Be part of AFQC 2026: Challenge
AFQC is the annual community conference that brings together experts from all over the quantum computing ecosystem in an participative format.
In 2026 we want to challenge ourselves: What does it really take to get ahead with quantum computing?
Do you want to be part of this challenge? Register now. The call for participation has ended. Thanks for your many ideas. But you can still get involved at one of the many great workshops and talks.
Agenda
This agenda is regularly updated and expanded.
Wednesday, 27. May 2026
| Time | Stage | Salon | Workshop | Business Case | Pitch Deck |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | Doors open | ||||
| 09:00 | Open Quantum Café Networking 150 min | ||||
| 11:30 | Intro AFQC 2026: Challenge! Robert Axmann, DLR QCI · Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW · Host: Katharina Menne 30 min | ||||
| 12:00 | Salon Talk Creating a European Network for Quantum Computing Software Robert Wille, MQSC × Paolo Viviani, LINKS Foundation 60 min | Coding Workshop Quantum Programming made easy: Eclipse Qrisp for Real-World Applications Colin Becker, DLR QCI & Sebastian Bock, Fraunhofer FOKUS 60 min | Lessons Learned Balancing Quantum Advantage and Business Needs Corey O'Meara, E.ON 60 min | Impact Workshop From Theoretical Promise to Industrial Relevance: Assessing Practical Speedups Shawn Skelton, Uni Hannover 60 min | |
| 13:00 | Lunchbreak & Meet-ups Business Lunch Meetups: QCI Connect users · HPC+QC+Hybrid · Quantum State Initiatives · Communication Specialists · Quantum Fellowship Program 60 min | ||||
| 14:00 | Salon Talk Providing Infrastructure for Deep Tech Start-ups Christoph Gehlen, Technologie Zentrum Dortmund × Alain Pierrot, DLR QCI 60 min | Workshop Quantum Chemistry Between VQE and Fault Tolerant Birger Horstmann, DLR TT 60 min | Best practice How to: Aufträge von öffentlichen Auftraggebern (in German) Stephan Manns & Stephan Goller, DLR QCI Procurement 60 min | Hands-on Implementing Applications with the QCI Connect SDK Elisabeth Lobe, DLR SC × Gary Schmiedinghoff, DLR SC 60 min | |
| 15:00 | Salon Talk Legal Challenges (tbd.) Jana Jentzsch, BHO Legal × Hjørdis Petersen, DLR QCI 60 min | Coding Workshop From Business Use Cases to Hardware-Ready Quantum Circuits Nikola Strah × Nadav Ben-Ami, Classiq Technologies 60 min | Best practice From Lab to Product: Crossing the Valley of Death in Deep Tech Anja Bräuning & Christian Piltz, EleQtron 60 min | Pitches & Ideas Quantum Chemistry Oumarou Oumarou & Christian Gogolin, Covestro 60 min | |
| 16:00 | Welcome Address State Minister Ina Brandes Ina Brandes, Ministry of Culture and Science of NRW 10 min | ||||
| 16:30 | Salon Talk The Next Challenge in Quantum Chemistry (tbc.) Christian Gogolin, Covestro × Birger Horstmann, DLR TT × tba. 60 min | Hands-on Workshop Getting started with Analog & Hybrid Computing on the REDAC Lucas Wetzel & Daniel Thuerck, anabrid 60 min | Lessons Learned From Quantum Start-up to Scale-up: Business Development Playbook to build on Eda Sorani, Planqc 60 min | Coding Workshop Optimizing Quantum Applications on Quantum Hardware César A. Rodríguez Rosario, Commutator Studios 60 min | |
| 17:30 | Break Cooldown 60 min | ||||
| 18:30 | DigiSpecial Panel Talk European Sovereignty with Quantum Technologies Fritzi Köhler-Geib, Deutsche Bundesbank × Harald Summa, DE-CIX × Henrik Hahn, Evonik, EIN Quantum NRW × Robert Axmann, DLR QCI 60 min | ||||
| 19:30 | All Hands Wrap-up Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW 15 min | ||||
| 19:45 | Networking, Pub Quiz, Error Bar Party Party! Party! 195 min | ||||
| 23:00 | Doors close | ||||
08:00
Doors open
09:00
Open Quantum Café
Networking
150 min
11:30
Stage
Intro
AFQC 2026: Challenge!
