In this issue:

• Happy World Quantum Day! 🌐⚛️
• Canadian quantum pioneer Gilles Brassard wins the "Nobel Prize of computing" 🏆
• The Quantum World Tour Makes a Stop in Canada 🇨🇦
• Banking on the Quantum Economy: Welcoming BMO to QIC 🏦
• Quantum Takes Centre Stage in the National Defence Conversation at the Empire Club of Canada 🍁🛡️
• Looking for Your Next Role in Quantum? Browse QuantumJobs.ca 👀💼
• QIC Community Achievements and Highlights 👏
• More Must-read Quantum News 🗞️
• Upcoming Quantum Events in Canada 🗓️

🌐⚛️ Happy World Quantum Day!

Today, we celebrate a field Canada helped shape.

Long before quantum became a global priority, Canadian researchers, entrepreneurs, and institutions were already building what would become one of the world’s most vibrant quantum ecosystems — spanning computing, sensing, networking, security, and the key enabling technologies that underpin them

That early momentum continues.

From coast to coast, Canadian innovators are advancing new ways to sense, secure, compute, and understand the world, with technologies steadily moving into real-world use.

World Quantum Day is a moment to recognize that work.
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The people building it.

And the role Canada continues to play in defining what’s possible across our ecosystem and together with partners around the globe.

A quiet force, eh? 🇨🇦

On behalf of the QIC community: happy World Quantum Day! 🌐⚛️

🏆🇨🇦 Canadian Quantum Pioneer Gilles Brassard Among Duo Awarded this Year's "Nobel Prize of Computing"

We’re over the moon (and a few quantum states) to share that quantum information science pioneer Gilles Brassard (Université de Montréal) and longtime collaborator Charles Bennett (IBM) have been awarded the 2025 ACM A.M. Turing Award.

If you’re new to it: this is the "Nobel Prize of computing." The top honour in the field. And yes, this latest recognition goes to a Canadian.

Why this matters:

Back in the 1980s, before “quantum” was a thing you’d hear outside a physics department, Gilles and Charles were busy reimagining the very nature of information exchange. They realized that the strange laws of quantum physics weren't obstacles. They were tools.

Gilles's Greatest Hits include:

• BB84: The first practical quantum cryptography protocol. It lets two parties share a secret key with a built-in alarm system: if someone intercepts it, you know. Today, this underpins Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), already being deployed in terrestrial and satellite networks.
• Quantum teleportation: Not quite Star Trek, but close enough. Brassard helped show how quantum information can be transferred using entanglement. It’s now a foundational concept for the future quantum internet.

The QIC Take: Gilles Brassard’s work is a perfect example of why Canada is a global quantum leader today. His decades of curiosity-driven research at the Université de Montréal didn't just stay in a lab; it sparked an entire industry. From the startups in our own backyard to the global standards being set today, we can trace the roots back to this partnership.

As Gilles himself said upon receiving the news: "It demonstrates the importance of fundamental research that has at its core a curiosity to understand the universe."

We couldn’t agree more. Huge congrats to Charles and Gilles for this well-deserved recognition! 👏

👉 Read more about their legacy​

🇨🇦🌍 Global Spotlight: The Quantum World Tour Lands in Canada

Canada’s quantum ecosystem took centre stage as AI for Good and The Quantum Insider brought their Quantum World Tour here, co-hosted with QIC.

Canada’s quantum ecosystem recently took centre stage as AI for Good and The Quantum Insider brought their global Quantum World Tour to our doorstep. In collaboration with QIC, this stop wasn’t just a presentation—it was a high-definition showcase of Canada's quantum advantage.

What stood out:

• Strategy & Policy: Canada’s National Quantum Strategy Secretariat, Institut Quantique de l'Université de Sherbrooke, and QIC on translating research into industrial capacity.
• Talent: Qubo Consulting Corp and the University of Calgary’s Quantum City tackled the “quantum skills gap.” The focus: building a workforce that goes well beyond PhDs.
• Innovation: Canadian SMEs in action, including Phantom Photonics (sensing and imaging), Nord Quantique (error corrected quantum computing via bosonic qubits), Quantum Bridge Technologies (quantum-safe security).

🎥 Missed the live broadcast? You can catch the full replay to see why the world is keeping a close eye on Canada's quantum sector.

Banking on the Quantum Economy: Welcoming BMO to QIC! 🏦✨

We are thrilled to officially welcome BMO to the QIC community!
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BMO’s participation in QIC strengthens engagement between Canada’s quantum sector and the financial services industry.
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Through QIC, BMO will engage with quantum innovators to better understand emerging applications and long-term implications, while contributing practical financial services insight to support the growth of Canada’s quantum economy.
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“Quantum technologies present significant long-term potential, along with important questions around security, governance, and real-world application,” said Dr. Kristin Milchanowski, Chief AI & Quantum Officer, BMO. “Our engagement with Quantum Industry Canada enables us to work alongside leading Canadian companies and partners to better understand how these technologies will evolve and where they can create meaningful impact for financial services and the broader economy.”

