Kanav Setia is a co-founder and CEO of qBraid, a quantum computing startup. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Dartmouth College in 2020. His research focuses on developing quantum algorithms for simulating fermionic systems. His paper on generalized superfast encoding (GSE) proved the presence of quantum error correcting properties in fermionic encodings. During his Ph.D., he interned at IBM, twice working with quantum algorithms group as well as their quantum software group. Prior to his PhD, he was working with at Semi-Conductor Laboratory in Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) development division where he worked on MEMS based accelerometers and gyroscopes. He holds a bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST).

Ramy is the co-founder and CEO of Quantum Dice, a venture-backed Oxford University spinout commercialising the world’s first compact, high-speed, source-device independent quantum random number generator. After completing his PhD in atomic and laser physics, Ramy started Quantum Dice with his team and led the company as it started its product development, expanded its team and successfully closed its first round of funding, raising seven-figures from a consortium of European investors. In the addition to the commercialisation of quantum technologies, Ramy is passionate about science communication and policy, viewing them as essential to bringing any deep tech product to market.

Richard St-Pierre is the Executive Director of one of the first Innovation Zones in Quebec, DistriQ, Quantum Innovation Zone. His purpose is making an optimistic future happen. Always in the front seat of technology transformation, Richard’s ambition for the Zone is to promote Quebec’s quantum innovation internationally, while creating an effervescent environment in Sherbrooke where industry and knowledge come together for innovations to emerge. Prior to embarking on this exciting adventure in quantum innovation, Richard was a seasoned professional and entrepreneur with extensive experience of over 20 years in international relations and financial administration. He was named a Top10 Innovator of 2017 by BizBash magazine in the United States. His educational background includes Harvard Business School, Oxford University’s Said Business School, HEC Montreal, ESC France, and Beijing University of International Business and Economics (China). He was President of C2 Montreal and C2 International. He has also worked for the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Quebec, the Global Data Pledge Foundation in Geneva, Ernst & Young (EY) and Bell Atlantic, in addition to providing strategic advice to several companies including Desjardins, BCE and Air Canada.

Thomas Stengel is the Senior Director of Business Development globally for IDQ QRNG products for quantum enhanced security. Making existing security more secure from consumer and edge products like automotive electronics, mobile phones, IoT devices, computing; to core products in data centers and telecommunications. With a background in R&D, marketing and sales and more than 20 years’ experience in semiconductors, processors, and AI, he is now focused on semiconductor quantum technology and specific use cases.

Bob Sutor has been a technical leader and executive in the IT industry for over 30 years. He is currently Chief Quantum Advocate at Infleqtion.

Bob’s industry role is to advance quantum technologies by building strong business, partner, technical, and educational ecosystems. The singular goal is to evolve quantum to help solve some of the critical computational problems facing society today. Bob is widely quoted in the press, delivers conference keynotes, and works with industry analysts and investors to accelerate understanding and adoption of quantum technologies.
More than two decades of Bob’s career was spent in IBM Research in New York. During his time there, he worked on or led efforts in symbolic mathematical computation, optimization, AI, blockchain, and quantum computing.

He was also an executive on the software side of the IBM business in areas including middleware, software on Linux, mobile, open source, and emerging industry standards. Bob is a theoretical mathematician by training, has a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and an undergraduate degree from Harvard College.

He’s the author of a book about quantum computing called Dancing with Qubits that was published in late 2019. He is also the author of the 2021 book Dancing with Python, an introduction to Python coding for classical and quantum computing.

In April 2016, Dr. Tanguay was appointed as the first woman Vice-President of Research at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). In this capacity, Dr. Tanguay oversees the Emerging technology division composed of the following research centres: Metrology, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nanotechnology, Security and Disruptive Technologies and Advanced Electronics and Photonics as well as the Canadian Photonics and Electronics Fabrication Center. She is also responsible for the federal government support to TRIUMF. She co-chairs the Committee on the Recruitment and Retention of Women in STEM at NRC and the Canada-Germany Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee. Before joining the NRC, Dr Tanguay was Vice-Rector Research, Creativity and Innovation at the University of Montreal, fourth in the Canadian Ranking of Universities for research efforts. Before, she was Assistant Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation, Science and Society within the Quebec Provincial Government. She was instrumental in the development and realization of the Stratégie québécoise de la recherche et de l’innovation covering the period of 2007 and 2013. More recently, she has actively participated in the preparation of the National Quantum Strategy. She is still serving on many boards nationally and internationally.

Louise Turner is the Interim CEO of the Quantum Algorithms Institute in British Columbia, Canada. QAI supports the growth of jobs and companies in BC’s burgeoning quantum computing sector.

