The Optica Quantum 2.0 Conference and Exhibition took place 15th – 18th June 2026 at SEC Glasgow, bringing together individuals from academia, industry and government organisations. The program spanned quantum computing, communications, devices, sensing, and metrology, alongside discussions of the ecosystem, commercialisation and societal impact. Attendees explored cutting-edge research, emerging applications and the opportunities shaping a quantum-enabled future.
The 2026 event had just under 690 registrations, an increase of more than 70% on last year. It was a very international meeting with attendees from 41 countries: the top 3 represented were the UK (30%), Germany (14%) and the United States (11%). About 25% of registrations were students.
The number of exhibitors was also greater than at previous Quantum 2.0 conferences, with 53 participating organisations (61 including sponsoring companies).
The 5th edition of the Optica Quantum Industry summit was co-located with the Quantum 2.0 Conference and Exhibition for the first time this year. It had over 150 registered delegates with a very different profile to the Quantum 2.0 registrants, with a high percentage of executive-level attendees (17 CEOs, 10 CTOs, and numerous founders).
Technology Scotland was in attendance to represent our members and raise awareness of the Scottish photonics cluster (Photonics Scotland), the Scottish Critical Technologies Supercluster, and their capabilities. Several of our members of the community had booths at the exhibition: Fraunhofer UK, Kelvin Nanotechnology, Heriot-Watt University, and QEPNT.
Our Director of Photonics Scotland Alison McLeod was a member of the Quantum 2.0 Quantum Ecosystems subcommittee, part of the event that took place alongside the show floor programme.
As part of this exhibition schedule Alison moderated a well-attended panel session “Enabling Technologies and Supply Chain for Quantum Technologies” which was met with positive feedback. The panel, comprised of Sia Andersson (Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics), Andreas Lehr (PicoQuant), Gordon Mills (Kelvin Nanotechnology) and Stephan Ritter (TOPTICA), explored the critical and enabling technologies shaping the future of the global quantum technologies sector, and discussed the capabilities required to accelerate the development, scale-up and commercialisation of quantum technologies.
Alison also took part as a panellist on the “National Quantum Strategies & International Collaboration” panel which looked at emerging national quantum strategies across Europe and worldwide, examining how international collaboration is shaping trusted supply chains and accelerating the advancement of the global quantum industry. This panel was moderated by Jonathan Legh-Smith (UKQuantum), and the other panellists were Celia Merzbacher (QEDC), Kristine Helen Falgre (Danish Quantum Community), and David Morcuende (QuIC).
The next Optica Quantum 2.0 Conference and Exhibition will take place from 7th – 10th June 2027 at the Bella Center, Copenhagen.