From Foundational Research to Scalable Systems
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A hundred years since the birth of quantum mechanics — and after more than 40 years of MIT leadership in quantum computing, sensing, and communication — the field is at an inflection point, ready to translate quantum science and technology into practical applications. This Leading Edge webinar brings together MIT faculty and innovators driving this transformation, exploring how the field is evolving from fundamental research to scalable, commercially viable systems.
Professor Danna Freedman, inaugural Director of the new MIT Quantum Initiative (QMIT), will introduce this institute-wide effort to unify and accelerate MIT’s quantum research across disciplines. Professor Will Oliver will provide a foundational overview of quantum computing—its principles, current frontiers, and the challenges on the path toward practical quantum advantage. Building on this foundation, the session will feature two MIT-connected startups at the forefront of the quantum ecosystem. QuEra Computing is pioneering neutral-atom quantum processors and recently demonstrated key milestones toward fault-tolerant computation. NanoQT is advancing a new class of quantum interconnects, enabling modular and distributed quantum computing systems.
Together, these speakers will illuminate how academia, startups, and industry are converging to define quantum’s next era—an era of scalability, interoperability, and global impact.
Registration Fee: ILP Member: Complimentary General Public: $250 Current MIT Faculty/Staff/Student: Complimentary
Hong Fan is a Program Director at the Office of Corporate Relations at MIT. She joined OCR in August 2016, brought with her 20+ years of international work experience across semiconductor, consumer electronics, telecom, and higher education.
Prior to joining OCR, Hong spent 12 years in the semiconductor industry with executive functions in strategic marketing, business development, corporate strategy, product management, and product marketing at Analog Devices and MediaTek. During those years, Hong played instrumental roles in identifying emerging business opportunities related to wireless communication networks, smartphones, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT), and medical devices and applications. She led cross-functional teams in defining and driving product and market strategy for businesses with annual revenue ranging from $30 million to $100 million.
Prior to joining the semiconductor industry, Hong spent 6 years in the telecommunications and electronics industry, leading engineering teams at companies such as Lucent Technologies and Watkins-Johnson Company for the development of digital signal processing, wireless communications, and micro-controller software.
Before coming to US, Hong was a strategic research staff at the President Office of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of the oldest universities in China. She was the first woman to hold this highly selective position.
Hong has a B.S in Electronic Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland at College Park, and an MBA from Sloan School of Management at MIT. She received numerous academic honors and awards including the McKinsey & Co. Scholarship, the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and the Shanghai Outstanding College Graduate Award.
Faculty Director, The MIT Quantum Initiative Frederick George Keyes Professor, MIT Department of Chemistry
Danna Freedman is the Frederick George Keyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT and the Director of the new MIT Quantum Initiative (QMIT). Her research centers on harnessing chemical intuition to solve core challenges in physics, focusing especially on quantum information processing, magnetism, and emergent materials. Freedman’s group is noted for achievements such as realizing long coherence times in molecular qubits, synthesizing new magnetic and superconducting materials, and advancing quantum information science using inorganic chemistry. She earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley, followed by postdoctoral research at MIT. Previously, she held faculty positions at Northwestern University before moving to MIT in 2021. Among her recognitions are a MacArthur Fellowship and the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry.
The MIT Quantum Initiative (QMIT) is an Institute-wide priority to advance MIT’s leadership in quantum by applying quantum breakthroughs to the most valuable and consequential challenges in science, technology, industry, and national security. MIT is historically unrivaled in establishing the foundations of quantum science and engineering and in pushing the limits of possibility — smaller, faster, more controlled, more precise, more powerful. QMIT will define the impact of quantum’s next era by engaging a wide breadth of domain experts and end users in developing quantum solutions that are accessible, relevant, and profoundly transformative.
