Quantum technology is the next frontier of science, and the world is in a technological race to develop quantum computers and technologies. Advancing this technology requires developing new understandings of the rules of quantum mechanics that govern the smallest particles and applying those discoveries to new types of devices, materials, and computing techniques.

Join Hartmut Neven, founder and manager of Google’s Quantum Artificial Intelligence lab, and David Awschalom, Director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, to hear more about the progress and promise of quantum technology, and the role that Chicago can play in ensuring the US leadership in this critical area of research. The event is moderated by Martin Giles, the San Francisco bureau chief of MIT Technology Review.

This event is part of the inaugural Chicago Quantum Summit, multi-day program of presentations and discussion exploring the future of quantum computing and information science.

Program Schedule

5:30 p.m. Doors Open

6:00 p.m. Welcome & Keynote

6:25 p.m. Fireside Chat & Questions

7:00 p.m. Event Concludes

Speakers

Hartmut Neven is an Engineering Director at Google. He is the founder and manager of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence lab. The objective of the lab is to fabricate quantum processors and develop novel quantum algorithms to dramatically accelerate computational tasks for machine intelligence. Previously, Hartmut was head of the Visual Search team. His team developed the visual search service which today is used by a large number of Google products including Image Search, Google Photos, YouTube, Street View and Google Goggles. His teams won a number of competitions designed to establish the best visual recognition software for faces, objects and text. Hartmut was also a co-founder of project Glass and led the team that built the first prototype. Prior to joining Google, Hartmut started two computer vision companies, the second one was acquired by Google in 2006. Hartmut obtained his Ph.D. in 1996 with a thesis on "Dynamics for vision-guided autonomous mobile robots." Then he became a research professor for computer science and theoretical neuroscience at the University of Southern California.

David Awschalom is the Liew Family Professor at the University of Chicago’s Institute for Molecular Engineering. David is one of the world’s leading scientists in spintronics and quantum information engineering. His research involves understanding and controlling the spins of electrons, ions, and nuclei for fundamental studies of quantum systems, as well as potential applications in computing, imaging and encryption. His group explores optical and magnetic interactions in semiconductor quantum structures, spin dynamics and coherence in condensed matter systems, macroscopic quantum phenomena in nanometer-scale magnets, and implementations of quantum information processing in the solid state. David is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the European Academy of Sciences.

Moderator

Martin Giles is the San Francisco bureau chief of MIT Technology Review, where he covers the future of computing and the people shaping it. Before joining the publication, he led research and publishing at a venture capital firm focused on business-technology investing. Prior to that, he worked for The Economist Newspaper for many years as both a reporter and editor, most recently as the paper’s Silicon Valley correspondent. Giles is a graduate of the University of Oxford and holds an executive MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Doors will open 30 minutes before the event begins. Please arrive early to claim your seat. If you can no longer attend, please cancel your ticket order on Eventbrite so others may register.

Please contact the Chicago Quantum Exchange at quantum@uchicago.edu or (773) 834-8054 with any questions or accommodation requests.