This agenda is regularly updated and expanded.
Wednesday, 27. May 2026
| Time | Stage Guidance & inspiration | Salon Discuss big ideas | Workshop Share your expertise | Business Case Share expertise | Pitch Deck Show off great ideas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | Open Quantum Café Networking Coffee, snacks, nice people 210 min | ||||
| 11:30 | Intro Intro to AFQC 2026 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 × Philipp Kunst, Fraunhofer IAO 60 min | Workshop Quantum Chemistry Between VQE and Fault Tolerant Birger Horstmann, DLR TT 60 min | Lessons Learned Balancing Quantum Advantage and Business Needs Corey O'Meara, E.ON 60 min | Pitch & Q&A Assessing Practical Speedups Shawn Skelton, Uni Hannover 60 min | |
| 13:00 | Lunchbreak & Meet-ups Business Lunch Light Lunch in our Open Quantum Café and Outside 60 min | ||||
| 14:00 | Salon Talk Providing Infrastructure for Deep Tech Start-ups Christoph Gehlen, Technologie Zentrum Dortmund × Alain Pierrot, DLR QCI 60 min | Coding Workshop Eclipse Qrisp for Real-World Applications Sebastian Bock, Fraunhofer FOKUS 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 Quantum Computing Meets the Law (de/en) Jana Jentzsch & Gerhard Deiters, 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 | Canceled From Lab to Product Crossing the Valley of Death in Deep Tech Anja Bräuning & Christian Piltz, EleQtron 60 min | Pitches & Ideas From estimating resources to compiling quantum algorithms for chemistry Oumarou Oumarou & Christian Gogolin, Covestro 60 min | |
| 16:00 | Welcome Address State Minister Ina Brandes Ministry of Culture and Science of NRW 10 min | ||||
| 16:30 | Salon Talk The Next Challenge in Quantum Chemistry Christian Gogolin, Covestro × Birger Horstmann, DLR TT 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 & Jan M. Knaup, Commutator Studios 60 min | |
| 17:30 | Break Cooldown & Group Photo 6:20 pm group photo 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 × Host: Katharina Menne 15 min | ||||
| 20:00 | Error Bar Party Networking · Pub Quiz · Party 180 min | ||||
| 23:00 | Doors close | ||||
08:00
Open Quantum Café
Networking
Coffee, snacks, nice people
210 min
11:30
Stage
Intro
Intro to AFQC 2026
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 × Philipp Kunst, Fraunhofer IAO
60 min
Workshop
Workshop
Quantum Chemistry Between VQE and Fault Tolerant
Birger Horstmann, DLR TT
60 min
Business Case
Lessons Learned
Balancing Quantum Advantage and Business Needs
Corey O'Meara, E.ON
60 min
Pitch Deck
Pitch & Q&A
Assessing Practical Speedups
Shawn Skelton, Uni Hannover
60 min
13:00
Quantum Café & Outdoors
Lunchbreak & Meet-ups
Business Lunch
Light Lunch in our Open Quantum Café and Outside
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
Coding Workshop
Eclipse Qrisp for Real-World Applications
Sebastian Bock, Fraunhofer FOKUS
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
Quantum Computing Meets the Law (de/en)
Jana Jentzsch & Gerhard Deiters, 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
Canceled
From Lab to Product
Crossing the Valley of Death in Deep Tech
Anja Bräuning & Christian Piltz, EleQtron
60 min
Pitch Deck
Pitches & Ideas
From estimating resources to compiling quantum algorithms for chemistry
Oumarou Oumarou & Christian Gogolin, Covestro
60 min
16:00
Stage
Welcome Address
State Minister Ina Brandes
Ministry of Culture and Science of NRW
10 min
16:30
Salon
Salon Talk
The Next Challenge in Quantum Chemistry
Christian Gogolin, Covestro × Birger Horstmann, DLR TT
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 & Jan M. Knaup, Commutator Studios
60 min
17:30
Break
