Seeing the Quantum Horizon: Hype, Hopes, Hybrid Systems, and the Road to Quantum Advantage and Value
August 25, 2026
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Online
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About the Session
The quantum computing industry is undergoing a critical transition. The era of chasing speculative, long-term qubit counts in isolation is giving way to a more pragmatic, problem-first approach. Today’s cutting-edge quantum strategy is not about replacing classical computing, but rather about co-designing hybrid workflows where quantum processing units (QPUs) act as accelerators alongside high-performance classical infrastructure.
We sit down with three of the quantum ecosystem's most prominent analytical voices to map out the current state of the industry. Bob Sorensen (Hyperion Research), Sebastian Hassinger (The New Quantum Era), and whurley (Strangeworks) will cut through the media hype to deliver a grounded assessment of where quantum stands in 2026. Together, they will explore the current landscape of modalities and error correction techniques, the progress in scaling systems, the practical challenges of hardware integration, and the leading high-value enterprise opportunities. They will share their realistic expectations for when quantum computing will impact industry and research workflows while also addressing what could accelerate, or bottleneck, that progress.
Speaker
Sebastian Hassinger
New Quantum Era
Sebastian has spent four decades working at the leading edge of technology — from the earliest days of the commercial internet through leadership roles at Apple, IBM, Oracle, and AWS.
He discovered quantum technology in 2016 and never looked back, spending nearly a decade building communities, advising companies, and helping the quantum industry find its footing. In 2021, he co-founded The New Quantum Era podcast.
Now fully independent, he is a Fellow at the Unitary Foundation and is focused on media, open-source advocacy, and building infrastructure to help quantum hardware move from the lab to the world.
Bob Sorensen
Chief Analyst for Quantum Computing, Hyperion Research
Bob Sorensen is Hyperion Research's Chief Analyst for Quantum Computing. Bob’s areas of expertise include analysis of advanced computing hardware, architectures, interconnects, and performance metrics for both classical and quantum systems. Before joining Hyperion Research, Bob worked 30 plus years for the U.S. Federal Government as a Senior Science and Technology analyst covering global advanced computing developments to support senior-level U.S. policy makers including those in the White House, Department of Defense, and Treasury. Bob has a BSEE from the University of Rochester and a MSCS from the George Washington University. He strongly prefers C to Python.
whurley
Founder and CEO, Strangeworks
whurley is founder and CEO of Strangeworks, a quantum computing startup that makes the power of quantum computing easily accessible and available to all. He is an Eisenhower Fellow, Innovator in Residence for the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, A Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Chairman of the Quantum Computing Standards Workgroup at the IEEE, the first Ambassador to CERN and Society, a regular contributor to TechCrunch on the topic of Quantum Computing, and the co-author of "Quantum Computing For Babies”. Prior to starting Strangeworks he was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs [NYSE: GS]. He came to Goldman Sachs via the acquisition of his second startup, Honest Dollar. Prior to Honest Dollar whurley founded Chaotic Moon Studios which was acquired by Accenture [NYSE: ACN].
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