👉 Read more​

🍁🛡️ Empire Club of Canada | Quantum Takes Centre Stage in the National Defence Conversation

On February 24, QIC partnered with the Empire Club of Canada, the country's leading thought leadership forum, for a timely discussion: Quantum Power and National Security: Canada’s New Strategic Imperative.

LGen Darcy Molstad, Commander of the Canadian Joint Forces Command, captured the urgency succinctly:

“We absolutely need the capabilities, and we need them yesterday.”

Held days after the release of Canada’s first-ever Defence Industrial Strategy — which named quantum sensing, communications, and computing as sovereign capabilities — the conversation reflected the moment we’re in: quantum is now directly tied to Canada’s industrial posture and security architecture.

On stage:

Keynote

• Lisa Lambert, CEO, Quantum Industry Canada

Panel (moderated by The Honourable Erin O'Toole)

• Francesco Bova, University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management & Chief Quantum Economist, Creative Destruction Lab
• David Roy-Guay, Founder & CEO, SBQuantum
• LGen Darcy Molstad, Commander, Canadian Joint Forces Command

Thank you to the Empire Club for convening a room that matched the moment: senior policymakers, defence leaders, investors, industry executives, and the next generation (thanks to the Empire Club Foundation).

📺 🎧 Watch or listen to a recording of the full discussion here.​

👀💼 Looking for Your Next Role in Quantum?

If you’re exploring what’s next in your career, QuantumJobs.ca powered by Quantum Industry Canada brings opportunities from across Canada’s quantum sector into one place.

Whether you’re coming from research, engineering, software, hardware, policy, or business, the platform makes it easier to see who’s hiring, and what kinds of roles are emerging as the sector matures.
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​ 🔍 → Browse QuantumJobs.ca ​

👏 QIC Community Achievements and Highlights

Here's our round-up of recent highlights from the QIC community:

• BTQ Technologies announced the first deployment of BIP 360 on Bitcoin Quantum Testnet v0.3.0. → Read more​
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• cyberzero released the PQC Signal Scanner, a free PQC scanner for web domains to help build a quantum-safe internet. → Check it out​
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• Through a joint collaboration between Sherbrooke Innovante, la Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Sherbrooke, the Maison régionale de l’industrie, and DistriQ, Zone Innovation Quantique de Sherbrooke, announced the DEFSEC Sherbrooke Strategy. → Read more​
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• evolutionQ, in collaboration with The Global Risk Institute, released the 2025 version of their highly-cited Quantum Threat Timeline Report. → Read more​
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• Open Quantum Design launched its Quantum Error Correction Working Group in partnership with Western Digital and QuScript. → Read more​
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• Open Quantum Design released an open-source Git repository of its trapped-ion quantum computing hardware designs. → Read more​
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• OTI Lumionics set a new benchmark in computational quantum chemistry, simulating a 112-qubit GHG emission capturing catalyst with a 90x performance improvement over previous methods. → Read more​
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• Phantom Photonics CEO and Co-founder Alex Maierean received the 2026 Women in Defence and Security Scholarship and Canadian Global Affairs Institute Fellowship. Bravo Alex! → Read more​
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• Photonic Inc. appointed founding investor Don Mattrick as its new CEO. Dr. Paul Terry takes on new role leading product strategy as Chief Product Officer. → Read more​
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• Quantum Bridge Technologies, in partnership with Toshiba Europe Ltd, successfully performed intercontinental quantum-safe networking. Leveraging modern fibre optic infrastructure and draft interoperability standards, the teams demonstrated provably secure, quantum-safe data transmission between Canada and the UK. → Read more​
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• ​Quantum Bridge Technologies announced a strategic partnership with Italian system integrator Italtel to bring advanced post-quantum security solutions to the global market. This collaboration will focus on protecting critical communications for sectors such as telecommunications, banking, and government. →Read more​
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• Quantum City at the University of Calgary introduced its Fellows Program to foster collaboration with other Canadian universities and industry. → Read more​
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• Congratulations to SBQuantum for achieving a huge milestone on March 30 when Diamond Polaris-1, their NV-diamond magnetometer to power electronic compasses, was successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the MagQuest Challenge. → Read more​
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• softwareQ released Quantum++ 7.0.0, a major update to their open-source C++ quantum computing library. → Read more​
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• On March 27, Xanadu became the first pure-play photonic quantum computing company to go public, listing on both the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "XNDU." → Read more​
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• Xanadu and TELUS announced a collaboration to advance quantum data centre infrastructure in Canada. → Read more
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• The University of Saskatchewan will install a full-stack, 14-qubit quantum computer developed with industry partners Rigetti Computing, Qblox, QuantrolOx and Zero Point Cryogenics, with additional support from Testforce Systems. → Read more​