Cooldown & Group Photo
6:20 pm group photo
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 × Host: Katharina Menne
15 min
20:00
Error Bar Party
Networking · Pub Quiz · Party
180 min
23:00
Doors close
Thursday, 28. May 2026
| Time | Stage Guidance & inspiration | Salon Discuss big ideas | Workshop Share your expertise | Business Case Share expertise | Pitch Deck Show off great ideas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | Open Quantum Café Networking Coffee, snacks, nice people 90 min | ||||
| 09:45 | Welcome to Day 2 Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW · Host: Katharina Menne 15 min | ||||
| 10:00 | Salon Talk Quantum Futures in Dialogue: Innovation, Security, and Sustainable Development Rebecca Mossop, DLR MI × Matthias C. Kettemann, Uni Innsbruck · UNESCO × 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 & Max Schweikart, KIT 60 min | |
| 11:00 | Salon Talk Challenges that drive innovation Susann Lüdtke, L.I.A. × Tobias Tenner, BDB 60 min | Workshop Application-driven Benchmarking: What Is Quantum Good For? Benedikt Poggel × Jeanette Miriam Lorenz, 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 & Deputy Minister-President Mona Neubaur Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy NRW 10 min | ||||
| 12:10 | All Hands Handover & Group Photo Group Photo 12:20 Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW × Host: Katharina Menne 20 min | ||||
| 12:30 | Lunchbreak & Meet-ups Business Lunch Light Lunch in our Open Quantum Café and Outside 90 min | ||||
| 14:00 | Meet-up at Quantum Café QC×Mobility · QCI Connect users · HPC QC Hybrid · Communication Specialists · Quantum Fellowship Program · etc. Gary Schmiedinghoff · Matthias Zimmermann · Francisca Gois · Felix Knoke 90 min | Meet-up Let's meet: Quantum State Initiatives Philipp Ranitzsch 90 min | Meet-up Meet-up Optimiziation Community R.S.V.P. Elisabeth Lobe, DLR SC 90 min | Meet-up Fraunhofer × DLR Matchmaking R.S.V.P. 90 min | Meet-up Quantum Future Ann-Kristin Rink 90 min |
| 15:30 | Doors close | ||||
08:00
Open Quantum Café
Networking
Coffee, snacks, nice people
90 min
09:45
Stage
Welcome to Day 2
Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW · Host: Katharina Menne
15 min
10:00
Salon
Salon Talk
Quantum Futures in Dialogue: Innovation, Security, and Sustainable Development
Rebecca Mossop, DLR MI × Matthias C. Kettemann, Uni Innsbruck · UNESCO × 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 & Max Schweikart, KIT
60 min
11:00
Salon
Salon Talk
Challenges that drive innovation
Susann Lüdtke, L.I.A. × Tobias Tenner, BDB
60 min
Workshop
Workshop
Application-driven Benchmarking: What Is Quantum Good For?
Benedikt Poggel × Jeanette Miriam Lorenz, 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 & Deputy Minister-President Mona Neubaur
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy NRW
10 min
12:10
Stage
All Hands
Handover & Group Photo
Group Photo 12:20
Robert Axmann, DLR QCI × Daniel Stadler, EIN Quantum NRW × Host: Katharina Menne
20 min
12:30
Lunchbreak & Meet-ups
Business Lunch
Light Lunch in our Open Quantum Café and Outside
90 min
14:00
Stage
Meet-up at Quantum Café
QC×Mobility · QCI Connect users · HPC QC Hybrid · Communication Specialists · Quantum Fellowship Program · etc.
Gary Schmiedinghoff · Matthias Zimmermann · Francisca Gois · Felix Knoke
90 min
Salon
Meet-up
Let's meet: Quantum State Initiatives
Philipp Ranitzsch
90 min
Workshop
Meet-up
Meet-up Optimiziation Community
R.S.V.P. Elisabeth Lobe, DLR SC
90 min
Business Case
Meet-up
Fraunhofer × DLR Matchmaking
R.S.V.P.
90 min
Pitch Deck
Meet-up
Quantum Future
Ann-Kristin Rink
90 min
15:30
Doors close
