Economist Impact will hold its fourth annual Commercialising Quantum Global Summit 13th-14th May 2025, bringing together enterprise end users, world-renowned academics, and quantum technology pioneers.
Taking place at The Business Design Centre, the agenda navigates critical discussions including the intersection of quantum and AI, when we might achieve quantum advantage, and the real-world applications of quantum, from climate to cybersecurity.
This year’s summit comes at a pivotal and exciting moment for the quantum industry. According to research published last month from Oxford Economics, IBM, and Oxford Quantum Circuits, quantum computing could deliver up to £212 billion of gross value to UK GDP alone by 2045. Globally, quantum is on track to create up to $850 billion of economic value by 2040, demonstrating the scale of the opportunity.
Already this year, there have been significant shake-ups and sizable announcements from some of the biggest players in the industry. In January, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang sent ripples through international news and the stock market after declaring that quantum utility was another thirty years away, only to go back on his timeline at the company’s GTC Conference in March. Microsoft meanwhile launched its quantum chip, the Majorana 1, predicting that it will solve industrial scale problems in years, not decades. Amazon also joined the emerging race between tech giants by unveiling its quantum chip, Ocelot.
During this growing global attention and rapid technological progress, distinguishing hype from reality has never been more important.
At Commercialising Quantum, a case-study led agenda will cover the full spectrum of quantum technologies and explore their applications and impact. Some of the key themes include how we transition quantum computing from the theoretical to the practical and useful, how quantum technologies like sensing have the potential to accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and how businesses can secure critical data in the midst of changing quantum-safe encryption standards. With 2025 marking the UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, the event is set to drive further engagement and awareness of quantum technologies in a landmark year.
Guided by The Economist's editors, participants will join more than 1,000 global leaders, policy makers, and business executives from over 40 countries for an accessible debate into the promise, peril, applications, limitations, hype, and reality of this field.
The two-day programme will host a lineup of over one hundred speakers from government, industry, and academia, including Lord Patrick Vallance, Minister of state for science, research and innovation; Matija Matokovic, Deputy head of innovation, NATO; and Dr Peter Thompson, Chief executive, National Physical Laboratory. Sponsors include IBM Quantum, Microsoft, Deloitte, Q-CTRL, PQShield, and Rigetti.
Speaking about the upcoming event, Helen Ponsford, Head of trade, technology, industry events programming at Economist Impact, comments: "We have seen quantum make headlines this year, from predictions of quantum advantage to breakthroughs in innovation. The industry has made huge strides towards commercialisation over the past 12 months, but there is still much to discover. Coinciding with UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum, there is no better time to convene industry leaders, media representatives, academia, and end-users to explore industry progress and the path towards implementing this transformative technology. We are thrilled to bring our Commercialising Quantum Global to London for the fourth year running, and look forward to a jam-packed programme of discussion, insights, and innovation.”
