The State of Quantum Computing in 2026
· 09:50 – 10:15 Amsterdam time · Red hall
Quantum computing has made substantial progress over the past few years, but it has also become increasingly difficult to tell which developments really matter. More qubits, better fidelities, demonstrations of error correction, new architectures, and increasingly sophisticated software all point toward a maturing field. At the same time, large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing remains an engineering challenge rather than an accomplished fact.
This talk takes stock of where quantum computing stands in 2026, with a focus on the developments that are most relevant for scaling towards useful quantum computation. It looks at how recent progress fits into the broader trajectory of the field and where the main technical limitations still lie.
AI has also entered this discussion. There are already meaningful ways in which machine learning and AI can help us design, control, compile, and operate quantum systems. The opposite direction, using quantum computers to improve AI, is much less settled. Separating these two directions is important for understanding where there is tangible progress and where expectations still run ahead of evidence.
Speakers
- Associate Professor · Delft University of Technology
Sebastian Feld is an associate professor at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, where he works on full-stack quantum computing from architecture to applications. His research asks how quantum computers should be designed, programmed, and operated so that promising algorithms can become reliable computations on real hardware. Together with his group, he develops scalable quantum architectures, hardware-aware compilation methods, techniques for reliable quantum computation, and quantum algorithms for realistic optimization, planning, and engineering problems. Previously, he led the Quantum Applications and Research Laboratory (QAR-Lab) at LMU Munich, focusing on quantum-assisted artificial intelligence and optimization. He earned his doctorate from LMU Munich with research in time series analysis.
Attendance
Open session · first come, first served
Saving interest does not reserve a seat. Admission remains first come, first served.
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