Movers & Shakers — 2026-05-07
Published:
A small, opinionated reference list of the people, labs, and companies I find worth keeping an eye on in quantum computing right now. It is intentionally incomplete — these are simply the ones I personally find useful as anchor points when reading the field’s news.
People
A blend of researchers, founders, educators, and policy voices. The first group below is sourced from the International Year of Quantum 2025 channel “Q100” interview series, which surfaces a deliberately broad geographic and disciplinary mix. The second group is pulled from the established academic record.
| Name | Affiliation | Focus | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ella Meyer | UK | Quantum computing outreach | interview |
| Rupert Ursin | IQOQI Vienna, Austria | Quantum cryptography & security | interview |
| Jonte Hance | Newcastle University, UK | Quantum foundations | interview |
| Ching-Ray Chang | National Taiwan University, Taiwan | Quantum technology roadmap | interview |
| Riche Mike Wellington | Africa | Quantum capacity-building in Africa | interview |
| Dong Pan | Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS), China | Quantum science & technology | interview |
| Christophe Jurczak | Quantonation, France | Quantum venture investment | interview |
| Jacquiline Romero | University of Queensland, Australia | High-dimensional quantum optics | interview |
| Sana Amairi-Pyka | UN Office for Outer Space Affairs / OpenQuantum | Education & next-generation quantum scientists | interview |
| Kelvin Mpofu | NITheCS / Wits, South Africa | Quantum technology in Africa | interview |
| Gui-Lu Long | Tsinghua University, China | Quantum secure direct communication | interview |
| Juan Pablo Paz | University of Buenos Aires, Argentina | Decoherence & quantum information | interview |
| Célia Pelluet | France | Quantum sensing | interview |
| Paulina Assmann | Quantum Industry Canada / outreach | Trust in digital systems via quantum | interview |
| Mekena McGrew | USA | Accessible quantum science education | interview |
| Robert Harrison | Stony Brook / BNL, USA | Quantum software & HPC | interview |
| Shohini Ghose | Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada | Quantum entanglement & outreach | interview |
| José David Bañuelos Aquino | Mexico | Quantum computing education | interview |
| Anna Grassellino | Fermilab SQMS Center, USA | Superconducting qubits & coherence | interview |
| Paul Kwiat | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA | Quantum optics & entanglement | interview |
| Kerstin Beer | Hannover, Germany | Quantum machine learning | interview |
| Claudia Zendejas-Morales | Mexico | Quantum physics communication | interview |
| Jun Ye | JILA / NIST / CU Boulder, USA | Optical clocks & precision measurement | interview |
| Denise Ruffner | Women in Quantum / Atom Computing, USA | Diversity in quantum computing | interview |
| Cristian Eliecer Bello Reyes | Colombia | Quantum computing engagement | interview |
| Barry Sanders | University of Calgary, Canada | Quantum information theory | interview |
| Leonardo Medrano | Latin America | Quantum education | interview |
| Nobu-Hisa Kaneko | AIST, Japan | Quantum metrology | interview |
| Freeke Heijman | Quantum Delta NL, Netherlands | National & global quantum ecosystems | interview |
| Daisy Shearer | UK | Neurodiversity & quantum careers | interview |
| Peter Shor | MIT, USA | Shor’s algorithm; foundational quantum CS | bio |
| John Preskill | Caltech IQIM, USA | NISQ; fault-tolerance; quantum complexity | bio |
| David Deutsch | Oxford, UK | Universal quantum computer; Deutsch–Jozsa | bio |
| Charles Bennett | IBM Research, USA | BB84; teleportation; quantum information | bio |
| Gilles Brassard | Université de Montréal, Canada | BB84; quantum cryptography | bio |
| Alain Aspect | Institut d’Optique, France | Bell-test experiments (Nobel 2022) | bio |
| John Clauser | USA | CHSH inequality; Bell tests (Nobel 2022) | bio |
| Anton Zeilinger | University of Vienna, Austria | Entanglement & teleportation (Nobel 2022) | bio |
| Mikhail Lukin | Harvard, USA | Neutral-atom & nitrogen-vacancy systems | bio |
| Pan Jian-Wei | USTC, China | Satellite QKD; photonic quantum information | bio |
| Hartmut Neven | Google Quantum AI, USA | Quantum supremacy & error correction | bio |
| Jay Gambetta | IBM Quantum, USA | Superconducting qubits; Qiskit roadmap | bio |
| Krysta Svore | Microsoft Azure Quantum, USA | Topological qubits; quantum software | bio |
| Scott Aaronson | UT Austin, USA | Quantum complexity theory | blog |