Louise is an expert in economic development and creating the right conditions for the adoption of technology and innovation.  Louise’s began her career as a fast track civil servant in the British government.  Moving into industry, she led Canada’s most successful business accelerator, the Newbridge Networks Affiliate Program and was Director of Business Development for BC-based telecom start-up, Abatis Network Systems.  Louise has led a number of initiatives in health innovation in Canada and was the President of the Premier’s Technology Council in British Columbia, providing insight into the needs of growing tech companies for the BC government.  Support for early technology development and adoption occurs at the intersection between government, academia and industry and Louise is uniquely equipped to take on this role.  Louise has an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management in the UK and is an executive coach, board advisor and angel investor.

With a BSc. in Physics, specializing in Astrophysics, and a MSc. in Physics and Quantum Information both from the University of Waterloo, Lydia has over 8 years of research experience spanning several fields including: Quantum Physics, nursing and psychology, and over 15 years of experience teaching and training, most recently focusing on programming, research data management (RDM), and advanced research computing (ARC) support. Lydia has spent the last three years in various roles in the national digital research support ecosystem including: Research Consultant specializing in digital research support for Humanities and Social Sciences for ACENET, Chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences national team in the Compute Canada Federation, and Training Specialist for the digital Research Alliance of Canada. She started a new joint role in November 2022 as the Director, new research services development for Calcul Québec and the Manager, special initiatives for ACENET.

Nathan Wiebe is a researcher in quantum computing who focuses on quantum methods for machine learning and simulation of physical systems. His work has provided several fundamentally new paradigms for quantum computing specifically: linear-combinations of unitaries and also the quantum singular value transformation paradigm. These techniques form the bedrock of almost all modern algorithms for simulation and differential equation solving for quantum computers. He also has introduced the first quantum algorithms for deep learning, least squares fitting, optimal quantum gradient descent, optimal quantum mean value estimation, near-optimal simulation of time-dependent physical systems and has currently the most efficient quantum algorithms for simulating chemistry. His work has been cited over 12000 times and has an h-index of 50.

Nathan received his PhD in 2011 from the University of Calgary studying quantum computing before accepting a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo. Wiebe worked at Microsoft research from 2013 to 2019 before leaving for the university of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. He joined the University of Toronto in the computer science department in 2021 and became a CIFAR fellow in 2023.

Atsushi Yamada is Chief Executive Officer at ISARA Corporation, a quantum-safe security solutions company. In 2015, he joined ISARA where he was responsible for leading their world-class research and development team. Previously, Atsushi was a member of the security teams at Certicom and BlackBerry. Atsushi has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Alireza Yazdi is the founder and CEO of Anyon Systems, a leading quantum computing hardware company based in Montreal, QC. Alireza has over 17 years of experience in massively parallel computing, computational physics, and quantum computing. Also an adjunct professor at McGill, Alireza holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from McGill (2012). Prior to founding Anyon, Alireza was a postdoctoral research fellow at McGill University, and RWTH Aachen.

Dr. Arman Zaribafiyan is the founder and CEO of Good Chemistry, a Vancouver-based software start-up combining cloud, AI and quantum computing to re-imagine the design and synthesis of new materials. Before founding Good Chemistry, he was the CTO at quantum software powerhouse, 1QBit. Over the last decade, Arman has directed strategic partnerships and cutting-edge research and development collaborations with Fortune 100 companies such as Dow, Biogen, Mercedes Benz, AWS, Microsoft, and IBM in various roles as a technology and product leader. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UBC, focusing on quantum information science and was the recipient of a prestigious Mitacs fellowship for his research on hybrid quantum computing.

Yan Zheng, Ph.D., is Vice President, Technology at In-Q-Tel (IQT). Dr. Zheng leads investments in microelectronics, semiconductors, and quantum technologies to solve critical mission challenges facing the U.S. National Security and Intelligence Community. In his current role, Dr. Zheng helps lead strategy development and thought leadership for U.S. Microelectronics and Quantum Technology competitiveness.

Prior to IQT, Dr. Zheng was at Booz Allen Hamilton where he provided technical advising for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) including developing technical goals across a diverse set of technology areas such as thermal management, directed energy, RF communications, microelectronics, and photonics. While at DARPA, Dr. Zheng was the lead coordinator for the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) a large-scale, multibillion-dollar effort to boost U.S microelectronics innovation.

In addition, Dr. Zheng served as an IEEE congressional fellow in the office of Senator Chris Coons where he focused on developing policy to boost U.S. R&D, support domestic manufacturing, and spur innovation and economic growth. Dr. Zheng helped draft a bill to establish a non-profit foundation for the Department of Energy to commercialize innovative technologies which later became law in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 as the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI).

Dr. Zheng holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.