Submit your talk before July 13, 2026. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
The current quantum software stack, while foundational, faces critical scaling challenges that threaten to bottleneck the future of quantum computing. Developed alongside the first generation of online quantum hardware platforms, these software stacks are defined by a common set of quantum software architectures and ideas: Python-based libraries, small loosely structured programs, shared but restrictive program representations (OpenQASM), online queues, wasteful execution models (e.g., unnecessary repetition, client-server latency), and a computational separation between classical and quantum instructions. A number of these components will not scale, bottlenecking the performance of quantum computing overall. To overcome these limitations and unlock the potential of large-scale quantum computing, a paradigm shift is needed: the development of Quantum Software 2.6.
Anticipating such limitations, a number of organizations have already been looking towards the next generation of ideas. We can expect a more complex and multi-faceted tech stack: deeper, wider, and more complex circuits, first versions of quantum error correction, just-in-time compilation, multi-level IRs, heterogeneous execution models including quantum-centric supercomputing, co-location, and the improved utilization of existing classical software tools.
In this workshop, we highlight a number of software barriers that will have to be overcome to unlock this next stage of development. We will hear from guest speakers, panelists, and attendees who have begun experimenting, prototyping, and releasing early versions of next-generation quantum software technologies. We hope to identify and form consensus about the most promising approaches to pursue in the future that could enable scaling for effective and robust heterogeneous infrastructure development, as well as foster interest in developing these technologies collectively under open models for the benefit of the quantum industry as a whole.
10:00 - 10:05: Introduction
10:05 - 10:25: Opening talk
10:25 - 11:10: Lightning talks
11:10 - 11:30: Panel discussion
13:00 - 13:20: Opening talk
13:20 - 14:10: Lightning talks
14:10 - 14:30: Panel discussion
15:00 - 15:20: Opening talk
15:20-15:45: Lightning talks
15:45 - 16:05: Panel discussion
16:05 - 16:30: General panel discussion and structured brainstorming
Speaker: TBD
Xanadu
Entropica Labs
IonQ
Oak Ridge National Lab
Xanadu
Quantinuum