| Dorit Aharonov | Hebrew University, Israel | Fault-tolerance; quantum complexity | bio |
| Umesh Vazirani | UC Berkeley CQI, USA | Quantum algorithms & verification | bio |
| Andrew Childs | QuICS / Maryland, USA | Quantum algorithms; Hamiltonian simulation | bio |
| Aram Harrow | MIT CTP, USA | Quantum algorithms; HHL | bio |
| Christopher Monroe | Duke / IonQ, USA | Trapped-ion quantum computing | bio |
| David Wineland | University of Oregon, USA | Trapped-ion qubits (Nobel 2012) | bio |
| Serge Haroche | Collège de France, France | Cavity QED (Nobel 2012) | bio |
| Chad Rigetti | Rigetti Computing (founder), USA | Superconducting quantum hardware | bio |
| Michelle Simmons | UNSW Sydney, Australia | Silicon-based quantum computing | bio |
| Stephanie Wehner | QuTech / TU Delft, Netherlands | Quantum networks & quantum internet | bio |
| Alán Aspuru-Guzik | University of Toronto, Canada | Quantum chemistry; quantum ML | bio |
| Raymond Laflamme | IQC Waterloo, Canada | Fault-tolerance; NMR quantum computing | bio |
Companies
A blend of pure-play hardware vendors, quantum software/cloud companies, and the dedicated quantum divisions of large industrial players. I tried to keep a broad geographic mix here.
| Name | HQ | Focus | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| IBM Quantum | Yorktown Heights, NY, USA | Superconducting hardware; Qiskit | site |
| Google Quantum AI | Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Superconducting hardware; error correction | site |
| Microsoft Azure Quantum | Redmond, WA, USA | Topological qubits; cloud | site |
| AWS Center for Quantum Computing | Pasadena, CA, USA | Bosonic qubits; Amazon Braket | site |
| IonQ | College Park, MD, USA | Trapped-ion quantum computers | site |
| Rigetti Computing | Berkeley, CA, USA | Superconducting hardware | site |
| D-Wave Quantum | Burnaby, BC, Canada | Quantum annealing | site |
| Quantinuum | Cambridge, UK / Broomfield, CO, USA | Trapped-ion + software (Honeywell + CQ) | site |
| PsiQuantum | Palo Alto, CA, USA | Photonic fault-tolerant computers | site |
| QuEra Computing | Boston, MA, USA | Neutral-atom quantum hardware | site |
| Atom Computing | Boulder, CO, USA | Neutral-atom quantum hardware | site |
| Pasqal | Massy, France | Neutral-atom quantum hardware | site |
| IQM Quantum Computers | Espoo, Finland | Superconducting hardware | site |
| Quantum Brilliance | Canberra, Australia / Stuttgart, Germany | NV-diamond room-temperature qubits | site |
| Riverlane | Cambridge, UK | Quantum error-correction stack | site |
| Xanadu | Toronto, Canada | Photonic quantum computers; PennyLane | site |
| Photonic Inc. | Vancouver, BC, Canada | Silicon-spin photonic interconnects | site |
| Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) | Hoboken, NJ, USA | Photonic / entropy quantum systems | site |
| Arqit Quantum | London, UK | Symmetric quantum-safe encryption | site |
| Quantum-Si | Branford, CT, USA | Single-molecule quantum-enabled sequencing | site |
| Origin Quantum (本源量子) | Hefei, China | Full-stack superconducting QC | site |
| QuantumCTek (国盾量子) | Hefei, China | QKD networks & quantum-safe security | site |
| SpinQ Technology | Shenzhen, China | Desktop NMR / superconducting QC | site |
| Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS) | Beijing, China | National research consortium | site |
| Alibaba DAMO Quantum Laboratory | Hangzhou, China | Superconducting + cloud quantum | site |
| Tencent Quantum Lab | Shenzhen, China | Quantum chemistry & algorithms | site |
| Huawei Central Research – Quantum | Shenzhen, China | Quantum software & error correction | site |
| Baidu Quantum | Beijing, China | Quantum platform Qian Shi & toolkits | site |
| QuEra China / TuringQ (图灵量子) | Shanghai, China | Photonic quantum computing | site |
| ArcLight Quantum | Beijing, China | Quantum networking & repeaters | site |
| Toshiba Quantum | Tokyo, Japan / Cambridge, UK | QKD systems | site |
| Fujitsu Quantum | Kawasaki, Japan | Digital annealer; superconducting QC | site |
| NTT Research PHI Lab | Sunnyvale, CA, USA / Japan | Coherent Ising machines | site |
| Hitachi Quantum | Tokyo, Japan | Silicon spin qubits | site |
| OQC (Oxford Quantum Circuits) | Reading, UK | Superconducting “Coaxmon” hardware | site |
| Multiverse Computing | San Sebastián, Spain | Quantum-inspired finance & ML | site |
| Classiq | Tel Aviv, Israel | Quantum algorithm design platform | site |
| Zapata AI | Boston, MA, USA | Quantum-enhanced generative ML | site |
| Q-CTRL | Sydney, Australia | Quantum control & error suppression | site |
University labs
PI / lab leads I track for new results, theses, and student opportunities.