Robert Axmann, DLR QCI · Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW · Host: Katharina Menne
30 min
12:00
Salon
Salon Talk
Creating a European Network for Quantum Computing Software
Robert Wille, MQSC × Paolo Viviani, LINKS Foundation
60 min
Workshop
Coding Workshop
Quantum Programming made easy: Eclipse Qrisp for Real-World Applications
Colin Becker, DLR QCI & Sebastian Bock, Fraunhofer FOKUS
60 min
Business Case
Lessons Learned
Balancing Quantum Advantage and Business Needs
Corey O'Meara, E.ON
60 min
Pitch Deck
Impact Workshop
From Theoretical Promise to Industrial Relevance: Assessing Practical Speedups
Shawn Skelton, Uni Hannover
60 min
13:00
Lunchbreak & Meet-ups
Business Lunch
Meetups: QCI Connect users · HPC+QC+Hybrid · Quantum State Initiatives · Communication Specialists · Quantum Fellowship Program
60 min
14:00
Salon
Salon Talk
Providing Infrastructure for Deep Tech Start-ups
Christoph Gehlen, Technologie Zentrum Dortmund × Alain Pierrot, DLR QCI
60 min
Workshop
Workshop
Quantum Chemistry Between VQE and Fault Tolerant
Birger Horstmann, DLR TT
60 min
Business Case
Best practice
How to: Aufträge von öffentlichen Auftraggebern
(in German)
Stephan Manns & Stephan Goller, DLR QCI Procurement
60 min
Pitch Deck
Hands-on
Implementing Applications with the QCI Connect SDK
Elisabeth Lobe, DLR SC × Gary Schmiedinghoff, DLR SC
60 min
15:00
Salon
Salon Talk
Legal Challenges (tbd.)
Jana Jentzsch, BHO Legal × Hjørdis Petersen, DLR QCI
60 min
Workshop
Coding Workshop
From Business Use Cases to Hardware-Ready Quantum Circuits
Nikola Strah × Nadav Ben-Ami, Classiq Technologies
60 min
Business Case
Best practice
From Lab to Product: Crossing the Valley of Death in Deep Tech
Anja Bräuning & Christian Piltz, EleQtron
60 min
Pitch Deck
Pitches & Ideas
Quantum Chemistry
Oumarou Oumarou & Christian Gogolin, Covestro
60 min
16:00
Stage
Welcome Address
State Minister Ina Brandes
Ina Brandes, Ministry of Culture and Science of NRW
10 min
16:30
Salon
Salon Talk
The Next Challenge in Quantum Chemistry (tbc.)
Christian Gogolin, Covestro × Birger Horstmann, DLR TT × tba.
60 min
Workshop
Hands-on Workshop
Getting started with Analog & Hybrid Computing on the REDAC
Lucas Wetzel & Daniel Thuerck, anabrid
60 min
Business Case
Lessons Learned
From Quantum Start-up to Scale-up: Business Development Playbook to build on
Eda Sorani, Planqc
60 min
Pitch Deck
Coding Workshop
Optimizing Quantum Applications on Quantum Hardware
César A. Rodríguez Rosario, Commutator Studios
60 min
17:30
Break
Cooldown
60 min
18:30
Stage
DigiSpecial Panel Talk
European Sovereignty with Quantum Technologies
Fritzi Köhler-Geib, Deutsche Bundesbank × Harald Summa, DE-CIX × Henrik Hahn, Evonik, EIN Quantum NRW × Robert Axmann, DLR QCI
60 min
19:30
Stage
All Hands
Wrap-up
Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW
15 min
19:45
Networking, Pub Quiz, Error Bar Party
Party! Party!
