Q-Alliance

Scientific High Council

The World’s Most Powerful Quantum Hub

Q-Alliance brings together global quantum-computing leaders, Italian scientific excellence and industry innovation to translate frontier research into real-world applications, define shared benchmarks and connect academic and industrial partners around a common technical language.

Quantum
Research
Engine
Council Programs Agenda Mission Contact
26 Strategic Quantum Programs
8 Research and application domains
2 Complementary quantum technology pillars
1 Common language: Ising / QUBO
Mission

From frontier science to usable quantum advantage

Q-Alliance is designed to move quantum research from isolated laboratories into scientific, industrial and public-interest applications.
Research Scientific leadership defines priorities, methods and long-term vision.
Platforms Gate-based and annealing technologies address different problem classes.
Translation Industrial use cases become projects, assessments, benchmarks and reproducible models.
Technology Pillars

Two quantum paradigms, one strategic platform

IonQ Gate-based quantum computing for simulation, machine learning and phase-estimation tasks.
D-Wave Quantum annealing and hybrid solvers for large-scale optimization through Ising/QUBO formulations.
QUBO The shared bridge between real-world NP-hard problems and quantum-ready computation.
Scientific High Council

A scientific compass for the alliance

The Council brings together leading figures in physics, mathematics, quantum science, data science and computational research.

Touch or click a name to jump directly to the corresponding biography.

Biographies

Scientific High Council members

Short profiles of the Scientific High Council members, based on the Member Information Pack.

Ugo Moschella

Chair Back to Council

Full Professor of Physics and Mathematics, CERN research associate and former Marie Curie Fellow at CEA. He serves as Chair of the Scientific High Council.

Luciano Maiani

Physics leadership Back to Council

Former President of CERN, INFN and CNR. His recognitions include the Dirac Medal, the Sakurai Prize, the Bruno Pontecorvo Prize and the Matteucci Medal.

Gerardus ’t Hooft

Theoretical physics Back to Council

Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, also recognized with the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Wolf Prize, the Lorentz Medal and the Spinoza Prize.

Gian Francesco Giudice

CERN theoretical physics Back to Council

Director of the CERN Theoretical Physics Department, recipient of the Fundamental Physics Prize and holder of the Jacques Solvay Chair in Physics.

Alain Connes

Mathematics Back to Council

Fields Medal recipient, also awarded the Crafoord Prize, CNRS Gold Medal and Ampère Prize.

Thibault Damour

Gravitation and theory Back to Council

Recognized with the Balzan Prize, Dirac Medal, CNRS Gold Medal, Einstein Medal and Paul Langevin Prize.

Michele Parrinello

Computational science Back to Council

Recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry, Dreyfus Prize, Dirac Medal and Marcel Benoist Prize.

Antonietta Mira

Data science and statistics Back to Council

Founder of the Data Science Lab at USI, Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Fellow of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis.

Giulia Galli

Materials and theory Back to Council

Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Her recognitions include the Feynman Prize for Theory, the Aneesur Rahman Prize and the Berni J. Alder CECAM Prize.

Hidetoshi Nishimori

Quantum annealing and theory Back to Council

Professor at the Institute of Science Tokyo, recipient of the NEC C&C Prize and Nishina Memorial Prize, and Senior Scientist at RIKEN iTHEMS.

Jürg Fröhlich

Mathematical physics Back to Council

Recipient of the Max Planck Medal, Henri Poincaré Prize, Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics and Lorentz Medal. Member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

Research Agenda

Twenty-six programs across eight domains

The research agenda connects quantum methods with real scientific, industrial and societal applications.

Materials Quantum simulation, nonlinear dynamics, QUBO material design and strongly correlated systems.
Artificial Intelligence Quantum neural networks, support vector machines, reinforcement learning and generative models.
Finance Portfolio optimization, Monte Carlo pricing, credit risk, fraud detection and hedging.
Life Sciences Quantum drug discovery, protein folding optimization and quantum genomics.
Infrastructure Routing, traffic, HPC scheduling, smart-grid optimization, security and sensing.
Governance & Insurance Socio-economic simulation, quantum game theory, risk aggregation, claims and reinsurance optimization.
The Great Challenge

Shaping NP problems into quantum-ready models

The Great Challenge invites academic and industrial teams to translate real-world NP-hard problems into Ising or QUBO form for quantum annealing and hybrid solvers. The focus is precise model formulation, embeddability, scalability, reproducibility and measurable solution quality.

Model clarity Embeddability Scalability Solution quality Reproducibility Hardware-aware formulation
First Meeting

Scientific High Council — Agenda

24
June
17:00 – 18:00
A strict sixty-minute working session.
17:00 – 17:07
Chair’s opening & welcome Ugo Moschella introduces Council members and the purpose of the meeting.
17:07 – 17:14
Institutional address Alessio Butti presents the institutional perspective on quantum computing.
17:14 – 17:24
Opening keynote — the two technology pillars Niccolò De Masi and Alan Baratz present gate-based and annealing approaches.
17:24 – 17:33
Mission, governance & Council mandate Antonio La Gatta outlines mission, structure, working methods and decision process.
17:33 – 17:43
Research programs — priorities The Scientific Council reviews the 26 programs and discusses launch priorities.
17:43 – 17:50
Ising/QUBO & the Great Challenge The framework is presented as a bridge to real-world NP-hard problems.
17:50 – 17:57
Project process & next steps Submission process, evaluation criteria, community growth and action items.
17:57 – 18:00
Chair’s closing Summary, next meeting date and acknowledgements.

Join the Q-Alliance ecosystem

Researchers, institutions and companies can contribute to research programs, submit quantum innovation projects or request a quantum assessment for industrial and scientific use cases.

Contact the Secretariat