2026 Quantum Leadership Awards

Quantum doesn’t move forward on theory alone. It moves because leaders take risks, build coalitions, publish the breakthrough, ship the system, fund the leap, write the policy, train the workforce—and refuse to stop at “maybe someday.”

The Quantum Leadership Awards honor the individuals and organizations catalyzing measurable progress across quantum science and technology—accelerating commercialization, research, policy, and workforce development at the speed this moment demands. Awardees will be announced and recognized at Quantum World Congress 2026.

NOMINATE NOW

QUANTUM LEADERSHIP AWARD CATEGORIES

A Global Stage for Quantum’s Real MVPs.

The Quantum Leadership Awards celebrate impact—across sectors and across borders. From lab-to-market builders to public-sector architects, from academic pioneers to the organizations scaling solutions into the real world, these honorees represent the leading edge of the global quantum ecosystem. Explore the categories below.

01

Leadership Award

Academic Pioneer in Quantum

For the mind that shaped the field—and the people in it.

An individual in academia credited with a leading-edge idea, research, solution, or approach that materially advanced quantum science and technology, and strengthened the pipeline of talent driving the field forward.

Educators, researchers, and students eligible

02

Leadership Award

Government Pioneer in Quantum

For the public-sector builder who made quantum happen.

An individual whose leadership—technical, strategic, or policy-driven—catalyzed measurable progress in quantum development, deployment, or national or international ecosystem-building.

All government employees eligible

03

Leadership Award

Industry Pioneer in Quantum

For the leader who moved the needle.

An individual credited with a leading-edge idea, research, solution, investment, or approach that drove measurable advancement in quantum technology, commercialization, policy, or workforce development.

Commercial, nonprofit, and NGO leaders eligible

04

Leadership Award

Organization of the Year

For the team turning quantum capability into real-world outcomes.

An organization or cross-sector team making significant, meaningful impact on a solution, mission, use case, or challenge through the application of quantum or quantum-adjacent technology, tools, or methods.

Government, commercial, nonprofit, NGO, and academic organizations eligible

Before You Nominate

Get Everything Ready Before You Begin.

The nomination form cannot be saved and completed later. Review the requirements below and gather your answers, links, and supporting materials before starting the form.

01 Award Categories

The 2026 Quantum Leadership Awards will recognize achievement across four categories:

02 Awardee Eligibility

Nominees from U.S. and international government, commercial, nonprofit, academia, research, and nongovernmental organizations are eligible.

03 Awardee Criteria

Individuals nominated for the government, industry, or academic Pioneer awards should have made personal contributions to leading-edge ideas, solutions, investments, or approaches that produced measurable progress in quantum technology, policy, or workforce development during the year.

Organizations or teams nominated for Organization of the Year should have made a positive, definable impact on an industry, mission, use case, or challenge through the application of quantum or quantum-adjacent technology, tools, or methods.

04 Information Required for Nomination

Please have the following information ready before starting the nomination form:

Nominee basics Name, title or role, organization or affiliation, country, state or province if applicable, and email address.

Professional link LinkedIn profile, biography, or website.

What moved the field forward? Required. Suggested length: 35–50 words.

What problem did they tackle, and why does it matter? Required. Suggested length: 100–200 words.

What changed because of their work? Required. Suggested length: 150–300 words. Consider commercialization progress, technical milestones, new capabilities, adoption, policy shifts, coalitions, standards, workforce impact, or other measurable outcomes.

Proof points Required. Up to five bullets. Examples include performance benchmarks, deployment milestones, funding or investment outcomes, customer or partner traction, published results, programs launched, workforce outcomes, or agreements signed.

Who benefited and how? Optional. Suggested length: 75–150 words. Consider industries, mission areas, communities, students, partners, or public impact.

Why this nominee now? Optional. Suggested length: 50–125 words. Explain what makes this year’s impact distinct.

Supporting links Required. Examples include press releases, papers, patents, talks, program pages, product pages, or policy documents.

Optional supporting materials Supporting PDFs or other files, such as a press kit or one-pager.

Additional context Optional open-text context for reviewers.

Supporting nominators Optional. Up to three supporting nominators, including their name, email, organization, and an optional three-to-five-sentence endorsement.

Ready? The nomination form begins directly below.

Meet the Quantum Hall of Fame

2024 & 2025 honorees represent the full stack of quantum progress—from foundational theory and hardware scaling to national strategy and global coalition-building. In other words, they’re kind of a big deal. Meet them below.

Dr. Patricia "Patty" Lee

2025 INDUSTRY PIONEER OF THE YEAR
Quantinuum
Sylvie Retailleau

2025 GOVERNMENT PIONEER OF THE YEAR
Professor at Université Paris-Saclay, Former Minister of the French Republic
Dr. John Preskill

2025 ACADEMIC PIONEER OF THE YEAR

California Institute of Technology
International Year of Quantum Science and Technology

2025 ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR
Dr. Jay Gambetta

2024 INDUSTRY PIONEER OF THE YEAR
IBM
Dr. Cathy Foley

2024 GOVERNMENT PIONEER OF THE YEAR
Chief Scientist, Australia
Dr. Jungsang Kim

2024 ACADEMIC PIONEER OF THE YEAR
Duke University
Quantum Delta NL

2024 ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR