DANIELA SALVONI
Photon Technology Italy SRL, Naples (Italy); Qunatech SRL,  Naples (Italy)

Short bio:

Daniela Salvoni (PhD) is a physicist and entrepreneur specializing in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) and cryogenic systems. After earning a PhD in physics focused on SNSPD for LiDAR applications, she pursued postdoctoral research before transitioning to industry, working with a company providing cryostats and SNSPD systems.

In 2023, she founded Photon Technology Italy in her hometown, dedicated to delivering high-performance SNSPD and cryostat solutions. A year later, she launched a second startup in Naples, Qunatech, to develop innovative superconducting detectors for mid-infrared (MIR) applications. As CEO of both ventures, she is committed to advancing cutting-edge photonic technology while fostering local opportunities for young, brilliant minds in a region that currently offers them limited prospects.

She has always been passionate about learning and expanding her expertise, embracing new challenges across physics, engineering, and entrepreneurship. Whether through hands-on experience, collaboration, or travel, she continuously seeks growth and innovation.

Throughout her career, she has traveled extensively for work, conferences, training, measurement campaigns, installations, and business events—always blending professional development with her love for exploration.

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DANIELE SANVITTO
Director of Research at the Institute of Nanotechnology of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), head of the Advance Photonics facility, leading a group working on phenomena related to light-matter interaction in many material and optical systems (polaritonics.nanotec.cnr.it).

He received his PhD at the University of Cambridge (UK) in conjunction with the TOSHIBA research center and took up different positions in several European institutions, including the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris, the University of Sheffield in UK and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, in Spain.

He was recipient of two ERC research grants on fundamental aspects of quantum fluids of lights and their applications in electro-optical devices. Recently he is PI of two European EIC Pathfinders and two PNRR projects of national relevance on quantum technologies.

His research interests revolves around the intriguing domain of strong light-matter coupling, leading to the emergence of novel quasiparticles known as exciton-polaritons. Interests encompass the study of various material and nanostructured systems, including both inorganic and organic/hybrid 2D semiconductors. This extends to investigating quantum fluids of light, such as out-of-equilibrium Bose-Einstein Condensates, particularly when formed in specifically engineered band structures, of which, the topology, can be artificially designed and synthetic gauge fields can develop. These fundamental studies have tremendous potential applications, ranging from ultrafast, low-power optical components and lasers to the realms of quantum computation and neuromorphic computing.

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GILLES BRASSARD
Département d’informatique et de recherche opérationnelle, Université de Montréal.

Short bio

Professor of computer science at the Université de Montréal since 1979, Gilles Brassard laid the foundations of quantum cryptography at a time when nobody could have predicted that the quantum information revolution would usher in a multi-billion dollar industry, much less that the United Nations would proclaim 2025 to be the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. He is also among the inventors of quantum teleportation, which is one of the most fundamental pillars of the theory of quantum information.

Fellow of the Royal Society of London, International Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, and Officer of the Order of Canada and Ordre national du Québec, his many accolades include the Wolf Prize in Physics, the Micius Quantum Prize, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. He has been granted honorary doctorates from ETH Zürich, the University of Ottawa and Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.

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PAUL DOUGLAS
University of Glasgow

Short bio

Douglas Paul presently holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Emerging Technologies at the University of Glasgow. He is the principal investigator for the UK Hub for Quantum Enabled Position Navigation and Timing and a partner in the Integrated Quantum Network Hub. He was the recipient of the Institute of Physics President’s Medal in 2014. Doug was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2025 New Years Honours for services to quantum technology research. His research uses micro-fabrication and nano-fabrication approaches to produce practical quantum technology systems for applications including position, navigation, timing, LiDAR, quantum imaging, memories, gravity imaging, sensing and secure communications.

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GIULIO CERULLO
Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano

Short bio

Giulio Cerullo is a Full Professor with the Physics Department, Politecnico di Milano, where he leads the Ultrafast Optical Spectroscopy laboratory, and currently a Miller Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley. Prof. Cerullo’s research activity concerns on the one hand pushing our capabilities to generate and manipulate ultrashort light pulses, and on the other hand using such pulses to capture the dynamics of ultrafast events in molecular and solid-state systems. He has published over 550 papers which have received >33000 citations (H-index: 92 on Scopus). He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, of the European Physical Society and of the Accademia dei Lincei and past Chair of the Quantum Electronics and Optics Division of the European Physical Society. He has been General Chair of the conferences CLEO/Europe 2017, Ultrafast Phenomena 2018 and the International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy 2024. In 2023, he received the Quantum Electronics Prize of the European Physical Society. He is the co-founder of two spin off companies (NIREOS and Cambridge Raman Imaging).

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