In June, the fourth edition of the Sparks! forum took place here at CERN – an opportunity for the public to engage with leading science and technology experts and incidentally, a huge success!
Given the burgeoning nature of quantum and its potential to significantly shape our collective future, this year's event, Imagining Quantum City, showcased recent developments in the field and how they might impact areas like health, energy and communications.
Moderated by Dr Chris Luebkeman (Head of Strategic Foresight Hub of ETH Zurich), the audience heard from a superb line-up of speakers:
- Prof. Carlo Ratti (Director of the MIT SENSEable City Lab, Founding Partner of Carlo Ratti Associati, next curator of the Venice Biennale)
- Prof. Nicolas Gisin (Physicist and Professor at the University of Geneva and Constructor University)
- Dr Johanna Sepúlveda (Vice-Chair, EU Quantum Flagship Strategic Board, Senior Expert on Quantum Secured Communications at Airbus)
- Prof. Sabrina Maniscalco (Professor of Quantum Information, Computing and Logic at the University of Helsinki, CEO and Founder of Algorithmiq)
The quantum future is extremely promising, but it is essential that can all engage with what it might look like, increasing the importance of public discussion forums like Sparks!.
We would like to thank everyone who made this edition a success – speakers, attendees, organisers and the people following along at home via livestream.
Events of this size and quality are made possible thanks to our generous supporters, to whom we would like to extend a special thank you. This event was notably supported by ROLEX through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, as well as the Hasler Foundation and the ALCEA Foundation.