--- eventsindex_id: "EI-07116" slug: qbc-summit-2026 title: "QBC Summit 2026" title_alt: ["Quantum Business Community Summit 2026", "QBC Summit", "QuIC QBC Summit"] canonical_url: "https://eventsindex.org/events/qbc-summit-2026.html" next_edition_year: 2026 date_start: 2026-11-03 date_end: 2026-11-04 venue: "Institut d'Optique Graduate School, Paris-Saclay" city: "Orsay" country: "France" organiser: "European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC)" organiser_url: "https://www.euroquic.org/" b2b: true vector: sector: [quantum-tech] audience: [industry, corporate, researcher, government, investor] format: [summit] purpose: [content, networking] geography_scope: [France] season: autumn meta_description: "QBC Summit 2026 is QuIC's members gathering, 3-4 Nov at Institut d'Optique, Paris-Saclay: quantum adoption, industry strategy, site visits." editorial_take: "A members' meeting rather than a marketplace: QBC Summit is where European quantum suppliers and their industrial customers work through adoption questions in a closed room, which makes the guest list more informative than the agenda." generated_by: "claude-max-cowork" last_verified: "2026-08-18" variables_filled: 17/58 language: "en" schema_version: "v6.0" --- # QBC Summit 2026 > *The annual members gathering of the European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC), held on 3 and 4 November 2026 at the Institut d'Optique Graduate School on the Paris-Saclay campus. The fourth edition runs under the theme "From Quantum Technology to Quantum Adoption" and combines a plenary day of strategic and industry-led sessions with a QuIC-internal meeting and guided visits to facilities on site. It is an event for QuIC members and affiliates and their invited counterparts, not an open-registration public conference.* --- ## Quick Facts | DATES | VENUE | ORGANISER | ATTENDANCE | |---|---|---|---| | **3-4 November 2026** | **Institut d'Optique Graduate School** | **QuIC** | **Not disclosed** | | 2 days, annual, 4th edition | Orsay, Paris-Saclay, France | European Quantum Industry Consortium | Members, affiliates and invited guests | ## Definition The QBC Summit, formally the Quantum Business Community Summit, is the annual gathering of the European Quantum Industry Consortium, the industry association that represents quantum technology companies, suppliers and adopters across Europe. It is held once a year in a different European location and brings together QuIC members and affiliates alongside end-users, researchers, policymakers, investors and technology developers. The 2026 edition, the fourth, runs on 3 and 4 November at the Institut d'Optique Graduate School on the Paris-Saclay campus at Orsay, south-west of Paris, under the theme "From Quantum Technology to Quantum Adoption". Access is organised through QuIC membership and affiliation rather than through general public ticketing. ## Four editions, four host locations QBC Summit has moved each year since its inaugural edition in Paris, rotating between three countries in four years. | Edition | Year | Host city | Country | |---|---|---|---| | 1st (inaugural) | 2023 | Paris | France | | 2nd | 2024 | Padova | Italy | | 3rd | 2025 | Geneva (CERN) | Switzerland | | 4th | 2026 | Orsay, Paris-Saclay | France | The 2025 edition at CERN is the useful reference point for understanding what the summit is: an association meeting convened inside a research institution rather than in a rented convention centre. The 2026 edition holds to that pattern at the Institut d'Optique Graduate School, and goes a step further by putting the host site's own facilities on the programme through guided visits. ## The 2026 theme: from quantum technology to quantum adoption The stated theme of the 2026 summit, "From Quantum Technology to Quantum Adoption", frames the programme around the gap between what quantum hardware and software vendors can currently deliver and what industrial buyers are prepared to deploy. That framing shows up in the announced speaker line-up, which mixes research institutions with large industrial and enterprise organisations rather than being weighted toward quantum vendors alone. ## What the two-day format includes QuIC has declared three distinct programme components for the 2026 edition. They serve different audiences within the same two days. | Programme component | What it covers | |---|---| | Plenary day | Strategic discussions on the adoption theme, plus industry-led sessions run by participating organisations | | QuIC-internal meeting | Association business held separately from the plenary programme, for members and affiliates | | Guided site visits | Escorted visits to facilities within the Institut d'Optique Graduate School | The site