TQ Roundtable: Quantum Recap

Roundtable unites the ecosystem by connecting industry experts and national networks with the Frankfurt Financial Center.

TechQuartier hosted the third edition of its TQ Roundtable: Quantum last Wednesday, bringing together almost 50 participants from across finance, technology, research, and infrastructure. The event marked the largest edition of the roundtable series so far and focused on current developments in quantum computing, quantum-secure communication, and collaborative initiatives within the ecosystem.

The first part of the program explored the current state of quantum technology and ongoing initiatives at the Frankfurt Financial Center. Nora H. Glasmeier from the Association of German Banks (BdB) presented insights from the latest position paper on quantum computing. Niklas Hegemann from JoS Quantum discussed the current technological landscape and its relevance for the banking sector.

Alice Rettig, TechQuartier Managing Director, shared an update on the progress of the Tech & Data Lab Frankfurt, which is being developed as the first sovereign real-world laboratory for testing and scaling innovative applications like ai & quantum software applications for the financial industry.

Harald A. Summa presented the latest developments surrounding the Frankfurt Financial Exchange initiative and the establishment of a quantum-secure communication infrastructure for the financial center.

The second part of the roundtable focused on practical applications and ecosystem perspectives. Dr. Christian Tobeck from EIN Quantum NRW discussed the importance of clusters and innovation ecosystems for advancing quantum technologies within the financial industry.

Ferdinand Graf and Daniel Herr from d-fine presented concrete financial industry use cases, highlighting how quantum technologies are increasingly moving toward practical implementation.

One of the highlights of the evening was a live demonstration on quantum-secure communication presented by Stefan Hofmann from dacoso GmbH, together with Wolfram Rinner from GasLINE GmbH & Co. KG. The session demonstrated how quantum-secure communication technologies can already be applied in practice today.

“What I liked most was that we’re clearly moving from ‘interesting theory’ to ‘what do we actually do next’. For me, the most important shift is this that we’ve stopped asking if quantum will matter – and started asking how we can test it responsibly today.”
- Alice Rettig 

A key takeaway from the evening was that collaboration across expert networks and ecosystems is essential to advancing future-ready solutions. This is particularly critical in Quantum Security, where institutions need to begin preparing now to make their infrastructure quantum-secure by 2030. With cyber threats evolving rapidly and quantum computing expected to challenge current encryption standards, organizations must proactively invest in post-quantum security, infrastructure modernization, and long-term digital resilience.

Our initiative will continue in 2026 with a focus on quantum-secure communication as well as the intersection of quantum computing and artificial intelligence.