195 min
23:00
Doors close
Thursday, 28. May 2026
| Time | Stage | Salon | Workshop | Business Case | Pitch Deck |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | Doors open | ||||
| 08:30 | Open Quantum Café Networking 60 min | ||||
| 09:30 | Welcome to Day 2 Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW 30 min | ||||
| 10:00 | Salon Talk Quantum Futures: Innovation, Security, Development Rebecca Mossop, DLR MI × Matthias C. Kettemann, Uni Innsbruck · UNESCO × Zeki Seskir, KIT-EDU × Adrian Schmidt, KIT-EDU 60 min | Coding Workshop Fault-Tolerant Quantum Error Correction Sascha Heußen, neqxt 60 min | Hands-on Workshop Fixing Our Supply Chain: How can we Cooperatively Overcome Sourcing Challenges? Jakob Buchheim, DLR QT-IMN 60 min | Impact Workshop FullStaQD: Full Stack Quantum Computing for Germany Philipp Kunst, Fraunhofer IAO 60 min | |
| 11:00 | Salon Talk tba. tba. 60 min | Workshop Application-driven Benchmarking: What Is Quantum Good For? Benedikt Poggel, Fraunhofer IKS 60 min | Best practice From Curiosity to Capability: QC Adoption in Practice Natalia Stolyarchuk, Bitkom 60 min | Presentation & Q&A Governance for Quantum Technologies Matthias Kettemann, Innsbruck Quantum Ethics Lab 60 min | |
| 12:00 | Welcome Address State Minister & Debuty Minister-President Mona Neubaur Mona Neubaur, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy NRW 10 min | ||||
| 12:10 | All Hands Outro Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW 20 min | ||||
| 12:30 | Lunch Break 60 min | ||||
| 13:00 | Open Quantum Café Meet-ups Meetups: QCI Connect users · HPC QC Hybrid · Quantum State Initiatives · Communication Specialists · Quantum Fellowship Program 150 min | ||||
| 15:30 | Doors close | ||||
08:00
Doors open
08:30
Open Quantum Café
Networking
60 min
09:30
Stage
Welcome to Day 2
Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW
30 min
10:00
Salon
Salon Talk
Quantum Futures: Innovation, Security, Development
Rebecca Mossop, DLR MI × Matthias C. Kettemann, Uni Innsbruck · UNESCO × Zeki Seskir, KIT-EDU × Adrian Schmidt, KIT-EDU
60 min
Workshop
Coding Workshop
Fault-Tolerant Quantum Error Correction
Sascha Heußen, neqxt
60 min
Business Case
Hands-on Workshop
Fixing Our Supply Chain: How can we Cooperatively Overcome Sourcing Challenges?
Jakob Buchheim, DLR QT-IMN
60 min
Pitch Deck
Impact Workshop
FullStaQD: Full Stack Quantum Computing for Germany
Philipp Kunst, Fraunhofer IAO
60 min
11:00
Salon
Salon Talk
tba.
tba.
60 min
Workshop
Workshop
Application-driven Benchmarking: What Is Quantum Good For?
Benedikt Poggel, Fraunhofer IKS
60 min
Business Case
Best practice
From Curiosity to Capability: QC Adoption in Practice
Natalia Stolyarchuk, Bitkom
60 min
Pitch Deck
Presentation & Q&A
Governance for Quantum Technologies
Matthias Kettemann, Innsbruck Quantum Ethics Lab
60 min
12:00
Stage
Welcome Address
State Minister & Debuty Minister-President Mona Neubaur
Mona Neubaur, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy NRW
10 min
12:10
Stage
All Hands
Outro
Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW
20 min
12:30
Lunch Break
60 min
13:00
Open Quantum Café
Meet-ups
Meetups: QCI Connect users · HPC QC Hybrid · Quantum State Initiatives · Communication Specialists · Quantum Fellowship Program
150 min
15:30
Doors close
What to expect
Hands-on workshops
Explore new ways to tackle your quantum computing challenges together with other experts from all across the community
Inspiring discussions
Dive deeper: Learn from the failures and successes of leading experts and prepare yourself for the next challenge
Community & Networking
Connect with experts, startups, and peers in an exciting environment. We’ll create space and time for your own challenges. Get involved!
Recap AFQC 2025
Relive the highlights! Watch the best moments, inspiring talks, and connections from our last quantum computing event.
200
experts from research, industry, start-ups and policy joint the conversation 2025
3
workshop arenas definied top challenges for startups, technologies and the whole ecosystem
15
solutions were proposed that will bring forward the whole ecosystem: A Guide to Real Impact in Quantum Computing.
The Venue
Experience AFQC 2026 at THE FRAME, Düsseldorf’s modern hotspot for innovation and creativity
With spacious, flexible halls, cutting-edge tech, and a vibrant atmosphere, it’s the perfect place to learn, collaborate, and network. Don’t miss out and be part of the future of quantum!
