Working together towards a quantum future: Commercialisation and international collaboration on quantum

Dr Thierry Botter

Executive Director, European Quantum Industry Consortium

Sue Daley

Director, Technology and Innovation, techUK

Sue leads techUK's Technology and Innovation work at techUK.

This includes work programmes on cloud, data protection, data analytics, AI, digital ethics, Digital Identity and Internet of Things as well as emerging and transformative technologies and innovation policy. She has been recognised as one of the most influential people in UK tech by Computer Weekly's UKtech50 Longlist and in 2021 was inducted into the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. A key influencer in driving forward the data agenda in the UK Sue is co-chair of the UK government's National Data Strategy Forum. As well as being recognised in the UK's Big Data 100 and the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries for 2020 Sue has also been shortlisted for the Milton Keynes Women Leaders Awards and was a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. In addition to being a regular industry speaker on issues including AI ethics, data protection and cyber security, Sue was recently a judge for the UK Tech 50 and is a regular judge of the annual UK Cloud Awards.

Dr Keith Dear

Managing Director of the Centre for Cognitive and Advanced Technologies at Fujitsu , Fujitsu

Dr. Keith Dear is Director Artificial Intelligence Innovation at Fujitsu Defence and National Security. Keith has served as an Expert Advisor to the Prime Minister on Defence Modernisation and the Integrated Review, leading also on UK space strategy in No. 10, and advising on national strategies on emerging technology. A former Intelligence Officer in the RAF he has served in Iraq, completed three deployments to Afghanistan, deployed to Abkhazia (Georgia) with the United Nations, to Mali alongside the French, and served on exchange with US Air Force.

Keith now continues his service as a Group Captain (Reserve) in 601 Squadron, leading on Science, Technology and academic liaison. He is a Chief of the Air Staff’s Fellow, Research Associate at Oxford’s Changing Character of War Programme and Associate Fellow at RUSI - where he guest edited the Special Edition on AI in November 2019.

He speaks widely on AI, Big Data and Decision-Making and was named one of the most relevant voices in European tech by the leading business ‘Big Things’ Conference in 2019. He holds a DPhil in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford. In 2011, he was awarded King’s College London’s O’Dwyer-Russell prize for his MA studies in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism. He co-leads the Defence Entrepreneurs’ Forum (UK) and was founder and CEO of Airbridge Aviation, a not-for-profit start-up dedicated to delivering humanitarian aid by cargo drones.

Laure Le Bars

Research Project Director, SAP Technology & Innovation

Laure Le Bars is a Research Project Director at SAP Technology & Innovation. She coordinates a Quantum Computing @SAP initiative. She is president of the newly founded association European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC). She is also co-lead of the Quantum Computing Industry Group (DACH).

She is working on several projects like Big Data Value Association www.bdva.eu (Board of Directors and Vice-President; BDV PPP CSA project manager), and Smart Data Innovation Lab (www.sdil.de deputy coordinator until 2016), EIT Digital (principal of staff, office of the CEO; SAP project coordinator) or Academy Cube. She is also involved in the French-German cooperation on Digital Economy.

Before that, she set up SAP Labs Canada and was the Managing Director of the lab since its inception in 1997 until 2008. In parallel, she conducted an analysis for a lab in Central & East Europe in 2004, established the lab in Budapest and was the Managing Director of SAP Labs Hungary until 2007. She won in 2007 the Stevie Award for Women in Business in category “Best executive–non-services-under 2500 employees”; and was nominated in category “Best Canadian Executive”.

She was sitting on the Industrial Advisory Board of SWEBOK (Software Engineering Body of Knowledge www.swebok.org), a joint initiative of IEEE Computer Society and UQAM to achieve international consensus on the body of knowledge in software engineering.

Laure Le Bars holds degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science and Economics from the École Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique pour l’Industrie et l'Entreprise, Groupe Centrale, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, in France. Her thesis dealt with Operation Research for Artificial Intelligence at GERAD (Groupe d'Études et de Recherche en Analyse des Décisions) in Montréal, Canada.

Alexander Ling

Director, Quantum Engineering Programme and Associate Professor, National University of Singapore

Mark Mattingley-Scott

Vice Chair HPC and Quantum Working Group, Bitkom

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 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 developed several new business areas and transferred these into IBM’s services and solutions business.

Since its inception in 2017, he was 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.

Dr Celia Merzbacher

Executive Director, Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C)

Dr. Celia Merzbacher is the Executive Director of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), a consortium that aims to enable and grow the U.S. quantum industry. QED-C is supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and more than 170 industry, academic and other members and is managed by SRI International. Previously, Dr. Merzbacher was Vice President for Innovative Partnerships at the Semiconductor Research Corporation, a consortium of the semiconductor industry.  In 2003-2008, she was Assistant Director for Technology R&D in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).  Dr. Merzbacher began her career as a materials scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C.  She has served as Chair of the National Materials and Manufacturing Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, on the Board of Directors of ANSI, and is currently on advisory boards of several quantum research centers.

Vikram Sharma

Founder and CEO, QuintessenceLabs

Recognizing the potential of quantum cybersecurity, Vikram Sharma conducted award-winning research to mature this science at the Australian National University (ANU). He founded and leads the Canberra-headquartered company QuintessenceLabs, which is now at the forefront of the global quantum cybersecurity industry. The company’s capabilities have received a number of recognitions including: global runner-up in IBM’s SmartCamp competition, Top 20 Westpac Businesses of Tomorrow, Security Innovation Network’s SINET16 Cyber Security Innovators, UK Tech Rocketship award and most recently, named as a Global Innovator by the World Economic Forum. Vikram holds a Master of Science in computer science from the ANU, a Master of Science in management (Sloan Fellow) from Stanford University, and a Doctorate in quantum physics from ANU.

Stuart Woods

Managing Director, Oxford Instruments NanoScience

At Oxford Instruments NanoScience, Stuart Woods leads an incredibly talented team creating high-performance cryogenic and cryogen-free environments for ultra-low temperature and high magnetic field applications in physics, chemistry, and materials science research down to the quanta scale. Building on a 60-year heritage, Oxford Instruments NanoScience is at the forefront of the development and commercialisation of quantum computing around the world.

As an Oxford Instruments executive board member, Stuart leads the company's environmental committee, focused on minimising the environmental footprint of Oxford Instruments' operations, products, and services, alongside having a personal passion for sustainability and mindfulness about the impact we have on our planet.

Stuart has a track record for delivering substantive business impact to companies across the global tech sector by focusing on products both strategically and tactically. His approach takes the whole company into consideration, finding a company’s strength to then develop sales, manage to financials, and grow capable teams – around these strengths.

Throughout his career, Stuart has led a diverse mix of technology businesses - including high volume, high growth in-vitro medical devices; dense telecom multiplexing; optical cables; lasers for mobile phone display manufacturing; medical-grade fluorescent lighting; high-end consumer audio; and mobile mapping systems for reality capture and digital twin creation.

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