🗞️ More Buzzworthy Quantum Headlines and Resources

Canadian quantum in the spotlight:​

• As part of the Government of Canada's recently announced $900M defence innovation funding commitment, the NRC announced over $161M over five years to advance Canada's leadership in quantum technology. → Read more​
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• The Government of Canada has committed over half a billion dollars to fund academic research and the acquisition of new equipment, tools, and labs. A number of QIC affiliates are recipients, including the Blusson Quantum Matter Institute at UBC and 3iT at l'Université de Sherbrooke. → Read more​​
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• CIGI released a special report on the impact of quantum technologies for central banks and finance ministries. → Read it here​​
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• The Vancouver Quantum Network (QVaN) is set to establish a dual-use regional-scale quantum communications network in British Columbia, backed by $10M in funding from PacifiCan. → Read more​
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• In June 2025, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security published its roadmap for the migration to post-quantum cryptography for the Government of Canada. The roadmap recommends that all federal departments and agencies produce an initial PQC migration plan by this month, April 2026. → Read more​

From around the world:

• The UK Government pledged up to £2 billion (that’s $3.7 billion CAD) for quantum innovation, including its first of its kind procurement programme, ”ProQure: Scaling UK Quantum Computing." → Learn more​
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• The Government of Poland recently published an updated version of its quantum technology development policy foundations — Założenia do Polityki Rozwoju Technologii Kwantowych — setting out priorities through 2035. → Read more (in Polish)
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• The U.S. Department of Energy announced its aim to build a fully functioning quantum computer that can perform scientifically useful calculations by 2028. → Read more​​​
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• Researchers from France's Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) have proposed a modification to Shor's algorithm which significantly reduces the number of logical qubits required to compute elliptic curve discrete logarithms, at a cost of massively increased gate count. → Read more​
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• Only a couple weeks after the publication of the Inria article, researchers at Google reported their own significant advances in running Shor’s algorithm against 256-bit Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). The results are presented in the context of blockchains and cryptocurrencies, with the report including a robust discussion on the transition of these systems to post-quantum cryptography. → Read more​
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• The US National Intelligence released their Annual Threat Assessment (ATA) in March. This year’s ATA places quantum computing alongside AI as the only subsections under "Technological Challenges". Placing quantum and AI in parallel like this sends a powerful signal about how seriously the intelligence community is taking quantum. Moreover, the report frames quantum computing not only as a cyber security risk, but also as a national strategic advantage. → Read more​

And more about the field from think pieces, podcasts, and other content featuring the QIC community:

• ​SBQuantum was featured in BetaKit and the Globe and Mail for their incredible Diamond Polaris-1 launch milestone. → Read The Globe coverage here and the BetaKit coverage here​
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• University of Waterloo's Bessma Momani along with evolutionQ's Michele Mosca published an article in the Canadian Military Journal titled, Quantum Technologies in Defence and Intelligence Security. → Read it here​
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• Un reportage de L’Actualité met en lumière l’écosystème quantique de Sherbrooke, avec la participation de membres et affiliés de QIC, dont SBQuantum, Nord Quantique, Pasqal, Distriq, l’Institut quantique de l’Université de Sherbrooke, Streetwise Consulting, C2MI et QV Studio. → Lire l’article ici​
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• Leading up to the company's successful public listing, Xanadu Founder and CEO, Christian Weedbrooke, was profiled in the Globe and Mail. → Read more​
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• Xanadu's debut as publicly traded company was also covered by numerous outlets. Read the Globe and Mail story here and the BetaKit story here​

📅 Quantum-related Events in Canada

• ​Quantum Technologies for Business Seminar in Ottawa, ON on April 22, 2026 (hybrid event), featuring Louise Davey, Founder and President, LDIQ on Quantum How: What Business Leaders Need to Understand and Do Now​
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• ​QUANTUM NOW | DEFSEC executive forum hosted by Quantum Industry Canada in Ottawa on May 25, 2026
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• ​2^nd Annual 2026 Open Compute Project (OCP) Canada Tech Day in Montreal, QC June 10-11, 2026
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• ​ETSI/IQC Quantum Safe Cryptography Conference 2026 in Ottawa, ON June 16-18, 2026
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• ​qConnect 2026 hosted by Quantum City in Calgary, AB Oct 21-22, 2026