IEEE Quantum Week 2020 was a tremendous success. Over 800 people from 45 countries and 225 companies attended the inaugural IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE20).
QCE20 featured 270+ hours of programming in a first-class program on quantum computing and engineering over five days and in nine parallel tracks including:
Hosting virtual exhibits is a challenging proposition. With the heroic efforts by IEEE Computer Society staff, we delivered a terrific virtual experience for exhibitors as well as attendees. The sponsoring companies contributed at all levels and engaged deeply.
The journey to the inaugural IEEE Quantum Week began in May 2019. The response by the international quantum community to our calls for contributions and participation was way beyond what we expected at the start of this project. In the process, we found a synergy gap between academic conferences and industrial summits in the quantum realm.
The participation demographics were quite revealing: 50% industry, 40% academia, and 10% government attendees.
40% of attendees were IEEE members and 60% non-members. It was refreshing and gratifying to see how many people wanted to sign up for IEEE membership while attending Quantum Week.
After 18 months of hard work on the Quantum Initiative and Quantum Week 2020, at the end of the conference we could confidently claim that:
We had a fabulous team working with the Quantum Initiative Co-chairs, Candace Culhane, Erik, DeBenedictis, Travis Humble, Hausi Müller as well as Program Board Chair Greg Byrd, and IEEE Quantum Program Manager Terence Martinez and QCE20 Event Manager Carmen Saliba, IEEE Computer Society.
We are deeply indebted to over 150 staff and volunteers who worked hard on this wonderful Quantum Week in these challenging times. A very big shout out and thank you to each and every one of them.
The feedback by quantum week attendees was overwhelmingly positive. In the end, the quantum week experience was great for everybody in part because we embraced the flexibility that comes with an inaugural, virtual event.