| PI | Lab / Center | University | Country | Focus | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aram Harrow | Center for Theoretical Physics | MIT | USA | Quantum algorithms & complexity | lab |
| John Preskill | IQIM | Caltech | USA | Fault-tolerance; quantum gravity | lab |
| Mikhail Lukin | Lukin Group | Harvard | USA | Neutral-atom arrays; quantum networks | lab |
| Umesh Vazirani | Berkeley Quantum (BQIC) | UC Berkeley | USA | Quantum algorithms; verification | lab |
| Andrew Childs | QuICS | University of Maryland | USA | Quantum algorithms; Hamiltonian sim. | lab |
| Christopher Monroe | Monroe Lab / DQI | Duke | USA | Trapped-ion quantum computing | lab |
| Anna Grassellino | SQMS Center | Fermilab | USA | Superconducting qubit coherence | lab |
| Jun Ye | Ye Group | JILA / CU Boulder / NIST | USA | Optical clocks; precision metrology | lab |
| David Awschalom | Q-NEXT | UChicago / Argonne | USA | Spin qubits; quantum networks | lab |
| Paul Kwiat | Quantum Information Group | UIUC | USA | Quantum optics; entanglement | lab |
| Stephanie Wehner | QuTech | TU Delft | Netherlands | Quantum internet | lab |
| Tracy Northup | Northup Group | University of Innsbruck | Austria | Trapped-ion quantum networks | lab |
| Rainer Blatt / Peter Zoller | IQOQI | University of Innsbruck | Austria | Trapped-ion QC; AMO theory | lab |
| Jonathan Home | Trapped Ion Group | ETH Zürich | Switzerland | Trapped-ion qubits | lab |
| Andreas Wallraff | Quantum Device Lab | ETH Zürich | Switzerland | Superconducting qubits | lab |
| MCQST consortium | MCQST | TU Munich / LMU | Germany | Munich Center for Quantum Sci. & Tech. | lab |
| STRUCTURES cluster | STRUCTURES | Heidelberg University | Germany | Complex systems & quantum | lab |
| David Lucas / Andrew Steane | Ion Trap Quantum Computing | University of Oxford | UK | Trapped-ion fault-tolerance | lab |
| Mete Atatüre | Atomic, Mesoscopic & Optical Physics | University of Cambridge | UK | Spin photonics | lab |
| Serge Haroche / Jean-Michel Raimond | Cavity QED | Collège de France / ENS Paris | France | Cavity QED | lab |
| Antoine Browaeys | Optical Tweezers Group | Institut d’Optique | France | Neutral-atom arrays | lab |
| Pan Jian-Wei | CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information | USTC | China | Photonic & superconducting QC | lab |
| Gui-Lu Long | State Key Lab of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics | Tsinghua University | China | Quantum secure direct communication | lab |
| BAQIS faculty | Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences | BAQIS | China | National research consortium | lab |
| Xiaobo Zhu | USTC superconducting group | USTC | China | Superconducting QC (Zuchongzhi) | lab |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong Quantum | Institute of Natural Sciences | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China | Photonic & integrated quantum | lab |
| Peking Quantum | Center for Quantum Information | Peking University | China | Quantum information theory | lab |
| Michelle Simmons | Centre for Quantum Computation & Communication Technology | UNSW Sydney | Australia | Silicon spin qubits | lab |
| Andrea Morello | UNSW Quantum Engineering | UNSW Sydney | Australia | Silicon donor qubits | lab |
| Andrew White | Quantum Technology Lab | University of Queensland | Australia | Quantum optics | lab |
| Raymond Laflamme | IQC | University of Waterloo | Canada | Fault-tolerance; experimental QI | lab |
| Alán Aspuru-Guzik | Matter Lab | University of Toronto | Canada | Quantum chemistry; ML | lab |
| Barry Sanders | Institute for Quantum Science & Technology | University of Calgary | Canada | Quantum information theory | lab |
| Nobu-Hisa Kaneko | NMIJ Quantum Standards | AIST | Japan | Quantum metrology & standards | lab |