William D. Oliver is a Principal Investigator in the Engineering Quantum Systems Group (MIT campus) and the Quantum Information and Integrated Nanosystems Group (MIT Lincoln Laboratory). He provides programmatic and technical leadership targeting the development of quantum and classical high-performance computing technologies. Will’s research interests include the materials growth, fabrication, design, and measurement of superconducting qubits, as well as the development of cryogenic packaging and control electronics involving cryogenic CMOS and single-flux quantum digital logic. Will is a Fellow of the American Physical Society; serves on the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee and the US Committee for Superconducting Electronics; is an IEEE Applied Superconductivity Conference (ASC) Board Member; and is a member of IEEE, APS, Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa, and Tau Beta Pi.
Will received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Stanford University, the SM in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and a BS in Electrical Engineering and BA in Japanese from the University of Rochester (NY).
Quantum computing is moving rapidly from theoretical curiosity to an emerging tool with the potential to reshape entire industries. This session will introduce the core principles, terminology, and architectures of quantum systems, outline what they can and cannot do compared to classical computing, and explore where the field is headed. We’ll also touch on the potential implications for high‑performance computing environments and why forward‑looking organizations are tracking quantum’s progress now.
Takuya Kitagawa is the President and Director of QuEra Computing, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing. He also serves as an external board member of Mercari. Previously, he was Managing Executive Officer and Chief Data Officer at Rakuten, as well as the global head of the Rakuten Institute of Technology, where he led AI research and innovation across the organization, overseeing more than 700 researchers and engineers worldwide. Trained as a theoretical physicist, Dr. Kitagawa made contributions to the study of non-equilibrium quantum systems, including the theory of Floquet topological phases. He co-founded Topologic, a startup focused on industrializing topological materials, and founded the Well-being for Planet Earth Foundation and Unson Foundation to advance human and planetary well-being. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics and a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University.
QuEra is pioneering the development of quantum computers built on neutral atoms — a platform that combines scalability, parallel operations, and flexible connectivity. Originating from Harvard and MIT, QuEra has consistently advanced the frontiers of quantum technology. Notably, the company achieved the industry’s first demonstration of magic state distillation, a key milestone toward realizing a fault-tolerant, universal quantum computer through quantum error correction. Since 2022, QuEra’s quantum systems have been accessible via the cloud, enabling researchers and developers worldwide to explore quantum algorithms on real hardware. The company’s second-generation gate-based quantum computer is now installed at AIST’s G-QuAT supercomputing center in Japan, marking a significant step in global quantum infrastructure. In this talk, we will introduce QuEra’s technology, its scientific achievements, and its roadmap toward practical, scalable quantum computation — highlighting how QuEra is shaping both the scientific and commercial landscapes of the quantum computing era.
Masashi Hirose, Ph.D., is the CEO and Co-Founder of Nanofiber Quantum Technologies (NanoQT). Before founding NanoQT, he spent over five years at McKinsey & Company as a management consultant advising high-tech and industrial clients on strategy and innovation. Masashi received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he conducted research in quantum sensing under Professor Paola Cappellaro.
Today’s quantum computing systems remain largely monolithic and isolated, operating as standalone processors without compatibility with optical fiber networking. This architectural limitation is now a critical barrier to scaling—both in computational capacity and in integration with quantum communication networks. At the center of this challenge lies a missing device class: the quantum interconnect—a hardware interface that enables quantum processors to exchange entangled photons reliably across modules.
NanoQT is pioneering this frontier with the world’s first fiber-connectable quantum interconnect, directly integrable with quantum processing units. The technology leverages proprietary nanofiber cavity fabrication, achieving ultra-low optical loss and millimeter-scale photonics engineered from standard optical fiber. By bridging quantum computing units and networks, NanoQT aims to build the physical foundation for modular and distributed quantum computing, enabling scalable and secure quantum information systems. Founded in 2022 as Japan’s first quantum computing hardware startup, NanoQT has raised over US $24 million from leading U.S. and Japanese venture investors. The company operates across Tokyo, Palo Alto, and College Park, driving international collaboration at the intersection of quantum computing and communication.