visits are worth noting because they are not a common feature of the European quantum conference circuit, where the equivalent slot is usually filled by an exhibition floor. Here the host institution's own laboratories take that role. ## Who is on the speaker line-up The organisations named on the announced line-up fall into four groups, and the balance between them is the clearest signal of what the summit is trying to do. | Category | Organisations named | |---|---| | Research and large-scale infrastructure | CERN, Institut d'Optique Graduate School | | Industrial end-users | Robert Bosch GmbH, Airbus, E.ON | | Enterprise software | SAP | | Multilateral and public-interest initiatives | Open Quantum Institute | An automotive supplier, an aerospace manufacturer, a utility and an enterprise software vendor on the same programme is an adoption-side guest list, not a hardware-vendor guest list. That is consistent with the declared theme. ## What the programme covers The announced subject matter spans six recurring areas: - Quantum technology adoption by industrial and enterprise end-users - Quantum industry strategy at association and company level - Research-to-commercialisation pathways - Cross-sector partnerships between suppliers, integrators and buyers - European quantum policy - The quantum supply chain ## Where QBC Summit sits on the European quantum calendar QuIC runs two distinct events, and the difference between them is the easiest way to place QBC Summit. Q-Expo, held in Bilbao in May, is the association's public-facing commercial event with an exhibition floor and open registration. QBC Summit is the members and affiliates counterpart in the autumn: smaller, closed, and structured around association business alongside content. Against EQTC, the EU Quantum Flagship's conference in Dublin at the end of November, the contrast is one of institutional model rather than subject matter. EQTC is funded and convened through a European Commission research initiative and is open to public registration; QBC Summit is convened by an industry association and is governed by membership. Both address European quantum policy, but from different sides of the table. Within the Paris region alone, QBC Summit 2026 shares the calendar with France Quantum and the Quantum Networks Summit, which makes Paris-Saclay a repeated fixture on the European quantum circuit rather than a one-off host. ## FAQ · Identity and audience ### Who actually attends QBC Summit? QuIC members and affiliates form the core: quantum technology companies, component and system suppliers, and research organisations in the consortium. Around them the programme draws end-users from industry, researchers, policymakers, investors and technology developers. The 2026 speaker line-up includes CERN, Robert Bosch GmbH, Airbus, SAP, E.ON, the Institut d'Optique Graduate School and the Open Quantum Institute. ### Is QBC Summit open to companies outside QuIC? Not in the way a public conference is. The summit is built as a members and affiliates gathering, and access runs through QuIC membership or affiliation rather than through an open ticket sale. Organisations outside the consortium that want to attend should approach QuIC directly rather than looking for a registration page. ### How does QBC Summit differ from Q-Expo, QuIC's other event? Both are run by the same association, but Q-Expo in Bilbao is the public-facing spring event with an exhibition and open registration, while QBC Summit is the closed autumn gathering for members and affiliates. A company evaluating quantum suppliers for the first time would go to Q-Expo; a QuIC member shaping association positions would go to QBC Summit. ## The venue: Institut d'Optique Graduate School, Paris-Saclay The Institut d'Optique Graduate School is a French engineering school specialising in optics and photonics, located on the Paris-Saclay campus at Orsay in the Essonne department, south-west of central Paris. Orsay is served by the RER B line from Paris, and the wider Paris-Saclay campus is roughly 20 km from the city centre. The organiser has not published a detailed access note or a room-by-room venue plan; attendees should check the summit site closer to the date, particularly for the meeting points of the guided facility visits, which will not start from the main plenary room. ## The organiser: the European Quantum Industry Consortium QuIC is the industry association for quantum technologies in Europe, bringing together companies across the supply chain from component makers and hardware developers to software providers and end-users, together with research organisations. It operates through working groups and produces position papers and industry surveys on the state of European quantum technology. QBC Summit is its annual members gathering; Q-Expo, held in Bilbao, is its public-facing event. --- ## Editorial take *A members' meeting rather than a marketplace: QBC Summit is where European quantum suppliers and their industrial customers work through adoption questions in a closed room, which makes the guest list more informative than the agenda.