SPIE Quantum West to Showcase High-Profile Industry Voices
2.2.2021 20:03:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, announces the program for its inaugural industry-focused SPIE Quantum West conference 6-11 March. Organized in partnership with the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), Quantum West will be held online during the SPIE Photonics West Digital Forum.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210202005101/en/
Attendance at Quantum West is free to all registered participants of SPIE Photonics West, but registration is required.
The four sessions will provide a wide range of opportunities to learn more about the role of photonics in the development of quantum technology as quantum moves from research and development to engineering products for the commercial marketplace, while building mainstream infrastructures and supply chains. Speakers’ topics include “Quantum Technology as an Enabler,” “Photonics’ Roles in Superconducting Quantum Computing,” and “Building an Industry: Lessons Learned from a Half-Century of Growth in the Photonics Industry.” The four-day event, co-hosted by QED-C Deputy Director Celia Merzbacher and ColdQuanta Executive Chairman and DRS Daylight Solutions Senior Vice President Tim Day, will also include a market report from the Boston Consulting Group.
The international slate of speakers includes Imperial College London’s Peter Knight, who is also a member of the UK’s Quantum Technology Strategic Advisory Board; Andrew Lord, who heads British Telecom’s optical core, access, and quantum research; Google Product Manager Eric Ostby; Toptica’s co-founder and CTO Wilhelm G. Kaenders; Kaitlin R. Moore, a research physicist and principal investigator with SRI International; and Mercedes Gimeno-Segovia, senior director of quantum architecture at PsiQuantum.
A panel discussion on the final day featuring Toptica’s Mark Tolbert, IBM’s Jason Orcutt, Anchored In’s Anke Lohman, and Hamamatsu’s Klea Dhimitri, and moderated by Tim Day, will explore the future of photonics and quantum (“2021 and Beyond”), the challenges of developing a new market, and how photonics will support that.
“We are delighted to partner with the QED-C in launching the first annual Quantum West event,” said SPIE Director of Industry Development Stephen Anderson. “As one of the few industry-oriented quantum technology events to focus on the role of optics and photonics in the emerging market for quantum-enabled devices, Quantum West will play a key role in showcasing the future of the quantum industry and the opportunities it presents for photonics technologies."
“Optics and photonics are critical enabling technologies for many quantum-based applications, including for sensing, communications and computing,” noted QED-C’s Merzbacher. “Quantum West will bring together the photonics and quantum communities to help build the ecosystem and supply chain for the emerging quantum industry.”
To find out more about Quantum West and to register for the event, visit the SPIE Quantum West page.
About SPIE
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves more than 258,000 constituents from 184 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2020, SPIE provided over $5.8 million in community support including scholarships and awards, outreach and advocacy programs, travel grants, public policy, and educational resources. www.spie.org.
