Joint Symposium on Standards for Quantum Technologies

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)​ in collaboration with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)​, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) UK and Ireland Photonics Chapter are organising a Joint Symposium on Standards for Quantum Technologies taking place virtually on 23 March 2021 from 15h00 to 18h00 CET/Geneva Time.

This joint symposium will bring together world-leading speakers to introduce different aspects of quantum technologies: quantum communication, quantum computation and quantum measurement. This will be followed by an extensive panel discussion involving representatives from various SDOs including ISO, IEC, ITU-T, NIST, ETSI, ISO and CEN/CENELEC to discuss the general importance of standards for quantum technologies, identify and prioritise areas in which standards would be most required and according to which timeline (road-mapping).   

In particular, it will explore the most important lessons learnt from previous efforts to standardise new technologies (such as optics and photonics) and discuss how past methods can be applied now to ensure that different SDOs can achieve the correct level of harmonisation from the outset, avoiding unhelpful divergence without impacting healthy competition between SDOs. 

Participation in the symposium is open for ITU Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academic Institutions and to any individual from a country that is a member of ITU. This includes individuals who are also members of international, regional and national organizations, specifically the members of IEC and the IEEE UK and Ireland Photonics Chapter.

​Participation in the symposium is free of charge. Registration to the event is mandatory. Symposium chairs: Dr Richard PitwonCEO, Resolute Photonics & Dr Bernard Lee​Director of Technology & Innovation, SENKO Advanced Components.

Draft Programme

15:00 – 15:10​Opening remarks
Moderator: Richard Pitwon​, CEO, Resolute Photonics
​​Welcome address: Bilel Jamoussi, Chief of Study Group Department, TSB, ITU​ 
15:10 – 16:40
​​Session 1: ​​Introduction​
Moderator: Bernard Lee​, Director of Technology & Innovation, SENKO Advanced Components
Keynote address: Sir Peter Knight,  Professor, Imperial College London
Quantum communication: Andrew Lord​, Senior Manager, Optical Networks and Quantum Research, BT
Quantum computing: Ian Walmsley, Provost, Imperial College London 
16:40 – 18:00Session 2: Standardization Approaches for Quantum Technologies – Standards Organisations Panel
Moderator: ​Richard Pitwon​, ​CEO, Resolute Photonics​​

ITU-T: James Nagel​, Lead Photonic & Laser Systems Engineer, L3Harris Technologies​ and Qiang Zhang​, OSA Fellow, Professor, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)
IEC: Peter Pondillo​, Senior Manager, Standards & Policy, Corning​ andAndre Girard​​, Senior Consultant, Fibre Optic Telecommunications​
ISO/IEC JTC1 WG14: Hong Yang, Convenor of ISO/IEC JTC1 WG14, Quantum Computing​; China Electronics and Standardization Institute (CESI) 
CEN/CENELEC: Momtchil Peev​, Quantum Lab, Huawei Technologies Duesseldorf GmbH (HWDU), Germany
NIST: Barbara Goldstein and​ Clare Allocca, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA​
BSI: Emelie Bratt​Lead Standards Development Manager, British Standards Institution (BSI)
– ​ETSI: Martin Ward​, Senior Research Scientist, Toshiba Europe Limited

Related information

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