* ## How to register and what it costs There is no public ticket price for QBC Summit 2026, and none has been disclosed by the organiser. This is a QuIC members and affiliates event rather than an open-registration conference, so participation is governed by consortium membership or affiliate status rather than by a registration fee published on a pricing page. Organisations already in QuIC should expect to be invited through the association's own channels. Organisations outside it that want to attend should contact QuIC about membership or affiliation well ahead of the November dates, since the route in is an association process rather than a checkout. The summit site at qbc-summit.org is the reference for programme updates and any participation instructions the organiser chooses to publish. ## FAQ · Access and practicalities ### How much does it cost to attend? Not disclosed. QuIC has not published a delegate price for the 2026 summit, which is consistent with a members and affiliates event rather than a commercially ticketed conference. ### Can I buy a ticket if my company is not a QuIC member? There is no open ticket sale. Access runs through QuIC membership or affiliate status, so the practical first step for a non-member is a conversation with the consortium rather than a registration form. ### Where exactly is the venue and how do I get there? The Institut d'Optique Graduate School sits on the Paris-Saclay campus at Orsay, south-west of Paris, reachable by RER B from the city. Precise access instructions, including where the guided facility visits start, have not been published at the time of verification. ### Is the whole programme open to all participants? No. The two days are split between a plenary day of strategic and industry-led sessions, a QuIC-internal meeting that is association business for members and affiliates, and guided site visits. Attendance rights vary by component. ## First time at QBC Summit? How to prepare - **Sort out your QuIC status before anything else.** There is no public registration route, so membership or affiliate status is the actual entry condition. Starting that conversation in September for a November event is late but not impossible; starting it in October is not. - **Read QuIC's published position papers and working group output first.** The summit is an association meeting, and much of the plenary discussion assumes familiarity with positions the consortium has already taken in writing. - **Come with a specific adoption question, not a general interest in quantum.** The 2026 theme is explicitly about moving from technology to adoption, and the room includes buyers from Bosch, Airbus, E.ON and SAP who will be more useful on deployment constraints than on hardware roadmaps. - **Book the guided facility visits as a priority, not an afterthought.** Escorted access to Institut d'Optique laboratories is the part of this programme that no other event on the European quantum calendar offers, and capacity on that kind of visit is always limited. - **Check which sessions you are entitled to attend.** The QuIC-internal meeting is a different access category from the plenary day; plan your two days around that split rather than assuming a single badge covers everything. - **Arrange Paris-Saclay logistics separately from Paris hotels.** Orsay is a campus location roughly 20 km out on the RER B, not a central Paris venue, and travel time between the two is a real constraint on evening plans. ## Resources | Resource | URL | |---|---| | Official website | https://qbc-summit.org/ | | Registration | not disclosed (access via QuIC membership or affiliation) | | Programme | not disclosed at time of verification | --- **Last verified:** 2026-08-18 **Next review:** 2026-09-17 **Notes:** Dates, venue, theme, programme components and speaker organisations sourced from qbc-summit.org and QuIC listings, verified 2026-08-18. Attendance figure and delegate pricing not disclosed by the organiser; the absence of a published price is consistent with a members and affiliates event, not an oversight in the record. Edition history (Paris 2023, Padova 2024, CERN Geneva 2025, Paris-Saclay 2026) is organiser-declared. Detailed venue access instructions and the final programme were not published at time of verification. **Variables:** 17/58 **Concept definition:** not applicable