About Quantum Economic Development Consortium:
The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) is an industry-driven consortium managed by SRI International and established in response to the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act. Membership includes more than 120 US companies from across the supply chain and more than 40 academic institutions and other stakeholders. The consortium seeks to enable and grow the quantum industry and associated supply chain. For more about QED-C, visit our website or follow us on Twitter @The_QEDC.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210202005101/en/
Contact information
Daneet Steffens
Public Relations Manager
daneets@spie.org
+1 360 685 5478
@SPIEtweets
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vertex Energy Announces 6,000 bpd Group III Base Oil Expansion Project24.6.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
Vertex Energy, Inc. (“Vertex” or the “Company”) today announced it is advancing a project at its Mobile, Alabama refinery to produce crude-derived conventional Group III base oils through the Company’s existing hydrocracker and related processing infrastructure, providing lubricant manufacturers and blenders with an additional domestic source of high-quality Group III supply. The project is designed to add an incremental 6,000 barrels per day of conventional Group III production capacity and support production of 4 cSt, 6 cSt, and 8 cSt Group III base oils using an existing crude-derived hydrocracked vacuum gas oil stream produced at the Company’s Mobile, Alabama refinery. Combined with the Company’s existing re-refined Group III base oil production, this additional capacity is expected to make Vertex the leading Group III producer in North America. Vertex has completed preliminary design work and has procured a high-pressure lubricants hydrotreating unit. The Company plans to start pr
Taktile Secures $110M in Goldman Sachs-led Series C to Power AI Transformation in Financial Institutions24.6.2026 16:30:00 EEST | Press release
Taktile, the leader in AI transformation for financial institutions, today announced its $110 million Series C fundraise. Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the round, with participation from Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Tiger Global, Y Combinator, and Dig Ventures. Taktile Fast Facts Taktile enables banks and insurers to transform into AI-native organizations that are increasingly powered by autonomous agents. Demand for Taktile accelerated in 2025, as AI models became capable of automating high-stakes decisions that previously required hours of manual work—from underwriting business loans and assessing claims to catching financial crime. Customers automate and optimize decisions with Taktile by combining its financial services expertise and product built for sector-specific AI use cases. One of the world’s largest insurers is running multiple use cases on Taktile, with projected cost efficiencies of over $90M in claims processing alone. Taktile’s team has a proven
New MetLife Study Reveals a 72% “Confidence Gap” in Ability to Recover from Life's Setbacks24.6.2026 16:25:00 EEST | Press release
A new multinational study from MetLife reveals a striking “confidence gap”: while most adults describe themselves as resilient, their confidence drops by 72% when faced with real-life setbacks. The Confident Pathways Report, conducted across the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Mexico, was designed to better understand how confidence is built and sustained throughout life. The findings underscore the role of opportunity, preparedness, and support in building confidence - factors that help people navigate uncertainty, recover from setbacks and pursue their goals. At a time when soccer is bringing people and communities together around the world, the findings also highlight how early childhood experiences such as sports, education, and mentorship can help foster resilience and gain confidence from a young age. Key findings across the four countries surveyed include: Confidence drops by 72% when adults consider their ability to recover from setbacks. Respondents were far more lik
StatLab Launches CytoPath Disc, Advancing Standardized Cell Block Preparation Worldwide24.6.2026 16:08:00 EEST | Press release
StatLab Medical Products, a leading global developer and manufacturer of pathology supplies and equipment, today announced the global launch of the CytoPath Disc, an innovative cell block preparation technology designed to standardize and simplify cell block preparation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260624368623/en/ Developed as an alternative to traditional cell block methods, which convert concentrated cells suspended in fluid into a paraffin-embedded format for slide-based evaluation, the patent‑pending CytoPath Disc offers a more streamlined and efficient approach. The CytoPath Disc absorbs concentrated cells within a simple, sponge-like matrix, which is then processed, embedded, stained, and sectioned using standard histology workflows. Traditional cell block preparation methods often present challenges in achieving consistent results due to complex procedures, as well as the need for additional equipm
TensorX Launches With €8M Seed Funding Round Led by Darius Cubed Ventures for Bet on European Sovereign AI Infrastructure With Plans to Deploy up to €100M in NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs24.6.2026 16:07:00 EEST | Press release
A team of Irish founders has committed €8 million to Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, including the latest B300 chips, to launch TensorX, a sovereign AI inference platform designed for Europe's AI builders, trusted by regulated industries and already generating revenue from paying customers. The company was founded by Shane Morton, is part of the NVIDIA Inception program and is partnering with Dell on sourcing GPU hardware. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260528791384/en/ (From left to right): Craig Donnelly, Shane Morton, Nicole Morton, Tim Grant At a time when enterprises are racing to adopt artificial intelligence but most remain unwilling to let their data leave European jurisdiction, TensorX offers high-performance inference with zero data retention, running entirely on dedicated hardware in Dublin and Helsinki. TensorX is also in advanced talks around a financing facility to further expand its European footprint,
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom
